A study of the 'Qi Lin Bayin'.

摘要

This dissertation is the first systematic study of the QL, earliest southern Chinese rime book QL. QL, a combination of two dictionaries, was compiled in the 17th century. Based on some earlier form of the Mindong dialect, the QL is the earliest written source for any Min dialect and is widely quoted in modern literature.;Nevertheless, the historical background of the QL is basically unknown to us. After searching all the historical records available to me, I have come to the conclusion that QL was compiled by some low level functionaries for use by local people. It is basically an original rime book that combines the essence of traditional phonological studies and the living dialect of the time. QL inspired the tradition of rime books in the Min area, and served as a framework for all the other Min dialects.;After a detailed examination of the two extant and structurally similar versions of the QL, the study proceeds to individual entries with multiple readings. Among the various types of the multiple readings, wenbai yidu (literary and colloquial readings) stands out to be the most significant type. The correspondences of the wenbai readings found in the QL are studied in light of the development of the Fuzhou dialect in the past 400 years. Several mergers occur to Fuzhou rimes since the time of the QL. The wenbai couplets help us to understand a great deal about these changes. In the initials and tones, we see no structural changes in the past four centuries, but the wenbai couplets reveal many important features unique to Min.;QL has great historical significance in the study of the Min dialects. However, as a dictionary with character entries only, QL does not provide any information on tone sandhi. It also has many defects and should be used discreetly.