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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2010
Chinese is the third and last major division of Sino-Tibetan to be considered in this review. Three stages of the language are conveniently recognized: (a) Archaic Chinese (Ar. Ch.), ca. 1200–800 B.C., (b) Ancient Chinese (Anc. Ch.), ca. A.D. 600, and (c) the modern dialects. Ancient Chinese has been reconstructed from the modern dialects together with the material found in the Ch'ieh Yün and other lexicographical works of the first millennium A.D. Archaic Chinese represents a still farther projection into the past, achieved through the analysis of the Shih Ching rhymes and the phonetic elements of Chinese characters. A number of scholars, including Maspéro, Simon and Li Fang-kuei, have contributed to the brilliant results attained in this field, but we are indebted above all to the monumental studies by Karlgren. Our purpose here is not to review the developments within Chinese itself, but rather to study the earliest known stage of the language (Ar. Ch.) in the light of our reconstruction of Tibeto-Burman and Tibeto-Karen. The forms cited below accordingly are those of Ar. Ch., often along with the later Anc. Ch. forms, all as given in the Grammata Serica of Karlgren.
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