Wenzhounese: A Living Fossil of Classical Chinese

《温州话字林》 沈克成 著 宁波出版社 2010年12月

方言是地方文化的载体。我们要使生活变得光彩斑斓，必须让我们的文化变得多元化。现今，国家对地方文化的传承和发展非常重视，为此，研究和整理地方方言也就成了我们的重任。

温州话属于吴语瓯江片，是南吴语的代表，有着极深的文化底蕴和极高的学术价值。近半个世纪以来，随着国家强力推广普通话，随着经济的高速发展，人员流动越来越大，温州话也在不断地变化中。传统的纯正的温州话已逐渐淹没在浩瀚的文化大潮之中，急需我们去发掘和继承；而且随着时间的推移，方音误读，传统失据的现象屡屡发生，亟待我们去勘正和整理。

由于地方方言的独特性，任何一种方音，都是靠乡贤的言传口授，后人也只能凭感觉心领意会，并没有权威的经典的字书可作为依据。因而，整理一种方言的语音，比之整理方言的词汇，显得更为迫切，其难度也更大。我们急需一部规范温州话语音的工具书。

温州出了好几位国家一流的语言学家，他们都是靠学习温州话，研究温州话起家的，但是，他们现今都身在外地，重肩在身，已无暇顾及对家乡方言的整理和研究。六十年来，在温州方言语音方面，至今未见有系统的专著问世。郑张尚芳的《温州方言志》、潘悟云的《温州话音档》、游汝杰的《温州话词典》、颜逸明的《浙南瓯语》，这些专著中都少不了“同音字汇”或“同韵字汇”一章，但所收的字数都只有六七千。

我们的电脑里有两万多汉字，其中大部分字我们不认识，更不会念。同样，越是生僻的字，我们越发不知道温州话该怎么念，这成了治学中难以逾越的一道坎，加之方言中经常会使用一些在现代汉语中罕见的白读或俗字，我们更会感到无据可依。

自古以来，温州地处浙南僻隅，交通闭塞，先民与外界的交流相对较少，因而语音绝少变异。有唐以来千余年，温州话始终保持着中古音的特色，被学术界称之为“古汉语的活化石”。

汉语语言学的发展脉络是上古音(隋唐)→中古音(唐宋)→近音(元明清)→普通话(当代)，但南方方言（以吴闽粤语为代表）则是直接在中古音的基础上，继承并发展成了当代的方言音。常人往往认为南方方言跟普通话是风马牛不相及的两种音系，其实两者都是从中古音发展而来，而且都有规律可循。

至于汉语方言读音，历来靠字书的反切来推绎，但反切较难掌握，难免出现争执和讹误。为此，我尝试着根据音韵学原理，秉承中古音源流，综合考察分析古今语音系统，构拟古今语音的声韵图谱，找出中古音和温州方言的联系轨迹和演变规律，探求温州话古今语音之嬗变，并结合近百年温州话的实际语音状况，对每一汉字注出传统的温州方言读音。

有关温州话读音的系统知识，我将再写一本专著《温州话语音概览》予以详细的说明和交代。该书共分“温州话的起源演绎、中古音与《广韵》音系、国际音标与拼音方案、温州话的语音系统、中古音向普通话的演变、中古音与温州话的关系、普通话与温州话的比较、温州话与普通话的比较、温州话的同音字汇、温州话的文白异读、温州话的连调变读、温州话的语流音变、温州话新派和老派的差别、温州话的内部差异、永强话语音概览、永嘉话语音概览、乐清话语音概览、瑞安话语音概览、文成话语音概览、平阳话语音概览”等二十章，预计明年上半年可以面世。

《温州话字林》尝试以四声八调排列，同一声调的字头依普通话音序排序。这对于学习语言学很有好处，同时对于文献整理来说也很有意义，至少可以知道在温州话中有多少入声字，有多少仄声字，它们是哪些字，一目了然。有其利必有其弊，用四声八调排列，必然给检索带来不便。限于篇幅，又考虑到许多字大家都不认得，更不知道该字的普通话读音，本书只采用了笔画检索。

为了完成这一浩大的工程，我几乎每天需要在电脑前呆上十来个小时，好在是有了电脑，有了网络，使我的写作能事半功倍，终于用了一年半时间，完成了一个团队需要历经五六年才能完成的工作量。不过，毕竟是年近古稀的老朽一个了，为写这本书，我几乎搭上了这条老命。

现今，书稿终于面世了，全书110万字，因为太厚，只能采用小五号字，十六开本了。给读者带来不便，在此深表歉意。

收成时，不能不说几句感恩的话。特别要感谢我的爱唠叨的老伴，没有她整天形影不离厮守在身旁，我是不可能始终保持着“文思泉涌”的状态；没有她没日没夜地呵护着我，我是绝对不可能一年半里在电脑前安然无恙坐了五千多个小时。感谢我的胞姐沈珍珍，一位搞计算机的教授级高工，帮我设计了不少检索程序，使得全书排列得有条不紊。感谢我的两个儿子和女儿，他们的自强，他们的孝心，使我没有了后顾之忧。还要感谢几位老师和挚友的鼓励和督促，使我一直铭记着一个道理：人活着，是要好好做点事的。

最后，向家乡的父老乡亲深深鞠上一躬，但愿你们能抱着宽容的心，凭着宏豁的爱，悦纳我这个温州人所呈献的绵薄之礼。愿家乡会变得更加美好！愿每一个温州人都能说一口标准流利的温州话！我愿足矣。

本月，我市语言、文史学者沈克成先生的新著《温州话字林》，由宁波出版社出版发行。全书110万字，可以说是一部尝试规范温州话语音的工具书。书中，作者根据音韵学原理，秉承中古音源流，综合考察分析古今语音系统，构拟古今语音的声韵图谱，探求温州话古今语音之嬗变，并结合近百年温州话的实际语音状况，对每一汉字注出传统的温州方言读音。

沈克成已出版的专著还有：《汉字表音码输入法应用手册》、《沈码汉字输入法》、《汉字部件学》、《书同文——现代汉字论稿》、《温州话文化研究》等。

A partial translation:

Local dialects are the messengers and carriers of local culture. If we want to make life more colorful and vibrant, we should find more variety in our culture. Now, the government places importance on the inheritance and development of local culture; therefore, it is our responsibility to study and record local dialects.

Wenzhounese, a Wu dialect of the Oujiang region, is a representative of southern Wu dialects. It has deep roots in culture; it has much academic value. Over the past half century, as the country strongly promoted Mandarin and as the economy developed rapidly, migration has gradually increased, and Wenzhounese has also continued to evolve. Traditional, pure Wenzhounese is sinking, melting away into the immense ocean of our culture. We urgently need to study it and inherit it. As time passes, errors in pronunciation and losses of tradition will become increasingly common; we need to correct these.

Due to the unique nature of local dialects, a dialect is always passed along orally; upcoming generations can only learn them intuitively. There are no classics, no pieces of literature to refer to. Therefore, recording a dialect's pronunciation and phonology is more urgent and difficult than simply compiling the vocabulary of the dialect. We urgently need a standard book of the pronunciation of Wenzhounese.

Wenzhou has produced several nationally recognized phonologists. They all got started by learning and studying Wenzhounese. However, all of them now live far away, with big responsibilities and no time to study and record the dialect of their hometown. The last sixty years have not seen any book published that systematically dealt with the phonology of Wenzhounese [....]

[...]

Wenzhou is located in southern Zhejiang, a secluded, mountainous area where travel is difficult. Thus, throughout history, our ancestors have had little contact with the outside world, and pronunciation has changed very little. Over the thousand-plus years since the Tang dynasty, Wenzhounese has retained the quirks of Middle Chinese. It has thus be known as a "living fossil of Classical Chinese."

The linguistics of Mandarin have developed as such: Old Chinese (Sui, Tang dynasties) → Middle Chinese (Tang, Song dynasties) → Old Mandarin and Mandarin (Yuang, Ming, Qing dynasties) → Mandarin Chinese (present). However, southern dialects (such as Wu Chinese, Min, Cantonese) are directly based on Middle Chinese. Middle Chinese, after some development, became the dialects of present day. Many people think that the southern dialects are completely unrelated to Mandarin Chinese, and that they belong to separate families of languages. Actually, both evolved from Middle Chinese; both follow consistent rules.

[...]

[...] I tried to follow Wenzhounese's changes in pronunciation over the years; I looked at the actual phonology of Wenzhounese over nearly a hundred years, and [in my book] noted the traditional Wenzhounese pronunciation to every Chinese character.

Words of Wenzhounese uses the ordering according to four tones-eight tones [Note: I don't know of the "right" way to translate this.]. Words of the same tone are then ordered by their sounds in Mandarin Chinese. This is very good for learning phonology, and is also good for cataloguing literature. At least one can know certain things about Wenzhounese - how many words have a checked tone, how many words have an oblique tone, which words those are - those things are easy to see. However, there are drawbacks - the ordering by four tones-eight tones makes looking up words less convenient. Since space was limited, and since there are many words to which most people don't know the pronunciation, this book only allows for looking up words by the strokes of each character.

[...]

Today, the manuscript is finally published. In its entirety, it has 1.1 million words. Because it is too thick, I could only use 9 point font on A4 paper. This inconveniences the reader; I deeply apologize.

In conclusion, I must say some words of gratitude [....]

[...]

Summary

Shen begins by explaining why his book is necessary - the lack of a book that "systematically dealt with the phonology of Wenzhounese."

Shen claims that Wenzhou preserves the characteristics of Middle Chinese, thus serving as a "living fossil." He claims that both Mandarin and southern dialects developed from Middle Chinese. Later, in describing his book, he mentions the system of tones in Wenzhounese - Wenzhounese has four tones, which can be further divided into eight tones. The Baidu Baike article also lists the eight tones.