Linguistic studies on the dialectal base of the rhyme book Zhongyuan Yinyun, compiled in the Yuan Dynasty , started from the early 20th century. Many methods have been developed since then to explore various sources of data relating to Zhongyuan Yinyun , though , one of the most important aspects has been ignored. That is, the modern Henan dialects, which are most likely direct descendants of the phonological system of Zhongyuan Yinyun, have been neglected completely. In this research, four modern Henan dialects have been investigated. By comparing the modern reflexes of the Middle Chinese rusheng (the entering tone) words in these dialects to the phonological categories of these rusheng words in Zhongyuan Yinyun, it is concluded that the phonological system of Zhongyuan Yinyun was base...[ Read more ]

Linguistic studies on the dialectal base of the rhyme book Zhongyuan Yinyun, compiled in the Yuan Dynasty , started from the early 20th century. Many methods have been developed since then to explore various sources of data relating to Zhongyuan Yinyun , though , one of the most important aspects has been ignored. That is, the modern Henan dialects, which are most likely direct descendants of the phonological system of Zhongyuan Yinyun, have been neglected completely. In this research, four modern Henan dialects have been investigated. By comparing the modern reflexes of the Middle Chinese rusheng (the entering tone) words in these dialects to the phonological categories of these rusheng words in Zhongyuan Yinyun, it is concluded that the phonological system of Zhongyuan Yinyun was based on the Central Plain (including today's Henan and southern Hebei) dialects in the Song and Yuan Dynasties .

Keywords: Zhongyuan Yinyun, Henan dialect, entering tone, phonology