Nov.5] PROCEEDINGS. [1889.p'ang(p'ong,bong,p'an).
pang(pang,pang,beng,bang).
p'ang(p'eng,p'ang, bang,bam).
pao(po,p'o,pok,bo, bok, p'ot).
p'ao(p'o,p'ot,p'ok,bo, bot, bok).
pei and pi often run into each
other(pei,pai, pit, pat, bat).
p'ei (p'ei, b£'\ p'ai, p'it,bit, pit).
p'eu(pu,p'u, bu, piit, p'ut,but).
pi —somecharactersare read pei
— (pi, pai, pdi, bai, pit, pat, bat).
p'i (p'i, p'ai, p'ei, p'it, p'ik,bit,
bat).
piao(pio,pot).
p'iao(p'io,p'ot,bio,bot).
pieh(pit,bit).
p'ieh(pit).
pi en (pien, bien,pin,bin).
p'ien(p'in,bin).
pih (pit, pik, bit, bik).
p'ih,(p'ik,p'it,bik,bit).
pin (pin, bin).
p'in(bin,p'im).
ping(pang,ping,bang).
p'ing(p'ing,p'ang,bing,bang).
piu (bio).
po (pa, pat).
p'o (p'a, ba, p'at).
poh(pak,pat, bak, bat).
p'oh(p'at,p'ak,bak).
pu (po, bo, pok, bok,pot,bot).
p'u (p'o, bo, pok, bok,bot).
puh(pot,pet,bot,bok,bet).
p'uh(p'ok).
Theaboveare all the sounds groupedunderthe letter P in the
Chinesedictionary. Theformsgivenin brackets as old sounds do
not carry us farther backthan 1200 years. It will be noticed that
theyall terminate eitherin a vowel, or in one of the tenues, k, t, p, or
in one of the liquids m, n, or, finally, in the nasal ng. Neitherr nor /
appears in this position. In Accadian, on the other hand, both
appearas finals. Correspondingto the above sounds,in Accadian
we have the following list : ba, bi, bu, bad, bal,bil (pil), bulug',
bam,ban,bar,bur,bis (pes) ; that is about a third of the Chinese
numberof sounds. (It happens thatnoneof these roots endsin
b, like gab.) Thuswe see that the Accadian seriesansweis to the
Chinese, in so far as it has for final soundseithervowelsor the
medials b, g, d, or the liquids m, n. Finall, r, s, have dis
appeared from Chinese; while Accadian has no special modeof
markinga nasalized finalletter.
Undereachof the Chinese sounds,pa, p'a, pah, etc.,we find a
numberof different characters,withdiversemeanings. All or nearly
all under pa are sounded pa, but a distinction is made by means of
the accents or tones, whichplayso important a part in the language.
Consideringthe great numberof meanings whichwe find grouped
togetherundersomeAccadiansigns,we may think it probable that
a similar deviceobtainedin that languagealso,at the time whenit
wasstill spoken,although no diacritic marks indicative of tonal
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