siegecrossbow
PDF THINK TANK: ANALYST
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They can't, it's all computer-based reconstruction, that they developed from rhyming poems in Ancient China.
Still interesting though.
Chinese poet/linguistics expert Guo Mo Ro apparently could speak "Jia gu weng"!!! I've always wondered what basis they had for linguistic reconstructions. Here is my theory though. According to my friend's father the "Mingnan" accent is pretty close to the "original" Chinese since refugees from Tang Dynasty who went to live in Southern China were relatively isolated from the rest of the nation. Maybe they used some of China's "ancient dialects" to do reconstructions?
Guess no one could challenge the experts unless someone builds a time machine.