Sinoxenic
Encyclopedia
Sino-Xenic refers to the pronunciations given to Chinese characters in Japanese
, Korean
, and Vietnamese
– none of which have accepted genetic relatedness to Sinitic languages
– in the Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean, and Sino-Vietnamese vocabularies. The term is used in linguistics for the use of these data in historical Chinese phonology
– the reconstruction of pronunciations in earlier forms of Chinese, and hence earlier forms of Chinese languages.
"Sino-Xenic" is used narrowly to refer to only these three regular, large-scale borrowings of Chinese writing, language, and culture – not to smaller-scale sporadic borrowings of some words.
The principle of Sino-Xenic pronunciation is that when Chinese characters were introduced into other cultures, the pronunciation of the corresponding Chinese word was also borrowed, and thus some current pronunciations are descended from earlier Chinese pronunciations. The characters were also used for native words, and thus not all pronunciations in non-Chinese languages reflect Chinese pronunciations. Languages that have Sino-Xenic pronunciations are sometimes referred to as Sino-Xenic languages.
While Japanese and Ryukyuan
belong to the Japonic
family, Vietnamese belongs to Austro-Asiatic
, Zhuang to Tai–Kadai, and Korean is a language isolate, all use extensive vocabulary from Chinese, in yet another (Sino-Tibetan) language family. Within what is known as the East Asian sprachbund
, various languages that are apparently genetically unrelated share many areal features and have similar vocabularies as a result of geographic proximity and historical influence from Chinese. Hence, when referring to the vocabularies of such languages, words can be categorized as either being native to that language, or being part of a "Sino-Xenic" vocabulary.
Native and Sino-Xenic readings of Chinese ideographs are distinguished as on'yomi (Sino-Japanese) and kunyomi (native) in Japanese, Eumhun in Korean, and in Vietnamese, native words were originally written in Chữ Nôm and Sino-Vietnamese words in Hán tự, until the writing system was supplanted by the Latin alphabet.
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
, and Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
– none of which have accepted genetic relatedness to Sinitic languages
Sinitic languages
The Sinitic languages, often called the Chinese languages or the Chinese language, are a language family frequently postulated as one of two primary branches of Sino-Tibetan...
– in the Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean, and Sino-Vietnamese vocabularies. The term is used in linguistics for the use of these data in historical Chinese phonology
Historical Chinese phonology
Historical Chinese phonology deals with reconstructing the sounds of Chinese from the past. As Chinese is written with logographic characters, not alphabetic or syllabary, the methods employed in Historical Chinese phonology differ considerably from those employed in, for example, Indo-European...
– the reconstruction of pronunciations in earlier forms of Chinese, and hence earlier forms of Chinese languages.
"Sino-Xenic" is used narrowly to refer to only these three regular, large-scale borrowings of Chinese writing, language, and culture – not to smaller-scale sporadic borrowings of some words.
Background
The term was coined by linguist Samuel Martin as ‘Sino-Xenic’, and comes from Sino-xen-ic: Chinese-foreign-(adjective).The principle of Sino-Xenic pronunciation is that when Chinese characters were introduced into other cultures, the pronunciation of the corresponding Chinese word was also borrowed, and thus some current pronunciations are descended from earlier Chinese pronunciations. The characters were also used for native words, and thus not all pronunciations in non-Chinese languages reflect Chinese pronunciations. Languages that have Sino-Xenic pronunciations are sometimes referred to as Sino-Xenic languages.
While Japanese and Ryukyuan
Ryukyuan languages
The Ryukyuan languages are spoken in the Ryukyu Islands, and make up a subgroup of the Japonic, itself controversially a subgroup of Altaic....
belong to the Japonic
Japonic languages
Japonic languages is a term which identifies and characterises the Japanese which is spoken on the main islands of Japan and the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands. This widely accepted linguistics term was coined by Leon Serafim....
family, Vietnamese belongs to Austro-Asiatic
Austro-Asiatic languages
The Austro-Asiatic languages, in recent classifications synonymous with Mon–Khmer, are a large language family of Southeast Asia, also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh. The name Austro-Asiatic comes from the Latin words for "south" and "Asia", hence "South Asia"...
, Zhuang to Tai–Kadai, and Korean is a language isolate, all use extensive vocabulary from Chinese, in yet another (Sino-Tibetan) language family. Within what is known as the East Asian sprachbund
Sprachbund
A Sprachbund – also known as a linguistic area, convergence area, diffusion area or language crossroads – is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity and language contact. They may be genetically unrelated, or only distantly related...
, various languages that are apparently genetically unrelated share many areal features and have similar vocabularies as a result of geographic proximity and historical influence from Chinese. Hence, when referring to the vocabularies of such languages, words can be categorized as either being native to that language, or being part of a "Sino-Xenic" vocabulary.
Examples
| Native examples | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Chinese (Standard Mandarin Standard Chinese Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore.... ) |
Japanese (Tokyo dialect Tokyo dialect refers to the Japanese dialect spoken in modern Tokyo. The dialect in modern Tokyo is often considered to equate standard Japanese, though in fact the Tokyo dialect differs from standard Japanese in a number of areas.- Overview :... ) |
Korean (Seoul dialect Seoul dialect The Seoul dialect is the basis of the standard language of Korean in South Korea. It is spoken in the Seoul National Capital Area, which includes Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi. The dialect does not merely mean 'a standard accent'. The exact form of the South Korea's standard accent is that of... ) |
Vietnamese (Saigon dialect) |
Ryukyuan (Okinawan dialect Okinawan language Central Okinawan, or simply Okinawan , is a Northern Ryukyuan language spoken primarily in the southern half of the island of Okinawa, as well as in the surrounding islands of Kerama, Kumejima, Tonaki, Aguni, and a number of smaller peripheral islands... ) |
Zhuang (Wuming dialect) |
| Chinese people | 中國人 zhōngguórén | (Sino-Japanese 中国人 used) | (Sino-Korean 中國人 used) | người Trung Quốc (𠊚中國) | 唐ん人 tooNchu | Boux Cunghgoz (佈中国) |
| Nation | 國家 guójiā | 国 kuni | 나라 nara | đất nước (𡐙渃) | 島 shima | (Sinoxenic "Guekgya" used) |
| Mountain | 山 shān | 山 yama | 메 me | núi (𡶀) | 盛 mu'i | bya (岜) |
| One | 一 yī | ひと(つ) hito(tsu) | 하나 hana | một (𠬠) | てぃいち tīchi | nděu (刁) |
| Forest | 森林 sēnlín | 森 mori | 숲 sup | rừng (𡼹) | 山 yama | ndoeng (崬) |
| Language | 語言 yǔyán | (Sino-Japanese 言語 used) | 말 mal | tiếng (㗂) | 口 guchi | Vah |
| to write (past tense) | 寫 xiě | 書いた kaita | 썼다 sseotta | (Sino-Vietnamese "viết (曰)" used) | 書ちゃん kachan | (Sinoxenic "sij" (写) used) |
| Soup | 湯 tāng | 汁 shiru | 국 guk | canh | 湯 yuu | – |
| to eat | 吃 chī,Common speech in Mandarin. 食 shíFormal writing in Mandarin; also common speech in Cantonese, Min and Hakka. |
食べる taberu | 먹다 meokda | ăn (𩛖) | 噛むん kamun | gwn |
| mother (informal speech) | 媽媽 māmā | お母さん okāsan | 어머니 eomeoni | mẹ (媄) | あんまー anmaa | – |
| personal pronoun (generic) | 我 wǒ | 私 watashi | 나 na | tôi (𪝬) | 我ん wan | gou (我) |
| Sinoxenic examples | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Chinese (Standard Mandarin) |
Sino-Japanese (Tokyo dialect) |
Sino-Korean (Seoul dialect) |
Sino-Vietnamese (Saigon dialect) |
Ryukyuan (Okinawan dialect) |
Zhuang (Wuming dialect) |
| Ethnicity | 民族 mínzú | 民族 minzoku | 民族(민족) minjok | dân tộc (民族) | 民族 minzuku | Minzcuz (民族) |
| Populace | 人民 rénmín | 人民 jinmin | 人民(인민) inmin | nhân dân (人民) | 御万人 umaNchu | Yinzminz (人民) |
| Republic | 共和國 gònghéguó | 共和国 kyōwakoku | 共和國(공화국) gonghwaguk | Cộng hòa (共和) | 共和国 kyoowakuku | Gunghozgoz (共和国) |
| Chinese character | 漢字 hànzì | 漢字 kanji | 漢字(한자) hanja | hán tự (漢字) | 漢字 kwanji | (native "Sawgun" (倱) used) |
| Telephone | 電話 diànhuà | 電話 denwa | 電話(전화) jeonhwa | điện thoại (電話) | 電話 denwa | – |
| Great Wall of China | 萬里長城 Wànlǐ Chángchéng | 万里の長城 Banri-no-Chōjō | 萬里 長城(만리 장성) malli jangseong | Vạn Lý Trường Thành (萬里長城) | 万里ぬ長城 manri-nu-Choojoo | – |
| Student | 学生 xuéshēng | 学生 gakusei | 学生(학생) haksaeng | học sinh (学生) | 学生 gakusoo | hagseng (学生) |
| Freedom | 自由 zìyóu | 自由 jiyū | 自由(자유) jayu | tự do (自由) | – | cwyouz (自由) |
| Equality | 平等 píngděng | 平等 byōdō | 同等(동등) dongdeung | bình đẳng (平等) | – | bingzdaengj (平等) |
| News(paper) | 新聞 xīnwén | 新聞 shinbun | 新聞(신문) simmun | tin tức (信息) | (native 紙はぶ "kamihabu" used) | – |
| Film | 電影 diànyǐng | 映画 eiga | 映畵(영화) yeonghwa | điện ảnh (電影) | 影踊 kaagaaudui, 影芝居 kaagaashibai |
– |
Native and Sino-Xenic readings of Chinese ideographs are distinguished as on'yomi (Sino-Japanese) and kunyomi (native) in Japanese, Eumhun in Korean, and in Vietnamese, native words were originally written in Chữ Nôm and Sino-Vietnamese words in Hán tự, until the writing system was supplanted by the Latin alphabet.
See also
- Chinese family of scriptsChinese family of scriptsThe Chinese family of scripts are writing systems descended from the Chinese Oracle Bone Script and used for a variety of languages in East Asia...
- Historical Chinese phonologyHistorical Chinese phonologyHistorical Chinese phonology deals with reconstructing the sounds of Chinese from the past. As Chinese is written with logographic characters, not alphabetic or syllabary, the methods employed in Historical Chinese phonology differ considerably from those employed in, for example, Indo-European...
- East Asian languagesEast Asian languagesEast Asian languages describe two notional groupings of languages in East and Southeast Asia:* Languages which have been greatly influenced by Classical Chinese and the Chinese writing system, in particular Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese .* The larger grouping of languages includes the...