<p>To elaborate on Peter's point, while I'm not too familiar with the vowel changes from MC to modern Mandarin, both velars(k, g, &amp; h) and certain dental-alveolar affricates (c, z) + fricatives(s) become alveolar-palatals(q,j,x) when they are before a y, i, or v sound in pinyin(k &amp; c -&gt; q, g &amp; z -&gt; j, s &amp; h -&gt; x). This changed is relatively recent in Mandarin, which is why sometimes 北京 might be romanticized in wades-giles as peking, as this corresponds to earlier pronunciations during ~18th century.</p>

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2024-09-19T16:42:06.777Z
2024-09-19T16:42:06.777Z
Jason Lin
<p>I'm not an expert on historical Chinese phonology, but this doesn't seem like an uncharacteristically distant sound evolution compared to other words:</p>
<pre><code>           Baxter       (Zhengzhang
           –Sagart       Shangfang)
Hanzi | Old Chinese | Middle Chinese | Mandarin
 學   |  *m-kˤruk   |      ɦˠʌk̚      |   xué
 穴   |  *[ɢ]ʷˤi[t] |      ɦwet̚      |   xué
 血   |  *m̥ˤik      |      hwet̚      |   xuè
</code></pre>
<p>Between Late Middle Chinese and Modern Mandarin, the final consonants /p/, /t/, /k/ were dropped. In Mandarin the only consonants a syllable can end on are <code>n</code> or <code>ng</code>.</p>
<p>/ɦˠ/ and /ɦw/ - back-of-the-mouth velarized and labialized fricatives, respectively, - likely shifted towards fricatives farther forward in the mouth.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T08:53:36.640Z
2020-08-16T08:53:36.640Z
Peter Olson
<p>So I was wondering why the on'yomi reading of Japanese 学 was &quot;gaku&quot; and the Korean reading of 學 was &quot;hak&quot;, since I knew that in Mandarin, 学 was &quot;xué&quot;, which is radically different from the two.</p>
<p>I did some research and learned that the Middle Chinese reading of 學 was &quot;hæwk&quot; (IPA /ɦˠʌk̚/). That left me to wonder: how did Middle Chinese &quot;hæwk&quot; evolve into modern day Mandarin &quot;xué&quot;, considering that modern day Cantonese 學 is &quot;hok<sup>6</sup>&quot;?</p>
<p>It seems like no other Sinitic or Sino-Xenic descendants differed vastly from the original pronunciation of &quot;hæwk&quot; as much as Mandarin did. Is there a reason for Mandarin specifically differing so much as well?</p>
<p>Linguistically I know the least about Mandarin since I'm a heritage speaker and I didn't learn it as a language learner like I did the other languages, so I apologize if this is a stupid or bad question </p>

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2020-08-16T07:46:46.553Z
[Useful background from Linguistics StackExchange](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/19299/phonological-development-of-middle-chinese-%E5%AD%B8-h%C3%A6wk-to-mandarin-xue-%C9%95ye)
Michaelyus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T11:48:58.823Z
FWIW, 學 in Southern Min is "ha̍k".
Firmin Martin
<mandarin><pronunciation><middle-chinese>
How did Middle Chinese "hæwk" evolve into Mandarin "xué"?
# How did Middle Chinese "hæwk" evolve into Mandarin "xué"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-08-16)

So I was wondering why the on'yomi reading of Japanese 学 was "gaku" and the Korean reading of 學 was "hak", since I knew that in Mandarin, 学 was "xué", which is radically different from the two.

I did some research and learned that the Middle Chinese reading of 學 was "hæwk" (IPA /ɦˠʌk̚/). That left me to wonder: how did Middle Chinese "hæwk" evolve into modern day Mandarin "xué", considering that modern day Cantonese 學 is "hok6"?

It seems like no other Sinitic or Sino-Xenic descendants differed vastly from the original pronunciation of "hæwk" as much as Mandarin did. Is there a reason for Mandarin specifically differing so much as well?

Linguistically I know the least about Mandarin since I'm a heritage speaker and I didn't learn it as a language learner like I did the other languages, so I apologize if this is a stupid or bad question

**Tags:** mandarin, pronunciation, middle-chinese

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: [Useful background from Linguistics StackExchange](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/19299/phonological-development-of-middle-chinese-%E5%AD%B8-h%C3%A6wk-to-mandarin-xue-%C9%95ye)  
> **username_2**: FWIW, 學 in Southern Min is "ha̍k".  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-08-16. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

I'm not an expert on historical Chinese phonology, but this doesn't seem like an uncharacteristically distant sound evolution compared to other words:

```
           Baxter       (Zhengzhang
           –Sagart       Shangfang)
Hanzi | Old Chinese | Middle Chinese | Mandarin
 學   |  *m-kˤruk   |      ɦˠʌk̚      |   xué
 穴   |  *[ɢ]ʷˤi[t] |      ɦwet̚      |   xué
 血   |  *m̥ˤik      |      hwet̚      |   xuè

```

Between Late Middle Chinese and Modern Mandarin, the final consonants /p/, /t/, /k/ were dropped. In Mandarin the only consonants a syllable can end on are `n` or `ng`.

/ɦˠ/ and /ɦw/ - back-of-the-mouth velarized and labialized fricatives, respectively, - likely shifted towards fricatives farther forward in the mouth.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2024-09-19. Score: 0

To elaborate on username_4's point, while I'm not too familiar with the vowel changes from MC to modern Mandarin, both velars(k, g, & h) and certain dental-alveolar affricates (c, z) + fricatives(s) become alveolar-palatals(q,j,x) when they are before a y, i, or v sound in pinyin(k & c -> q, g & z -> j, s & h -> x). This changed is relatively recent in Mandarin, which is why sometimes 北京 might be romanticized in wades-giles as peking, as this corresponds to earlier pronunciations during ~18th century.


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