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Literary and colloquial readings

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Differing literary and colloquial readings for certain Chinese characters are a common feature of many Chinese varieties, and the reading distinctions for these linguistic doublets often typify a dialect group. Literary readings (文读; 文讀; wéndú) are usually used in loanwords, geographic and personal names, literary works such as poetry, and in formal contexts, while colloquial readings (白读; 白讀; báidú) are used in everyday vernacular speech.

Literary and colloquial readings
Traditional Chinese文白異讀
Simplified Chinese文白异读
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinwénbái yìdú
Wade–Gileswen2-pai2 yi4-du2
IPA[wə̌npǎɪ îtǔ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanizationmàhnbaahk yihduhk
Jyutpingman4 baak6 ji6 duk6
Southern Min
Hokkien POJbûn-pe̍k ī-tho̍k
Tâi-lôbûn-pi̍k ī-tho̍k

For example, the character for 'white' (白) is normally read with the colloquial pronunciation bái [pǎɪ] in Standard Chinese, but can also have the literary reading bó [pwǒ] in names or in some formal or historical contexts. This example is particularly well known due to its effect on the modern pronunciations "Bo Juyi" and "Li Bo" for the names of the Tang dynasty (618–907) poets Bai Juyi and Li Bai.

The differing pronunciations have led linguists to explore the strata of Sinitic languages, as such differences reflect a history of dialect interchange and the influence of formal education and instruction on various regions in China.[1][2] Colloquial readings are generally considered to represent a substratum, while their literary counterparts are considered a superstratum. [3]

Characteristics

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Colloquial readings typically reflect the native phonology of a given Chinese variety,[4] while literary readings typically originate from other Chinese varieties,[5] typically more prestigious varieties. Colloquial readings are usually older, resembling the sound systems described by old rime dictionaries like the Guangyun, whereas literary readings are often closer to the phonology of newer sound systems. In certain Mandarin and Wu dialects, many literary readings are the result of influence from Nanjing Mandarin or Beijing Mandarin during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Formal education and discourse usually use past prestigious varieties, so formal words usually use literary readings. Although the phonology of the Chinese variety in which this occurred did not entirely match that of the prestige variety, literary readings tended to evolve toward the prestige variety. Also, neologisms usually use the pronunciation of prestigious varieties.[6] Colloquial readings are usually used in informal settings because their usage in formal settings has been supplanted by the readings of the prestige varieties.[6]

Because of this, the frequency of literary readings in a Chinese variety reflects its history and status. For example, before the promotion of Standard Chinese (based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin), the Central Plains Mandarin of the Central Plain had few literary readings, but they now have literary readings that resemble the phonology of Modern Standard Chinese.[7] On the other hand, the relatively influential Beijing and Guangzhou dialects have fewer literary readings than other varieties.[3]

Some Chinese varieties may have many instances of foreign readings replacing native readings, forming multiple sets of literary and colloquial readings. A newer literary reading may replace an older literary reading, and the older literary reading may become disused or become a new colloquial reading.[6] Sometimes literary and colloquial readings of the same character have different meanings.

An analogous phenomenon exists to a much more significant degree in Japanese, where individual kanji generally have two common readings—the newer borrowed, more formal Sino-Japanese on'yomi, and the older native, more colloquial kun'yomi. Unlike in Chinese varieties, where readings are usually genetically related, in Japanese the borrowed readings are unrelated to the native readings.[8] Furthermore, many kanji in fact have several on'yomi, reflecting borrowings at different periods – these multiple borrowings are generally doublets or triplets, and are sometimes quite distant in time. These readings are generally used in particular contexts, such as readings for Buddhist terms, many of which were earlier go-on borrowings.[8]

Behavior in Chinese

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This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Cantonese

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Cantonese literary and colloquial readings have quite regular relationships. A character's meaning is often different depending on whether it is read with a colloquial or literary reading.

Initials

  • colloquial 'heavy labial' (重脣, bilabial) initials /p/ and /pʰ/ correspond to literary 'light labial' (輕脣, labiodental) initial /f/
  • colloquial /ŋ/ initial (疑母) correspond to literary /j/ initial (以母)

Rimes

  • colloquial readings with [ɛː] nuclei correspond to literary [ɪ] and [iː] nuclei
  • colloquial [aː] correspond to literary [ɐ]
  • colloquial [ɐi] correspond to literary [i]
  • colloquial [œː] correspond to literary [ɔː]; of course, not all colloquial readings with a certain nucleus correspond to literary readings with another nucleus

Tones

  • some Middle Chinese 'full-muddy (i.e. voiced obstruent) rising-tone' (全濁上聲) words now have colloquial 'subclear' (次清, aspirated) initials along with preserved 'muddy rising' (濁上) tone called yang rising (陽上), while literary initials are 'full-clear' (全清, tenuis) and merge into 'muddy departing' (濁去) tone called yang departing (陽去), but if they now have fricative or approximant initials then they have no aspiration distinction. Most other varieties share this sound change process to varying degrees which is called '(full) muddy rising become departing' ((全)濁上變去).

Examples:

Chinese character Middle Chinese1 Colloquial reading Literary reading
IPA Jyutping Meaning IPA Jyutping Meaning
*labial: heavy labial [p(ʰ)] vs light labial [f]
浮 pʰou˨˩ pou4 (of a person) show up, appear fɐu˨˩ fau4 float
婦 pʰou˩˧ pou5 bride fu˩˧ fu5 woman
埠 pou˨꜔꜒ bou6*2 the original character in Sham Shui Po (埠→埗) fɐu˨ fau6 pier, dock, port
*'疑' initial: [ŋ] vs [j]
吟 ŋɐm˨˩ ngam4 groan jɐm˨˩ jam4 recite, chant
研 ŋan˨˩ ngaan4 grind jin˨˩ jin4 research
*'梗' rime group: [ɛːŋ], [ɛːk] vs [ɪŋ], [ɪk]
精 tsiᴇŋ平 tsɛːŋ˥ zeng1 clever tsɪŋ˥ zing1 spirit
正 tɕiᴇŋ去 tsɛːŋ˧ zeng3 correct, good tsɪŋ˧ zing3 correct
淨 dziᴇŋ去 tsɛːŋ˨ zeng6 clean tsɪŋ˨ zing6< clean
驚 kɣiæŋ平 kɛːŋ˥ geng1 be afraid kɪŋ˥ ging1 frighten
平 bɣiæŋ平 pʰɛːŋ˨˩ peng4 inexpensive pʰɪŋ˨˩ ping4 flat
青 tsʰeŋ平 tsʰɛːŋ˥ ceng1 blue/green, pale tsʰɪŋ˥ cing1 blue/green
惜 siᴇk入 sɛːk˧ sek3 cherish, (v.) kiss sɪk˥ sik1 lament
*'梗' rime group: [aːŋ], [aːk] vs [ɐŋ], [ɐk]
生 ʃɣæŋ平 saːŋ˥ saang1 raw, (honorific name suffix) sɐŋ˥ sang1 (v.) live, person
牲 ʃɣæŋ平 saːŋ˥ saang1 livestock sɐŋ˥ sang1 livestock
*'果' rime group: [œː] vs [ɔː]
多 tœ˥ doe1 just this much tɔ˥ do1 many, more
朵 tœ˧˥ doe2 (classifier for flowers, clouds, etc.) tɔ˧˥ do2 name, nickname, title
墮 tœ˨ doe6 droopy, saggy tɔ˨ do6 (v.) fall, sink
*full-muddy rising-tone: (aspirated) yang rising vs (tenuis) yang departing
被 pʰei˩˧ pei5 blanket pei˨ bei6 passive voice
淡 tʰam˩˧ taam5 bland, tasteless tam˨ daam6 off-season
斷 tʰyn˩˧ tyun5 (v.) break tyn˨ dyun6 (v.) decide, determine
坐 tsʰɔ˩˧ co5 (v.) sit tsɔ˨ zo6 compound with 骨 (bone) in 坐骨 (ischium)
上 sœŋ˩˧ soeng5 go up, board (vehicles) sœŋ˨ soeng6 up there, previous
近 kʰɐn˩˧ kan5 near kɐn˨ gan6 near (in nearsightedness)
*others
挾 ɦep入 kɛːp˨ gep6 clamp kiːp˨ gip6 clamp
掉 deu去 tɛːu˨ deu6 discard tiːu˨ diu6 turn, discard
來 lʌi平 lɐi˨˩ lai4 come lɔːi˨˩ loi4 come
使 ʃɨ上 sɐi˧˥ sai2 use siː˧˥ si2 (v.) cause, envoy
Notes:

1. Middle Chinese reconstruction according to Zhengzhang Shangfang. Middle Chinese tones in terms of level (平), rising (上), departing (去), and entering (入) are given.

Hakka

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Examples:

Chinese character Literary reading Colloquial reading
生 sɛn˦ saŋ˦
弟 tʰi˥˧ tʰɛ˦/tʰai˦
苦 kʰu˧˩ fu˧˩
肥 fui˧˥ pʰui˧˥
惜 sit˩ siak˩
正 tʃin˥˧/tʃən˥˧ tʃaŋ˥˧

Mandarin

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Literary readings in modern Standard Chinese are usually native pronunciations more conservative than colloquial readings.[3] This is because they reflect readings from before Beijing was the capital,[5] e.g. from the Ming dynasty. Most instances where there are different literary and colloquial readings occur with characters that have entering tones. Among those are primarily literary readings that have not been adopted into the Beijing dialect before the Yuan dynasty.[5] Colloquial readings of other regions have also been adopted into the Beijing dialect, a major difference being that literary readings are usually adopted with the colloquial readings. Some of the differences between the Standard Chinese of Taiwan and the mainland are due to the fact that Putonghua tends to adopt colloquial readings for a character[9] while Guoyu tends to adopt a literary reading.[10]

Examples of literary readings adopted into the Beijing dialect:

 
Chinese Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Chinese character Middle Chinese1 Literary reading Colloquial reading
IPA Pinyin IPA Pinyin
黑 hək入 xɤ˥˩ hè xei˥ hēi
白 bɣæk入 pwɔ˧˥ bó pai˧˥ bái
薄 bwɑk入 pwɔ˧˥ bó pɑʊ˧˥ báo
剝 pɣʌk入 pwɔ˥ bō pɑʊ˥ bāo
給 kɣiɪp入 tɕi˨˩˦ jǐ kei˨˩˦ gěi
殼 kʰɣʌk入 tɕʰɥɛ˥˩ què tɕʰjɑʊ˥˩ qiào
露 luo去 lu˥˩ lù lɤʊ˥˩ lòu
六 lɨuk入 lu˥˩ lù ljɤʊ˥˩ liù
熟 dʑɨuk入 ʂu˧˥ shú ʂɤʊ˧˥ shóu
色 ʃɨk入 sɤ˥˩ sè ʂai˨˩˦ shǎi
削 sɨɐk入 ɕɥɛ˥ xuē ɕjɑʊ˥ xiāo
角 kɣʌk入 tɕɥɛ˧˥ jué tɕjɑʊ˨˩˦ jiǎo
血 hwet入 ɕɥɛ˥˩ xuè ɕjɛ˨˩˦ xiě
Notes:

1. Middle Chinese reconstruction according to Zhengzhang Shangfang. Middle Chinese tones in terms of level (平), rising (上), departing (去), and entering (入) are given.

Examples of colloquial readings adopted into the Beijing dialect:

Chinese character Middle Chinese1 Literary reading Colloquial reading
IPA Pinyin IPA Pinyin
港 kɣʌŋ上 tɕjɑŋ˨˩˦ jiǎng2 kɑŋ˨˩˦ gǎng
癌 ŋam平 jɛn˧˥ yán ai˧˥ ái
殼 kʰɣʌk入 t͡ɕʰɥɛ˥˩ / t͡ɕʰjɑʊ̯˥˩ què / qiào kʰɤ˧˥ ké
Notes:

1. Middle Chinese reconstruction according to Zhengzhang Shangfang. Middle Chinese tones in terms of level (平), rising (上), departing (去), and entering (入) are given.
2. 港's only attested reading is gǎng; **jiǎng is purely hypothetical.

Sichuanese

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In Sichuanese Mandarin, colloquial readings tend to resemble Ba-Shu Chinese or southern Proto-Mandarin during the Ming, while literary readings tend to resemble modern standard Mandarin. For example, in the Yaoling dialect the colloquial reading of 物 'things' is [væʔ],[11] which is very similar to its pronunciation of Ba-Shu Chinese in the Song dynasty (960–1279).[12] Meanwhile, its literary reading, [voʔ], is relatively similar to the standard Mandarin pronunciation [u]. The table below shows some Chinese characters with both literary and colloquial readings in Sichuanese.[13]

Example Colloquial reading Literary reading Meaning Standard Chinese pronunciation
在 tɛ tsai at tsai
提 tia tʰi lift tʰi
去 tɕʰie tɕʰy go tɕʰy
锯 kɛ tɕy cut tɕy
下 xa ɕia down ɕia
横 xuan xuən across xəŋ
严 ŋan ȵian stricked ian
鼠 suei su rat ʂu
大 tʰai ta big ta
主 toŋ tsu master tʂu

Wu

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In the northern Wu-speaking region, the main sources of literary readings are the Beijing and Nanjing dialects during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and modern Standard Chinese.[14] In the southern Wu-speaking region, literary readings tend to be adopted from the Hangzhou dialect. Colloquial readings tend to reflect an older sound system.[15]

Not all Wu dialects behave the same way. Some have more instances of discrepancies between literary and colloquial readings than others. For example, the character 魏 had a [ŋ] initial in Middle Chinese, and in literary readings, there is a null initial. In colloquial readings it is pronounced /ŋuɛ/ in Songjiang.[16] About 100 years ago, it was pronounced /ŋuɛ/ in Suzhou[17] and Shanghai, and now it is /uɛ/.

Some pairs of literary and colloquial readings are interchangeable in all cases, such as in the words 吳淞 and 松江. Some must be read in one particular reading. For example, 人民 must be read using the literary reading, /zəɲmiɲ/, and 人命 must be read using the colloquial reading, /ɲiɲmiɲ/. Some differences in reading for the same characters have different meanings, such as 巴結, using the colloquial reading /pʊtɕɪʔ/ means 'make great effort', and using the literary reading /pɑtɕɪʔ/ means 'get a desired outcome'. Some readings are almost never used, such as colloquial /ŋ̍/ for 吳 and literary /tɕiɑ̃/ for 江.

Examples:

Chinese character Literary reading Colloquial reading
生 /səɲ/ in 生物 /sɑ̃/ in 生菜
人 /zəɲ/ in 人民 /ɲiɲ/ in 大人
大 /dɑ/ in 大饼 /dɯ/ in 大人
物 /vəʔ/ in 事物 /məʔ/ in 物事
家 /tɕia/ in 家庭 /kɑ/ in 家生

Min Nan

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Further information: Hokkien § Literary and colloquial readings

Min languages, which include Taiwanese Hokkien, separate reading pronunciations (讀音) from spoken pronunciations (語音) and explications (解說). Hokkien dictionaries in Taiwan often differentiate between such character readings with prefixes for literary readings and colloquial readings 文 and 白, respectively.

The following examples in Pe̍h-oē-jī show differences in character readings in Taiwanese Hokkien:[18][19]

Chinese character Reading pronunciations Spoken pronunciations / †explications English
白 pe̍k pe̍h white
面 biān bīn face
書 su chu book
生 seng seⁿ / siⁿ student
不 put m̄† not
返 hóan tńg† return
學 ha̍k o̍h to study
人 jîn / lîn lâng† person
少 siàu chió few
轉 chóan tńg to turn

In addition, some characters have multiple and unrelated pronunciations, adapted to represent Hokkien words. For example, the Hokkien word bah ('meat') is often written with the character 肉, which has etymologically unrelated colloquial and literary readings he̍k and jio̍k, respectively).[20][21]

Min Dong

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In the Fuzhou dialect of Min Dong, literary readings are mainly used in formal phrases and words derived from the written language, while the colloquial ones are used in more colloquial phrases. Phonologically, a large range of phonemes can differ between the character's two readings: in tone, final, initial, or any and all of these features.

The following table uses Foochow Romanized as well as IPA for some of the major differences in readings.

Character Literary Colloquial
Literary reading Phrase Meaning Colloquial reading Phrase Meaning
行 hèng [heiŋ˥˧] 行李 hèng-lī luggage giàng [kjaŋ˥˧] 行墿 giàng-duô to walk
生 sĕng [seiŋ˥] 生態 sĕng-tái zoology, ecology săng [saŋ˥] 生囝 săng-giāng childbearing
江 gŏng [kouŋ˥] 江蘇 Gŏng-sŭ Jiangsu gĕ̤ng [køyŋ˥] 閩江 Mìng-gĕ̤ng Min River
百 báik [paiʔ˨˦] 百科 báik-kuŏ encyclopedical báh [paʔ˨˦] 百姓 báh-sáng common people
飛 hĭ [hi˥] 飛機 hĭ-gĭ aeroplane buŏi [pwi˥] 飛鳥 buŏi-cēu flying birds
寒 hàng [haŋ˥˧] 寒食 Hàng-sĭk Cold Food Festival gàng [kaŋ˥˧] 天寒 tiĕng gàng cold, freezing
廈 hâ [ha˨˦˨] 大廈 dâi-hâ mansion â [a˨˦˨] 廈門 Â-muòng Amoy

Gan

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The following are examples of variations between literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters in Gan Chinese.

Chinese character Literary reading Colloquial reading
生 /sɛn/ as in 學生 'student' /saŋ/ as in 出生 'be born'
軟 /lon/ as in 微軟 'Microsoft' /ɲion˧/ as in 軟骨 'cartilage'
青 /tɕʰin/ as in 青春 'youth' /tɕʰiaŋ/ as in 青菜 'vegetables'
望 /uɔŋ/ as in 看望 'visit' /mɔŋ/ as in 望相 'look'

See also

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References

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  1. ^ LaPolla, Randy J. (2010). "Language Contact and Language Change in the History of the Sinitic Languages". Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2 (5): 6858–6868. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.05.036. ISSN 1877-0428.
  2. ^ LaPolla, Randy J. (2009). "Causes and Effects of Substratum, Superstratum and Adstratum Influence, with Reference to Tibeto-Burman Languages". Senri Ethnological Studies. 75: 227–237.
  3. ^ a b c Wang, William S.-Y.; Sun, Chaofen (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics. Oxford University Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-199-85633-6.
  4. ^ Wang Hongjun (王洪君) (2006), 層次與演變階段—蘇州話文白異讀析層擬測三例, Language and Linguistics (in Chinese), vol. 7, no. 1
  5. ^ a b c Wang Futang (王福堂) (2006), 文白異讀中讀書音的幾個問題, 語言學論叢 (in Chinese), vol. 32
  6. ^ a b c 陳忠敏 (2003), 重論文白異讀與語音層次, 語文研究
  7. ^ Zhang, Jie. "Evolution of Initials in TaiYuan Dialect in the Past 100 Years--《Journal of Jinzhong University》2012年05期". En.cnki.com.cn.
  8. ^ a b Labrune, Laurence (2012). The phonology of Japanese (1 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 18–20. ISBN 978-0199545834. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  9. ^ Chung-Yu, Chen; 陈重瑜 (1994). "Evidence of High-Frequency Colloquial Forms Moving Towards the Yin-Ping Tone / 常用口语字阴平化的例证". Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 22 (1): 1–39. JSTOR 23756584.
  10. ^ Cheng, Robert L. (June 1985). "A Comparison of Taiwanese, Taiwan Mandarin, and Peking Mandarin". Language. 61 (2): 352–377. doi:10.2307/414149. JSTOR 414149.
  11. ^ 杨升初（1985年S2期），《剑阁摇铃话音系记略》，湘潭大学社会科学学报
  12. ^ 王庆（2010年04期），《四川方言中没、术、物的演变》，西华大学学报（哲学社会科学版）
  13. ^ 甄尚灵（1958年01期），《成都语音的初步研究》，四川大学学报（哲学社会科学版）
  14. ^ Qian, Nairong (2003). 上海語言發展史 (in Chinese). Shanghai renmin chubanshe. p. 70. ISBN 978-7-208-04554-5.
  15. ^ Wang, Li (1981). 漢語音韻學 (in Chinese). China Book Company. SH9018-4.
  16. ^ Zhang Yuanqian (張源潛) (2003). 松江方言志 (in Chinese). Shanghai cishi chubanshe. ISBN 978-7-532-61391-5.
  17. ^ Ting, Pang-hsin (2003). 一百年前的蘇州話 (in Chinese). Shanghai jiaoyu. ISBN 978-7-532-08561-3.
  18. ^ Mair, Victor H. (2010). "Taiwanese, Mandarin, and Taiwan's language situation: How to Forget Your Mother Tongue and Remember Your National Language". Pinyin.info. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  19. ^ 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Common Words in Taiwanese Hokkien] (in Chinese). Taiwan Ministry of Education. 2019.
  20. ^ Klöter, Henning (2005). Written Taiwanese. Otto Harrassowitz. p. 21. ISBN 978-3-447-05093-7.
  21. ^ "Entry #2607 (肉)". 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan]. (in Chinese and Hokkien). Ministry of Education, R.O.C. 2011.

Further reading

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