Zhengzhang Shangfang (9 August 1933 – 19 May 2018) was a Chinese linguist, known for his reconstruction of Old Chinese.
The Kra–Dai languages ( KRAH-dy), also known as Tai–Kadai ( TY-kə-dy) and Daic ( DY-ik), are a language family in mainland Southeast Asia, southern China, and northeastern India. All languages in the family are tonal, including Thai and Lao, the...
The Sinitic languages (simplified Chinese: 汉语族; traditional Chinese: 漢語族; pinyin: Hànyǔ zú), also known as the Chinese languages, are a group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute a major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is...
Yue (Chinese: 越), also known as Yuyue (於越 or 于越), was a state in ancient China which existed during the first millennium BC – the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of China's Zhou dynasty – in the modern provinces of Zhejiang, Shanghai...
The Old Yue language is an unclassified language or set of languages spoken in the state of Yue during the Eastern Zhou dynasty. It may also refer broadly to the languages spoken by Yue peoples in any of the Yue polities in southern China and...
Wu is a major group of Chinese languages spoken primarily in Shanghai, Zhejiang province, and parts of Jiangsu province, especially south of the Yangtze River, which make up the Wu cultural region. The Wu languages are at times simply called...
Wu (Chinese: 吳; pinyin: Wú, Old Chinese: *ŋʷˤa) was a state during the Western Zhou dynasty and the Spring and Autumn period, outside the Zhou cultural sphere. It was also known as Gouwu (句吳) or Gongwu (工/攻吳) from the pronunciation of the local...
The Song of the Yue Boatman (Chinese: 越人歌; pinyin: Yuèrén Gē; lit. 'Song of the man of Yue') is a short song in an ancient language of southern China in the Yangtze River valley said to have been recorded around 528 BC. A transcription using Chinese...
The Tai languages ( TIE), also known as Zhuang–Tai and Daic languages ( DYE-ik), are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai, or Siamese, the...
Although Old Chinese is known from written records beginning around 1200 BC, the logographic script provides much more indirect and partial information about the pronunciation of the language than alphabetic systems used elsewhere. Several authors...