Vernacular speech during the Tang period?

[thefamousamos93]

Middle Chinese reconstructions abound, with the aspiration to accurately represent how individual characters were pronounced, based on rime books of the period. But is there any information about the actual spoken language/languages/dialects of the Tang period? I'm talking about the actual vocabulary and grammar, since pronunciation only represents a certain aspect of language, not its entirety.

 

Personally I would imagine the colloquial language, if written down in characters, would look like an intermediate between Classical Chinese (of which I've often represented how people may have actually talked when the Classics of the Spring and Autumn/Warring States period were being written), and the vernacular Chinese of today. I've read about the existence of a written style/literary language called 古白話文 (ancient vernacular?), which is supposedly distinct from 文言文 and is representative of spoken speech of the Tang/Song era. I've even read about a student who composed an entire creative essay in 古白話文, titled "The Death of Red Hare", Red Hare being the famed prized steed of Guan Yu. Basically the horse is refusing to eat, so the new owner (post Guan Yu's beheading) was concerned and hired somebody named Bo Xi, who was a renowned horse doctor or something, who also speaks horse. Here's an excerpt, to give you all a feel of how 古白話文 looks:

 

赤兔马哀嘶一声，叹道：“予尝闻，‘鸟之将死，其鸣也哀；人之将死，其言也善。’今幸遇先生，吾可将肺腑之言相告。吾生于西凉，后为董卓所获，此人飞扬跋扈，杀少帝，卧龙床，实为汉贼，吾深恨之。”

伯喜点头，曰：“后闻李儒献计，将君赠予吕布，吕布乃天下第一勇将，众皆言，‘人中吕布，马中赤兔。’想来当不负君之志也。”

 

My translation:

 

Red Hare moaned in pain, sighed and said: "I have often heard of the saying, 'When birds are in the verge of death, there is sadness in their birdcall; when people are near death, their words are true.' It was fortunate to meet you, sir, for I may speak from the bottom of my heart. I was born in Xiliang, and was subsequently raised by Dong Zhuo. He was arrogant and a tyrant, murdering Emperor Shao, sleeping on the emperor's own bed; truly a traitor to the Han. I deeply hated him." 

Bo Xi nodded and replied, "I heard later on Li Ru suggested a scheme (to Dong Zhuo), and had you given to Lu Bu, who was the greatest warrior under heaven. Everyone said, 'Among people there is Lu Bu, and among steeds there is Red Hare.' Thinking back on it, that was a worthy match."

 

The horse talks, lol.

 

Going off on a tangent, I have noticed that the vocabulary utilized in Tang poems, although archaic, have a more modern flavor to it compared to the usages in Confucian classics written 2,500 years ago. I wonder if they were written in pure vernacular, vernacular influenced Classicalized Chinese, or classical-influenced vernacular language.

 

Is there anybody who can provide insight regarding the what the colloquial speech would have looked like, aside from pronunciation (Middle Chinese reconstructions suffice).

[Hofmann]

There is some information on Chinese Wikipedia, but you probably know that already.

[gato]

The wikipedia page on 中古汉语 appears to be limited to pronunciation and grammar of the written language.  The OP is asking about spoken language.  

 

Considering that there's wide variation in pronunciation in China today, there was probably even more variation in pronunciation in the Tang Dynasty.  

[MPhillips]

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