APPENDIX II.
ON THE NATIVE TABLES OF INITIALS AND FINALS.
Marshman long ago made a study of these tables, for which he was peculiarly fitted from his knowledge of Sanscrit. On comparing the alphabetic system of that language with the Chinese tables, now to be considered, he at once pronounced them identical in principle. This conclusion is fully confirmed by what Chinese authors say. The explanation in K’áng-hí’s Dictionary of “the method of separating a word into its component sounds,” (切字樣法） says, “now tabulated rhymes are in the Sanscrit called 夫等韻者梵語悉曇. “Here we speak of mother characters, the sounds from which all words originate,” 此云字母 乃是一切文字之母. “That which in Sanscrit is called p’í-k’á-lah is here called the division of sounds, which constitutes the foundation of the science of words,” 梵語毘佉囉此云切韻一切文字之根本 Remusat long since pointed out that the language meant by the word 梵 Fan, is Sanscrit. He says in his Life of the Grand Lama, Pa-sz-pa, translated from the Chinese History of the Mongols in Remusat’s Melanges Asiatiques, Vol. II. 145, “Ce sont les religieux Indiens qui l’ont (the 36 initials) fait connaítre á notre empire.” “Nos prêtres chinais ont retenu cet usage qu’ils avaient pris des Indiens.”[1] ]
The accompanying table is taken from Bopp’s Sanscrit grammar, the characters of the Chinese tables being placed instead of the Sanscrit characters.
| Gutturals, | 見 ká, | 溪 khá, | 郡 gá, ghá, | 疑 ngá. |
| Palatals, | 知 chá, | 徹 ch’á, | 澄 djá, d’zá, | 娘 niá. |
| Linguals, | 端 ta, | 透 t’á, | 定 dá, dh’á, | 泥 ná. |
| Dental, | tá, | thá, | dá, dhá, | ná. |
| Labials, | 幫 pá, | 滂 phá, | 並 bá, bhá, | 明 má. |
| Semivocals, | 影 já (y) | 日 rá, | 來 lá, | wá (v.) |
| Sibilants, | sá(s’), | 審 shá(s’), | 心 sá(s), | 曉 há. |
Marshman possessed a genuine philological spirit, which often appears in the midst of the somewhat extravagant theories in which he frequently indulged. He saw in the present instance, that in the Chinese spoken language, the consonants g, d, b, etc. should each commence a series of words, and this led him to the remark “that a further investigation of the Chinese pronunciation, would probably discover some vestige of this existing at the present day.” Diss, p. 37.
The passage cited in page 43, also ascribes the arrangement of these tables to a Buddhist priest; he improved upon the system of finals invented By Shin-yoh, who wrote one of the twenty one histories, viz. that of the northern Sóng dynasty.
It will now be shown that in a great part of central China such a system prevails. Before attempting to sketch the boundaries of that tract of country, a brief statement will be given of what conditions must be fulfilled, in order to identify an existing pronunciation with these relics of the Buddhist industry of former days.
By referring to the table in [page 44], it will be seen that there are in all 36 initials including, beside those whose Sanscrit equivalents are now given, f, f’, v, w, z, zh, a lower h and y, and the compounds of t and d, with s, z, sh and zh.