摘要
Our recent studies on the ancient non-Chinese scripts, namely the Khitan Lesser Script, the Jurchen Script, and the hP'ags-pa Script, have demonstrated that the basic characteristics of modern Northern Mandarin can be traced to the Liao dynasty, about three centuries earlier than the Zhongyuan Yinyun of 1324, which is commonly accepted as the earliest evidence of the Mandarin phonology. Of the seven phonological characteristics analyzed, five characteristics, including the devoicing of MC voiced obstruents, already existed in the Liao dynasty. That Mandarin originated in the territories of Liao and Jin has been speculated by a number of Chinese linguists. Now the speculations on the origin of Mandarin can be firmly proved with linguistic evidence.