Middle Chinese

E125417

Middle Chinese is the historical stage of the Chinese language spoken during the Sui, Tang, and early Song dynasties, serving as the ancestor of many modern Chinese varieties and a key reference for historical phonology.

All labels observed (4)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf historical stage of the Chinese language
language variety
phonological system
ancestorOf Cantonese
Gan Chinese
Hakka
surface form: Hakka Chinese

Mandarin Chinese
Min Chinese
Wu Chinese
Xiang Chinese
most modern Sinitic varieties
fieldOfStudy Chinese historical linguistics
historical phonology
follows Old Chinese
hasFeature division I–IV vowel system
entering tone category
final consonant distinctions
initial consonant distinctions
rime categories
tone system
voicing contrast in obstruent initials
influenced Sino-Japanese readings
Sino-Korean readings
Sino-Vietnamese readings
pronunciation of Chinese loanwords in neighboring languages
ISOStatus not assigned a modern ISO 639 code as a living language
precedes Early Mandarin
primarySource Guangyun
Jiyun
Qieyun
rime dictionaries
rime tables
reconstructedBy Bernhard Karlgren
Edwin G. Pulleyblank
Laurent Sagart
Li Fang-Kuei
William H. Baxter NERFINISHED
spokenInPeriod Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period
Song dynasty
Sui dynasty
Tang dynasty
early Song dynasty
standardFormBasedOn Chang'an dialect
capital dialects of Sui and Tang
usedAs basis for Sino-Xenic reconstructions
reference system in Chinese historical phonology
writingSystem Chinese characters

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (23)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Cantonese historicalAncestor Middle Chinese
Chinese language historicalAncestor Middle Chinese
Wu Chinese hasLinguisticAncestor Middle Chinese
Wu dialects historicalOrigin Middle Chinese
Manichaeism language Middle Chinese
Saka languages loanwordsFrom Middle Chinese
East Asian languages influencedBy Middle Chinese
Central Plains Mandarin influencedBy Middle Chinese
Old Chinese followedBy Middle Chinese
Old Chinese reconstructedFrom Middle Chinese
this entity surface form: Middle Chinese phonology
Old Chinese influenced Middle Chinese
this entity surface form: Middle Chinese phonology
Ganxian Hakka hasAncestor Middle Chinese
Southern Song languageUsed Middle Chinese
Heyuan Hakka hasAncestor Middle Chinese
Later Zhou language Middle Chinese
Minnan language hasInfluenceFrom Middle Chinese
Zhangzhou dialect hasAncestor Middle Chinese
Wuhua Hakka hasAncestor Middle Chinese
this entity surface form: Middle Chinese (as with other Hakka varieties)
Chaoshan dialect influencedBy Middle Chinese
Old Xiang comparedTo Middle Chinese
this entity surface form: Middle Chinese (for phonological reconstruction)
Hoklo language developedFrom Middle Chinese
Taizhou Wu hasAncestor Middle Chinese
Wuzhou Wu hasAncestor Middle Chinese