Thirty-six Initials
The earliest documentary records of the rime table tradition, the Dunhuang fragments, contain lists of 30 initials, each named after an exemplary character. This was later expanded to a standard set of 36 in the preface of the Yunjing, the major addition being a series of labiodental fricatives split from the labial series. The 36 initials were so influential that it was not until 1842 that it was discovered (by Chen Li) that the initials of the Qieyun were slightly different.
| Tenuis 清 |
Aspirate 次清 |
Voiced 濁 |
Sonorant 清濁 |
Tenuis 清 |
Voiced 濁 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labials 脣 | 重唇音 "heavy lip" | 幫 p- | 滂 pʰ- | 並 pɦ- | 明 m- | ||
| 輕唇音 "light lip" | 非 f- | 敷 f- | 奉 fɦ- | 微 ʋ- | |||
| Coronals 舌 | 舌頭音 "tongue-head" | 端 t- | 透 tʰ- | 定 tɦ- | 泥 n- | ||
| 舌上音 "tongue up" | 知 tr- | 徹 trʰ- | 澄 trɦ- | 娘 nr- | |||
| Sibilants 齒 | 齒頭音 "tooth-head" | 精 ts- | 清 tsʰ- | 從 tsɦ- | 心 s- | 邪 sɦ- | |
| 正齒音 "true front-tooth" | 照 tʂ- | 穿 tʂʰ- | 牀 (t)ʂɦ- | 審 ʂ- | 禪 ʂɦ- | ||
| Velars 牙 | 牙音 "back-tooth" | 見 k- | 溪 kʰ- | 群 kɦ- | 疑 ŋ- | ||
| Gutturals 喉 | 喉音 "throat" | 影 ʔ- | 喻 ʜ- | 曉 x- | 匣 xɦ- | ||
| Lateral | 半舌音 "half tongue" | 來 l- | |||||
| 半齒音 "half front-tooth" | 日 r- | ||||||
Tables of the Yunjing have only 23 columns, with one group of columns each for labials, coronals and sibilants, with the different types placed in different rows of the tables. Some later tables such as the Qieyun zhizhangtu have 36 columns, one for each of the 36 initials.
Read more about this topic: Rime Table
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