Reconstructing the Khitan vowel system and vowel spelling rule through the Khitan Small Script
Reconstructing the Khitan vowel system and vowel spelling rule through the Khitan Small Script
Author(s): Masami ŌtakeSubject(s): Cultural history, Theoretical Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology, Historical Linguistics, Comparative Linguistics, Philology
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: Khitan language; Mongolic languages; Khitan script; vowel-overlapping phenomenon; primary long vowel; palatalised vowel; comparative linguistics; decipherment;
Summary/Abstract: This paper reconstructs the Khitan vowel system by analyzing materials concerning the Khitan Small Script. First, the approximate phonetic values of the graphemes were determined by systematically comparing Khitan transcriptions of Chinese words with their original Chinese sounds and by analyzing Khitan rhymes. Next, an exhaustive survey of two adjacent graphemes in a corpus elucidated the script’s spelling rule and thus were the accurate phonetic values determined. Finally, a comparative study based on the reconstructed values established regular vowel correspondences between Khitan and Mongolian. In conclusion, the author presents twelve Khitan vowel phonemes that are distinguished by four vocalic features.
Journal: Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
- Issue Year: 70/2017
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 189-206
- Page Count: 18
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF