On the Distribution of Rounded Medial in Old Chinese: the Separate Between Rounded and Unrounded Rhymes in Book of Songs

Based on a database of rhymings in Book of Songs, this paper proves that in old Chinese: (1) Dental-ending finals (with coda [-t/-n/-d/-r]) could have rounded medial [-u-] or [-w-]; (2) Finals in labial syllables (with labial initial) could be classified into two tyes: rounded and unrounded; (3) Velar-ending finals (with coda [-k/-& eng;/-g]) had no rounded medial, but could follow a labialized initial [k(w)-] or [p(w)-]; and the labialized [(w)-] gave rise to rounded medial [-w-] in middle Chinese; (4) In Book of Songs, there was a tendency to distinguish rounded rhymes from the unrounded.