Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. [ a ] The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BC, in the Late Shang period.

Old Chinese, sometimes known as "Archaic Chinese", is ancestral to all current Chinese languages. The first known use of the Chinese writing system is divinatory inscriptions into tortoise shells and oracle bones during the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 BCE).

Sep 29, 2014 · Still the best comprehensive diachronic overview of history of Chinese language, structured according to the subsystems of language (syntax, phonology, lexicon, etc.). In some sections, such as historical phonology, already somewhat outdated.

Dec 13, 2024 · Some scholars divide the history of the Chinese languages into Proto-Sinitic (Proto-Chinese; until 500 bc), Archaic (Old) Chinese (8th to 3rd century bc), Ancient (Middle) Chinese (through ad 907), and Modern Chinese (from c. the 10th century to modern times).

…language of China is called Archaic, or Old, Chinese (8th–3rd centuries bce), and that of the next period up to and including the Tang dynasty (618–907 ce) is known as Ancient, or Middle, Chinese. Languages of later periods include Old, Middle, and Modern Mandarin (the name Mandarin is a translation…

Borrowed Chinese morphemes have been used extensively in all these languages to coin compound words for new concepts, in a similar way to the use of Latin and Ancient Greek roots in European languages. [39]

Jun 28, 2024 · One popular theory says that the Chinese language came from a proto-Sino-Tibetan language that was spoken in the Yellow River valley. This language is thought to have started around 7,000 years ago and was spoken by the first people who lived in the area.

Dec 13, 2024 · The history of the Chinese language can be divided into three periods, pre-Classical (c. 1500 bc –c. ad 200), Classical (c. 200–c. 1920), and post-Classical Chinese (with important forerunners as far back as the Tang dynasty).

Mar 28, 2008 · The present chapter describes the structure, history, and setting of the Chinese language, as well as the first appearance and subsequent development of its script, over the millennium from 1200 B.C., the time of the earliest known written record of Chinese, down to the beginning of the imperial era, ca. 200 B.C.

Jun 9, 2020 · Old Chinese refers to the Chinese language before the Qin dynasty (Mandarin: xiānqín 先秦). Unlike later periods, there is no systematic record of an entire phonology. The phonology of Old Chinese must be completely reconstructed, based on various pieces of unrelated source materials.