The Evidence for Chinese *-r

Abstract

In 1989 Starostin proposed that Old Chinese had a final *-r that later changed to -n (and sometimes -j). Baxter & Sagart subsequently incorporated Starostin’s proposal in their 2014 Old Chinese reconstructions. This essay attempts to assemble the evidence for Old Chinese final *-r and to elaborate an explicit notation for the relative strength of this evidence for reconstructing an *-r in particular words.