| Summary: | 博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 中國文學研究所 === 103 === The term “Sino-Korean pronunciations” refers to the reading pronunciations of Chinese characters in the Korean language. Chinese characters had long been used on the Korean peninsula as the official writing system before the Korean writing system, Hangeul, was adopted as the official script. To this day, Korea has maintained a close relationship with China. As a result, the long-term cultural exchange between Korea and China has stimulated the development of Sino-Korean pronunciations.
This study aims to show that 1) Sino-Korean pronunciations reflect complex systems consisting of multiple historical layers originating in various time periods and regions of China, and 2) to systemically analyze the historical layers of Sino-Korean pronunciations. In earlier studies the prevailing view was to regard Sino-Korean pronunciations as a single invariable system. According to this view, Sino-Korean pronunciations were fixed after the adoption of Chinese pronunciations, and developed independently of external influences. Contrary to popular belief, this study demonstrates that Sino-Korean pronunciations not only reflect the features of Middle Chinese phonology but also contain a number of layers comparable to Old Chinese and Post-Medieval Chinese phonology. Such a conclusion is drawn from a detailed analysis of the phonological system of Sino-Korean pronunciations and a comparative study of the histories of the Korean and Chinese languages. It also suggests that the Korean language has been continuously in contact with the Chinese language as the two regions have maintained a close relationship from earlier times.
The structure of the dissertation is as follows: The introduction clarifies the significance and goals of this study, and introduces previous studies on the topic as well as research data and methodologies. The second chapter explains the phonological features of the Korean language, and a brief history of sound changes experienced in the Korean language. The next two chapters constitute the main body of this dissertation. Chapters three and four illustrate the stratification of Sino-Korean finals and initials, respectively, by citing practical Sino-Korean pronunciations. The fifth chapter marks the conclusion of this dissertation. It summarizes the results of this study and suggests possible research topics based on the results
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