姜永超 黄仁瑄
The Yupian is a crucial material to explore Yayan in the Southern and Northern dynasties. However, the previous research results have revealed controversial opinions on the division and emergence of the 24 consonants. Based on the investigation of the correlation and distance clustering analysis combinations, the individual consonants in the context of the entire consonant system and the closeness of each consonant or a cluster of consonants sharing similarity with other consonants or consonant systems, the study finds that: 1) The conclusion of the similarity and closeness of the consonants is basically consistent with that of the noncontroversial division and emergence of the consonants; 2) Each group of initials has experienced a different speed of division. With xiayun(匣云) as the reference, bangfei(帮非) , pangfu(滂敷) , touche(透彻) are merged; With qingxin(清心) as the reference, duanzhi(端知) are merged; 3) The clustering of consonants that share the same characteristics demonstrates that there is no distinction between the bang group(帮组) and the fei group(非组) and between the duan group(端组) and the zhi group(知组) but the jing group(精组) is differed from the zhuang group(二等莊组); 4) Various degrees of proximity of the consonants indicates that the ni group (泥组) and the niang group(娘组) is the most similar to each other, both initials of which having not undergone any division. [JP3]Contrastively, the ri initial(日母) which is affected by the second-level clustering is distinguished from the ni initial (泥母) when compared to the ni’niang(泥娘) groups.
