This is a real moot point. 簷 is liâm in Zhangzhou and Xiamen, siâm in Quanzhou. Chaozhou has the same sound as Quanzhou's. Rhyme books show these two different pronunciations. It is sim5 in one of its pronunciations in Cantonese. In Fuzhou it is sieng5 or sing5. The character 檐 is kim5 in Cantonese. The Cantonese pronunciations quoted are from Unihan Database.

One of the meanings of 檐 is "屋簷下的平台" as can be seen in "王背檐而立" in 卷十七 of 國語. This meaning happens to fit the character 岑 most people use for "gîm". Maybe the word and meaning of 岑 indeed came from 檐 or 簷 ultimately. As to what characters should be for nî-chîⁿ, gîm-chîⁿ, or lîm-chîⁿ, it's even more confusing. It could be even 簷簷. It's also possible to be 簷前 as people might later on use "前" alone to stand for 簷.

As to the bifurcation of liâm and siâm, I think the older form could be a *g- form. The afore-said two forms just underwent  two different paths. One in the path of *g- -> *j- -> l- and the other *g- -> *k- ->s-.

Tim

The *g- hypothesis is okay, judging from the principles of sound changes. However, how can we interpret the problem of 以母？It seems that 以母 characters are seldom pronounced with a "g-" initial.

Another thing that merits attention is that the Foochow pronunciation of 檐sieng5 is comparable to the Teochew-Swatow 檐 siam5, despite the fact that Teochew and Foochow are separated by the thickly peopled Minnan/Amoy. This must signify something, I guess.

If not using Middle Chinese system and Chinese rhyme theory, but using the western one instead. We see that g changes to y (/j/) in many cases. This g to y change can be also attested in Chinese dialects. Can this explain 以母's case? It could be a stage before Middle Chinese.

As to the resemblance between Fuzhou and Chaozhou, I know there are more other instances. Also the same for some of the Quanzhou sounds. Quite interesting, but still no plausible explanation so far.

Tim

[ 本帖最後由 timluo 於 2007-12-21 00:54 編輯 ]

According to many scholars, the sound of 以母 in Archaic Chinese/Old Chinese is *l-, while in Middle Chinese it changed to *j-. What I mean here is its Archaic Chinese pronunciation, not the Middle Chinese one.

'Cause the process of *l->*g- is somewhat rare within my reach of data... And I just thought it would be possible that the initial l- of liâm came directly from the Archaic Chinese 以母 *l-, Whereas the Foochow and Teochew s- might be something that took place later on.

Of course, things may also be totally the other way round...

突然想起似乎闽北有来母l-读s-的类型，不知和这种上古以母l-变读s-有无可比性。