Chinese phonology is the science that studies the Chinese phonetic system. It includes ancient phonetics, modern phonetics, northern phonetics, etymology and other disciplines.
Phonology is different from phonetics: phonetics is an objective description of speech, and sometimes uses various experimental methods to demonstrate the physiological and physical phenomena of speech; phonology treats speech as a system Come to Observe, it studies the interrelationships between various phonetic phenomena. Since phonetics studies speech as a physiological or physical phenomenon, there is so-called general phonetics, which describes the functions of vocal organs and the composition of various speech sounds. It is applicable to all mankind, but the specific language of each nation still has It just has some voice characteristics of its own. As for phonology, there is no "ordinary phonology" because phonology always belongs to a specific language and has significant national characteristics. The phonetic system of language A can never be the same as the phonetic system of language B.
However, phonology is closely related to phonetics. It is unimaginable that a person who does not understand the principles of pronunciation can study phonology well. Therefore, we can say that phonetics is the basis of phonology.
Chinese phonology has a tradition of more than a thousand years, and it has its own set of theories and terminology. We should use modern phonetic theories and terminology to explain it. We cannot abandon ancient theories and terminology because we must inherit the cultural heritage of phonology.
Research Purpose
We study modern Chinese phonology in order to understand the strict and systematic nature of modern Chinese phonetics, so as to better master the phonetics of modern Chinese, which is beneficial to language practice.
We study ancient Chinese phonology because it is a linguistic department closely related to the history of the Chinese language. It is necessary to study the phonology of ancient Chinese in depth first, and then it is possible to study the history of the development of Chinese phonetics.
Phonology is also closely related to philology. There is philology in the narrow sense and philology in the broad sense. The former specializes in the study of the form of characters; the latter studies the shape, pronunciation and meaning of characters. From a broad perspective, phonology is also included in philology. The old name of philology is "elementary school", which was originally a literacy exercise. Ancient scholars believed that reading must first be literate, because the era of some ancient books is far away from modern times. Many of the characters in the books are unknown to us in terms of glyphs, pronunciations, and meanings. . Moreover, the shape and pronunciation of Chinese characters are organically connected. If you do not understand the ancient pronunciation, you will not understand the ancient glyphs and meanings, or you will not understand them thoroughly. The ancients regarded characters (character shapes), phonology (character sounds), and exegesis (character meanings) as the basic knowledge necessary to inherit the cultural heritage of the motherland, which makes sense.
Traditional Chinese phonology has always been considered a difficult knowledge, even called a "unique knowledge". In fact, if the ancient phonology theory and terminology are compared and explained with the modern phonetics theory and terminology, it will become easier to understand, and even easy to understand. Of course, due to the limitations of the times, there are some vague or even wrong theories in traditional phonology, as well as some mysterious terms that lack scientific basis. In this small book, we may criticize them. Or simply omit it. We strive to explain Chinese phonology in a simple way, but at the same time, we must not compromise its scientific nature just because we require simplicity. I hope this small book can connect the past and the present and enable readers to gain a more comprehensive basic knowledge of Chinese phonology.
The function of phonology
Chinese phonology and history of Chinese language, Chinese dialectology, exegesis, archeology, collation, Chinese classical literature, ancient history, ancient philology and ancient books Organizing and other disciplines are closely related, and their functions are multifaceted. Below we mainly talk about the functions of Chinese phonology from four aspects.
1. Chinese phonology is the prerequisite for establishing the history of the Chinese language
It is necessary to study Chinese phonetics, point out the characteristics and development rules of Chinese phonetics, and guide the learning and use of Chinese to ensure that the Chinese language continues to develop To develop in a healthy and correct direction, we must establish a history of Chinese phonetics. To establish the history of Chinese phonetics, we must first study the tone, rhyme, and tone systems of Chinese in various historical periods. For example, what is the tone, rhyme, and tone system of Chinese in the Pre-Qin period, what is the tone, rhyme, and tone system of Chinese in the Sui and Tang dynasties, what is the tone, rhyme, and tone system of Chinese in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties? What was the tone, rhyme, and tone system of Chinese during the period, etc. Only by clarifying the appearance of the sound, rhyme, and tone systems in these different historical periods, and exploring the connections and development rules among them, can we talk about the establishment of the history of Chinese phonetics. And we must know the status of the sound, rhyme, and tone in each period of the Chinese language. , we have to rely on phonology research. Mr. Wang Li's "History of Chinese Phonetics" was written on the basis of the research results of Chinese phonology. Its outstanding feature is that it displays the sound, rhyme system and onomatopoeia in various historical stages of Chinese in more detail, and points out the Chinese phonetics. certain laws of development.
2. Phonology is essential knowledge for dialect research
Chinese dialectology is a science that studies the local spoken languages ??of Chinese. To conduct in-depth research on dialects, we have to involve the history of dialects. Only by finding out the basis for the characteristics of dialects from a historical perspective can we understand the origins of dialects and provide scientific explanations for the characteristics and evolution of dialects. ; Therefore, to engage in dialect research, you must have certain phonological knowledge.
For example, the word "curtain" is pronounced as [mu?] in Beijing dialect, while it is pronounced as [m?k?] in Meixian dialect of Guangdong. Why is there such a big difference in the pronunciation of the word "curtain" between Beijingers and Meixian people? As long as If you have some knowledge of phonology, you will know that both Beijing dialect and Meixian dialect are derived from the ancient sounds of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, "curtain" belonged to the rhyme of "Duo", with a stop sound ending in [k], and the onomatopoeic sound was [mɑk]. The reason why Beijingers pronounce "curtain" as [mu?] is because by the Yuan Dynasty, the rhyme endings of most northern dialects had fallen off. With the falling off of the rhyme endings, the rhyme vowels also changed significantly. The reason why people in Meixian Province pronounce "curtain" as [m?k?] is because the phenomenon of falling off the rhyme ending of the incoming tone has not happened in Meixian dialect so far. Due to the stabilizing effect of the stop consonant rhyme ending, the change in the rhyme ventral is very small. . To conduct dialect research, dialect investigation is generally indispensable. To conduct dialect investigation, you need to go to the dialect area in person to conduct oral interviews, listening, taking notes, and doing static analysis and description work. This also requires knowledge of phonology. All books on dialect surveys inevitably describe the basic knowledge of phonology. The "Dialect Survey Character List" compiled by the Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, uses the medieval phonology system, with the purpose of comparing ancient and modern times and explaining the history of modern phonetic characteristics. According to and evolution rules.
3. Phonology is a tool of exegesis
Exegesis is a traditional science that studies the meaning of ancient Chinese languages ??and characters. The disciplines closely related to exegesis include phonology, philology, lexicon, grammar, philology, etc. Among them, the relationship between phonology and exegesis is the most important, and it is a powerful tool for exegesis, because exegesis often requires the interpretation of word meanings through The voice explains the problem. All accomplished exegesis masters are all proficient in phonology knowledge or are masters of phonology themselves, such as Dai Zhen, Wang Niansun, Wang Yinzhi, and Duan Yucai from the Qing Dynasty, and today's Yang Shuda, Yang Bojun, Zhou Zumo, etc. There is such a famous example in "Lu Shi Chun Qiu Chong Yan", which is enough to illustrate the importance of phonology for exegesis:
Qi Huangong and Guan Zhong planned to attack Ju, but the plan was not carried out before the country heard about it. Duke Huan blamed him. ...After a while, Dongguo Ya arrived. ... Guanzi said: "Zi Xie? He said to attack Ju." He said to him, "Of course." Guan Zhong said: "I don't say to attack Ju, so why do you say to attack Ju?" He said to him: "I heard that a gentleman is good at planning. People are well-intentioned, and the minister steals his intention." Guan Zhong said, "I didn't say anything about attacking Ju, so why did you mean it?" He said to him, "...I hope you are on the stage,...you are angry and speak gold. The person speaking is Juye."
Gao You of the Eastern Han Dynasty commented on the characters for "忿" and "口jin": "忿" means to open; "口jin" means to close. High vowels, why does Gao You's note say that Duke Huan's mouth is open when he pronounces the Ju sound? To explain this problem, we need to rely on the knowledge of ancient pre-Qin sounds. It turns out that "Ju" belongs to the word "fish" in the Pre-Qin Dynasty. According to modern people's construction, its pronunciation is [kǐ], and the rhyme belly [] is an open low vowel. No wonder Dongguo Ya said that Qi Huangong pronounced the sound "Ju" The mouth shape is "open but not closed". If it were not explained by the ancient sounds of the pre-Qin Dynasty, Gao Yu's explanation of "厮, kai" would make people feel puzzling and become an eternal mystery.
In a large number of ancient documents, Tongjia characters can be found everywhere. The so-called Tongjia characters, seen today, are the other characters written by the ancients. The objective reason for the emergence of Tongjia is that it has the same or similar pronunciation as the original character, so it is easier to write Tongjia when writing the original character (another matter for imitation of ancient characters). One of the important tasks of exegesis is to find the original character of Tongjia. Due to the development and change of pronunciation, the pronunciation of some Tongjia characters is different from the original characters today. If you do not understand the ancient pronunciation, it will be difficult to connect them. For example:
"Xunzi·Fei Twelve Sons": "The writings of the holy kings are so complete, and the Buddha is so common in the world."
The word "Buddha" is used in " It doesn't make sense to explain it as "like" or "the founder of Buddhism". It is obviously a fake character, and its original character should be "bo". The Tang Dynasty's Yang "Buddha" is pronounced as "Bo". Bo Ran means "rising appearance". The modern pronunciations of "Buddha" and "Bo" are quite different. One initial consonant is f and the other initial consonant is b. It is difficult for ordinary people to connect them; however, From the perspective of ancient pronunciation, not only do the two have the same rhymes, but they also have the same initial consonants. How do you know that the initial consonants of "Buddha" and "Bo" are the same? This involves an important conclusion in phonology: "There was no light labial sound in ancient times." According to this conclusion, there were no light labial sounds such as f in ancient times. All light labial sounds pronounced as f in later generations were pronounced as bilabial sounds such as b and p in ancient times. Since the pronunciations of "Bu" and "Bo" were exactly the same in ancient times, it is not surprising that the ancients wrote "Bo" as "Buddha". Sometimes, there is a sound transfer phenomenon between Tongjia characters and original characters, and it is even more difficult for people who do not understand phonology to think of the connection. For example:
The sun and the moon are everywhere, and the flowers are stacked and faded?
The worry in the heart is like a bandit's clothes.
You can’t fly by talking quietly and thinking about it.
Chapter 5 of "The Book of Songs, Beifeng, Baizhou"
Among them, the sentence "like bandit Hanyi" has been interpreted by commentators since Mao Heng as "like unwashed clothes". "Dirty clothes" is a metaphor for feeling sad and uncomfortable like wearing unwashed clothes. This explanation does not make sense logically. There is no similarity between the metaphor and the ontology, and it cannot be connected with the following "quiet words and thinking, unable to fly". In fact, "bandit" should be the ancient character for "篚". "Shuowen Jiezi": "The bandit's weapon is like a bamboo basket." "Hanyi" should be "Hanyin". The ancient pronunciations of "Han" and "Han" both belong to the "Yuan" group and Xiniu, so there is no problem that "Han" is connected to "Han".
The initial consonants of "Yi" and "Yin" are the same, and both belong to the "Ying" initials; but the rhyme parts are different, Yi belongs to the "Micro" part, and Yin belongs to the "Invasion" part. According to Mr. Wang Li's onomatopoeia, the pronunciation of "micro" is [?i] and the pronunciation of "invasion" is [?m]. The two have the same initial consonants and rhyme vowels, but different rhyme endings. One has a vowel ending, and the other has a nasal ending. Why does "yi" match the "sound"? This involves an important sound change rule in phonology: "Yin", "Yin", "Yin", "Yin" Yang Opposite". It turns out that the pronunciation of the two characters in the author's dialect is the same, so they can be interpreted as false. From the perspective of common language, the pronunciation of these two characters has been reversed in the author's dialect, that is, from the yang rhyme to the yin rhyme. "Hanyin" is chicken. "Book of Rites: Qu Li Xia": "In all rituals for offering sacrifices to the ancestral temple,...sheep are called soft feathers, and chickens are called Hanyin." Later generations used Hanyin as a synonym for chicken. Zhang Xie's "Seven Lives" (see "Selected Works"): "The legs of the bear are sealed, and the soles of the Hanyin are." Lu Yanji's note: "The Hanyin is the chicken." Volume 6 of Chen Menglei's "A Brief Description of the Book of Changes" of the Qing Dynasty: "The cock must crow. The word "bandit" in "bandit Hanyi" is used as a verb, meaning "to lock...in a cage". The meaning of the whole sentence should be "like a chicken in a cage", so that there is a similarity between the metaphor and the ontology: unable to be free. At the same time, it also has echoes with "cannot fly" below.
4. Phonology is the basis for learning and researching the rhythm of ancient poetry
Ancient Chinese poetry pays great attention to rhythm and rhyme, and is full of musicality. Especially in the metrical poetry of the Tang Dynasty, in order to maximize the rhythm and twists and turns of the poem's musical feeling, the four tones of level 1 and 2 were intentionally divided into two categories: level and oblique, and a strict alternating rhythm was prescribed. Therefore, without a certain degree of phonological cultivation, it is impossible to fully and accurately understand and appreciate ancient poetry, and it is difficult to study it, let alone research it. For example:
Qingqingzipei〔bu〕, leisurely wosi〔si?〕.
Even if I don’t go, Zi Ning won’t come [l?]?
Chapter 2 of "The Book of Songs·Zheng Feng·Zijin"
This chapter of the poem today It doesn't seem to rhyme. People who don't understand phonology will mistakenly think that it doesn't rhyme originally. In fact, it did rhyme in the pre-Qin Dynasty. The three words "Pei", "Si" and "Lai" all belong to the same rhyme part. If you read this poem according to the following onomatopoeia, its charm will be immediately apparent. Another example is the Tang Dynasty poet Chen Ziang's "Song of Dengyouzhou":
There are no ancients in front of me, and no newcomers in the back [t?ia]!?
Thinking of the leisurely journey of heaven and earth, alone I shed tears of sadness [?a]!
This poem seems to not rhyme today, but in fact it also rhymed in the Middle Ages. The two characters "zhe" and "下" both belong to the upper tone "horse" rhyme in Pingshui rhyme. Nowadays, many people like the rhythmic poetry of the Tang Dynasty. However, to truly understand the rhythm of the rhythmic poetry and learn to adjust the rhythm, you must have some basic knowledge of phonology. For example, a considerable part of the characters in the oblique tones in ancient times have become flat tones today. If you analyze the oblique tones of rhythmic poetry according to today's tone categories, you will definitely make mistakes. Take Bai Juyi's Wulu "Cao" as an example 2:
The grass grows in the original land, and it dries up every year
The wild fire cannot be burned out, but the spring breeze blows and grows again.
The distant fragrance invades the ancient road, and the clear green meets the deserted city.
I sent the king and grandson off again, and the love was full of farewell.
The three characters "一", "Jie" and "Bie" are pronounced as Yinping and Yangping respectively in Mandarin. In the Middle Ages, they were all characters with the oblique tone. If we treat these three characters as flat tones according to the current pronunciation, we will mistakenly think that "Yi Hongrong" and "Jie Huangcheng" are both Sanping tones, and "Manbie" and "qiqi" do not alternate between flat and flat tones.
How to identify the characters that enter the tone has become a major difficulty for modern people, especially northerners, in learning poetry. However, as long as you understand a little phonology, it will be much easier to identify the characters that enter the tone.
Fan Tengfeng, a representative figure in phonology
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Fan Tengfeng (1601-1664), a native of Xiliangqian Village, Longyao County, Xingtai , a famous Chinese phonologist who is famous throughout the country for his creation of "Five Vowels". Fan Tengfeng was a scholar. After the Qing troops entered the customs, he actively participated in anti-Qing activities and served as a military advisor. He united with Gaotang and Gaodian from his own village, Liang Lutou and Jia Erganzhang from neighboring villages, and supported Zhao Er from the neighboring village. The madman is the emperor and fights against the Qing soldiers. Later, it failed and Zhao Erluo and others were killed. Fan Tengfeng hid in the cellar for three years and wrote "Five Vowels". This kind of dictionary uses the fanqie method, using twelve finals and twenty initial consonants to pinyin. The twelve rhymes are: one day, two people, three dragons, four sheep, five oxen, six mastiffs, seven tigers, eight camels, nine snakes, ten horses, eleven jackals, and twelve earths. The twenty letters are: bang, goo, wood, wind; bucket, earth, bird, thunder; bamboo, insect, stone, sun; scissors, magpie, tie, cloud, gold, bridge, fire, frog. It is very convenient to look up words in this way.
"Five Vowels" was originally published in wood version. His descendants sold the woodblock to a family in Dongchangfu, Shandong Province. This person took the woodblock to Shanghai and reprinted it with lithography, which became popular throughout the country. The lithograph version printed by Shanghai Jinzhang Bookstore has the cover title "Complete Collection of Vowels in Five Directions, Original by Mr. Fan Tengfeng". This version is widely circulated.