Cross-Linguistic Transcription and Phonological Representation in the Hu\`it\'onggu\v{a}nx\`i Hu\'ay\'iy\`iy\v{u}

TL;DR

This study analyzes the Huìtóngguǎnxì Huàyìyì transcription system, revealing its systematic approach to representing non-Chinese languages using Chinese characters and its implications for historical phonology.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive analysis of HHY as an internally structured transcription system, challenging previous assumptions of its phonological directness.

Findings

Main Transcription aligns with Chinese syllable structure.

Supplementary Transcription encodes phonetic features beyond Chinese phonology.

Chinese phonological categories were used flexibly in foreign-language transcription.

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the transcription principles underlying Hu\`it\'onggu\v{a}nx\`i Hu\'ay\'iy\`iy\v{u} (HHY), a series of multilingual glossaries compiled by the Ming government between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries for interpreter training. The study treats HHY not as a collection of isolated language materials, but as a coherent multilingual transcription system representing spoken forms of non-Chinese languages through Chinese characters. Methods: A substantial portion of HHY was digitized and aligned with Chinese phonological categories. Previous reconstructions of individual language sections were critically reviewed and integrated into a unified comparative database. The analysis focuses on cross-linguistic regularities in Main Transcription (MT) and Supplementary Transcription (ST) across eight language sections. Results: MT generally represents sounds compatible with the Chinese syllable structure of the period, whereas ST mainly encodes phonetic features less compatible with Chinese phonology. The analysis further shows that Chinese phonological categories were used more flexibly in foreign-language transcription than previously assumed. HHY therefore functioned as a relatively systematic method of phonetic approximation rather than a direct projection of Chinese phonology onto non-Chinese languages. Conclusion: HHY can be analyzed as an internally structured transcription system rather than merely as a collection of glossaries. More broadly, the study demonstrates that historical transcription systems can provide valuable evidence for historical phonology, particularly for under-documented Asian languages with limited historical records.