Always in my heart (Wang Changling)
Young women in boudoir don't know how to worry (chóu), put on makeup in spring, and go to the Cuilou (lóu).
Suddenly I saw the willow color (Se) on the head of a stranger and regretted teaching my husband to find the seal (hóu).
The words "sorrow", "Lou" and "Hou" rhyme here, because their vowels are all European. The word "color" doesn't rhyme, because when you read se, the vowel is e, which is not the same rhyme as "sorrow", "building" and "Hou". According to the poetic law, four poems like this don't have to rhyme with the third poem. In Chinese Pinyin, I, U and ü are sometimes added before A, O and E, such as ia, ua, ie and ü e; Sometimes followed by I, O, N, ng, such as uai, ao, iao, an, ian, uan, ü an, iang, uang, UN, Ueng, ü n, etc. This I, u, u is called rhyme; I, o, n and ng are called rhymes. Words with different endings can also be regarded as homonyms, because their stems (the trunk of rhyme) can also rhyme. For example: Silkworm Girl (Du Xunhe)
Powder has no hunger (jiā). I'm not sure there is glory in the world.
Every year, it is said that silkworms are hard, and I am covered in ramie (má).
The vowels of "Jia", "Hua" and "Ma" are ia, ua and A. Although the vowels are not exactly the same, they are all A, so they are also homophones, and they are equally harmonious together. The purpose of rhyming is to rhyme harmoniously. The repetition of the same rhyme in the same position constitutes the beauty of the sound ring. However, when we read ancient poems, why do we often feel that their rhymes are not very harmonious, or even very harmonious? This is because times have changed and pronunciation has changed. If we read ancient poems with modern pronunciation, it will happen naturally. For example:
Cold food (Han Yi)
Flowers are flying all over the sky in the spring city (huā), and the cold food is easterly and willow oblique (xié).
At dusk, candles were issued in the Han Palace, and light smoke was scattered into the hall of the Five Emperors (jiā).
Xié and Hu ā and Ji ā are not homophones, but in the Tang Dynasty, the word "Xie" was pronounced as jiá, just like the pronunciation of "Xie" in modern Shanghai and Hangzhou. So, it was harmonious. Another example is:
Jiangnan Qu (Li Yi)
Since I married Qutang businessman, he has not kept his promise every day.
If I thought that the tides were so regular, I might choose a riverside boy (ér).
In this poem, "period" and "zi" rhyme; However, if you read in Mandarin today, Qρ and ér can't rhyme. If the word "er" is read according to the pronunciation of Shanghai dialect, it will be very harmonious if it sounds like "you" (close to the ancient sound). Today, of course, it is impossible (and unnecessary) for us to read the poems of the ancients completely according to the ancient sound; However, we have to understand this truth, so that we won't doubt that the rhymes of the ancients are not harmonious. Similarly, if your daily pronunciation does not belong to the northern phonetic area, you can skillfully rhyme with the pronunciation of your familiar hometown dialect when writing ancient poems. Then there is the law: four tones, which refers to the four tones in ancient Chinese. The pronunciation of words has tones, which is the characteristic of Chinese. The tone of Chinese is composed of the ups and downs and the length of the voice, and the ups and downs are the main factors. Take the tones of Putonghua as an example. There are four tones in * * *: the flat tone (the first tone) is Gao Pingtiao (it's called flat tone if it doesn't rise or fall), the flat tone (the second tone) is medium-rising tone (not high or low), and the rising tone (the third tone) is low-rising tone (with a turning point, sometimes low-falling tone) and falling tone (the fourth tone).
Ancient Chinese has four tones, but it is not exactly the same as Mandarin today. The ancient four tones (each tone is divided into yin and yang, so there are eight tones in * * *) are:
(1) flat voice. Offspring is divided into level tone and level tone.
(2) on the sound. In ancient times, it was a sound. Some of them have become voiceless in future generations.
(3) sounding. In ancient times, it was a sound. In the afterlife, it is still silent.
(4) if you are born. In ancient times, it was a sound. The pronunciation characteristics of this tone are: ① short tone. For example, in the pronunciation of the words "Xie" and "Zhu" in Hangzhou dialect, you will obviously feel that the interval of "Xie" and "Zhu" is much shorter than that of "Xie" and "Fa". This is the so-called "clear entry (yin entry)". ② It has the characteristics of ①. When reading, the vocal cords still vibrate obviously. For example, in the words "Yue" and "Guo" in Hangzhou dialect, you will feel that the intervals of "Yue" and "Guo" are very short and the vocal cords vibrate obviously. This is the so-called "turbid entry (yang entry)". Modern Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi and other places still retain this tune. There are also many places in the north (such as Shanxi and Inner Mongolia) that still have voices. When people in these places write ancient poems, it will be handy to put Rusheng characters into rhyme (there are also some aphorisms in Song poetry that stipulate the usage of Rusheng).
In the north, Rusheng has four tones. In Putonghua, the entering tone is the most, followed by the rising tone, and the least. There is a close relationship between the four tones and rhyme, which can be divided into two categories: flat (including flat and rising tones) and oblique (including rising tones, falling tones and entering tones). In rhyme books, words with different tones cannot be regarded as homophones. In poetry, words with different tones generally cannot rhyme. Distinguishing four tones is the basis of distinguishing flat tones.
Pingzuo
Knowing what four tones are, it is easy to understand the flat tone. The ancients divided four tones into two categories: flat tones. Ping means ping (Putonghua is divided into flat tone and rising tone), which means rising tone and entering tone (Putonghua is divided into rising tone, falling tone and entering tone). The so-called "roughness" means "profile", which means unevenness. If these two tones are used alternately in poetry, the tones can be diversified and not monotonous. Although the ancients said "cadence" and "sonorous voice", there are other stresses, but balance and harmony are indeed an important factor. How exactly are the flat lines in poetry staggered? It can be summarized as two sentences: (1) In the same sentence, levels and levels alternate.
(2) In the antithesis, the level tone is opposite to the sentence. (odd sentences are called antitheses, even sentences are called antitheses)
This rule of leveling is particularly obvious in metrical poems. For example, the seven laws of literature? 6? 1 the third and fourth sentences of the poem "stone seclusion": the shade is like night, the drizzle is like smoke, and the grass is like grass. These two sentences are flat: flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat. As far as this sentence is concerned, every word has a rhythm. Pingping is followed by Xu Wei, Xu Wei is followed by Pingping, and the last word is Xu Wei. This is alternation. As far as the sentence is concerned, "Mao Mao rain" doesn't mean "cloudy day"; "Smoke" equals "account"; "Green grass" is relative to "Hong Wei", relative to mediocrity, and "new" is relative to "late". This is relative.
Originally, it was very convenient to distinguish flat tones only in Mandarin. However, there is also an entering tone in the ancient sound (see introduction), which has a unique pronunciation and brings some troubles to modern people. If you have Rusheng in your dialect (such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang people or Shanxi people, Hunan people and South China people), then this problem will be solved easily. If you are from Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and northern Guangxi, Rusheng characters in these dialects are classified as Yangping in Mandarin. Then, as long as you meet the word Yangping, you should pay special attention to the distinction. If necessary, you can only look them up in a dictionary or rhyme book. If you are from the north, the words from entering tone to falling tone, and from entering tone to rising tone do not prevent us from distinguishing flat tones. Only when the entering tone is changed to flat tone (flat tone and upper tone) will it be difficult to distinguish flat tone. In a word, when we meet a place where rhyme is stipulated in the poetry meter, but the poet uses a word that sounds very flat today, it should arouse our suspicion and can be solved by looking it up in a dictionary or rhyme book (see another book by the author, Poetry? 6? 1 modern Chinese phonetics). Note: any word ending in -ng cannot be an entering tone word. The problem of entering tone is the only obstacle to distinguish the level tone. This obstacle can only be eliminated by consulting dictionaries, rhyming books or practicing more; However, the truth of leveling is easy to understand. Moreover, there are still about half of the places in China with flat tones, and people in those places have no problem in distinguishing flat tones. For the corresponding relationship between Rusheng and Putonghua, please refer to the author's book "Appendix to Full Poetic Rhyme: Comparative Table of Putonghua and Rusheng".