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An Early Missionary Syllabary for the Hangzhou Dialect1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Richard VanNess Simmons
Richard VanNess Simmons
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
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Extract

A picture of the phonology of the Hangzhou dialect at the turn of the century is found in a short book entitled Sound-table of the Hangchow dialect that was published in 1902 by the Church Missionary Society in Shàoxīng. The author of the book is not identified, but its production was no doubt associated with Bishop George Evans Moule, who for over 40 years, beginning in 1864, operated a mission in Hángzhōu affiliated with the Church Missionary Society. The spellings used in this book, which presents a syllabary of the Hángzhōu dialect, presumably reflect the system used in two textbooks on the dialect and a prayer book in colloquial Hángzhōu all written by Bishop Moule. The same spelling system was also used in a Hángzhōu vernacular translation of Matthew from the New Testament which was published sometime in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 59 , Issue 3 , October 1996 , pp. 516 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1996

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