Cours éclectique graduel et pratique de la langue chinoise parlée and the Internal Variation of the Běijīng Dialect of the 19th Century

Abstract

This paper utilizes French diplomat Imbault-Huart’s Cours éclectique graduel et pratique de la langue chinoise parlée (1887–89) and proved that it reflects another internal variation of the Běijīng dialect of the 19th century. The Cours seems to reject certain features associated with the traditional Běijīng dialect. According to Joseph Edkins, the literati from Jiāngnán area who had resided in Běijīng for generations employed a language combined “the tones of Běijīng with the initials and the rhymes of Nánjīng.” This paper reveals that the Cours most likely reflects the language seen in the Edkins’ grammar.