EXPLORING THE ORIGIN OF SINO-PAEKCHE KOREAN AND THE MIN DIALECTS

Abstract

This article demonstrates the phonological similarities between the Min dialects and Sino-Paekche Korean, which was used in the southwestern part of the Korean peninsula from the first century B.C. till the seventh century A.D. Since Paekche had frequent contacts with the capitals of Eastern Jin and other states of the Southern Dynasties, the author rejects the MM dialects as being the direct source of Sino-Paekche Korean. Instead, the author claims that Old Wu was the origin of Sino-Paekche Korean as well as the Min dialects. It is because if the northern dialects of the central plain were the source of Min, the Min dialects could not preserve more traces of Old Chinese than the Wu dialects. It is plausible to assume that the northern dialects of the central plain must have undergone more changes than the Wu dialects of that time. If it is so, there is no way to explain why the colloquial readings of the MM dialects reflect much earlier traces of Chinese than the Wu dialects. Accordingly, this article claims that Sino-Paekche Korean and the Min dialects share the Old Wu dialects of the Southern Dynasties as their source dialects.