As a traverser, what is the most important thing to do when traversing......

Well, to survive, should you think about how you can get ahead, or use all kinds of gold fingers to open up a new life?

Zhang Jiashi can only say that such a thing is really taken for granted...... Think too much.

The most important thing for a traveler is to hear the language of the region at the time...... I can't even communicate, everything can be said to be basically in vain, and even death can be said to be in vain......

If it weren't for the fact that in the first few years of the crossing, Zhang Jiashi had time to study the relevant content of the Qingyu Spirit Book, I am afraid that he would have had a lot of fun.

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Later generations believed that through the earliest oracle bone inscriptions, it was possible to come into contact with the Chinese language 3,000 years ago.

However, the situation in ancient Chinese is difficult to understand in detail from the oracle bone inscriptions.

Even at the time, with the exception of a few linguists, people were generally unaware of the evolution of the phonetics of a language. When reading the ancient books of the pre-Qin Dynasty (such as the Book of Songs), some discordant rhymes were found, and in order to seek harmony, these dissonant words were temporarily changed, which was called "Ye Yin".

Gu Yanwu, a scholar at the end of the Ming Dynasty, believed that each character in the Book of Songs had its own fixed pronunciation, but because the pronunciation of Chinese characters in the pre-Qin period was different from the current pronunciation, the pronunciation of "Poems" in the present pronunciation would be dissonant, but if the pronunciation system of the pre-Qin Dynasty was used, the rhyme would be naturally harmonious, and there was no need for "leaf sound".

When the Qing Dynasty scholar Duan Yuci was studying the ancient books of the pre-Qin period, he discovered an important phenomenon, that is, the side of the homophonic characters coincided with the rhyme feet in the poem. He put forward the theory that "the same voice must be the same part", which took the first step for the study of ancient phonology.

According to the theory that "the same sound must be the same part", if the side used as a homophonic word in the poem is the same, it must belong to the same rhyme part in the pre-Qin phonological system. For example, the character "melon" rhymes with the characters "pot", "tho", "樗", and "husband" in the poem, and the present sound guā obviously does not rhyme with the four sounds hú, jū, chū, and fū, but it is harmonious in the pre-Qin phonology. In addition, the words "lonely", "arc" and "fox" in the poem with the character "melon" on the side also have the same rhyme as "melon", "pot", "tho", "樗" and "husband".

Some rhyming characters can also be used as proof that there are compound consonants or minor syllables in antiquity. For example, "corner" or "旮旯" may be a spin-off of the ancient character "corner". "Order" may also be a spin-off of the ancient "Order".

Chinese pronunciation has undergone significant changes from the Book of Songs to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and when people in the Northern and Southern Dynasties read the pre-Qin literature, they found that there were many dissonances in rhyme. At that time, the commentaries on the Book of Songs reflected the difficulties they encountered: when the rhyme of the Book of Songs did not rhyme, they forcefully changed the sound of one of the characters to make it rhyme, thinking that it would read more harmoniously. For example:

"Yanyan is flying, up and down its sound, the son is returning, and it is sent far to the south"

In this poem, the words "tone" and "south" rhyme. Shen Zheng, a native of Northern Liang, pointed out in "Mao Shiyin": "South: a co-sentence, Yi Nai Lin anti". He uses the reverse cut method to mark what he thinks is the correct pronunciation. This method is called "co-rhyme". Lu Deming, a native of the Sui Dynasty, believed that the co-rhyme method should not be used, because he believed that the ancient people were not strict in rhyme, and there was no need to correct the pronunciation of the Book of Songs. He pointed out: "Shen Yunxie's sentence should be Lin anti, and now it is said that the ancients rhyme slowly, and they don't bother to change words."

In the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi and others inherited the co-rhyme method (also known as "Ye Yin") of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and did not often use this systematic method to correct the pronunciation of the so-called "discordant" rhyme words in the Book of Songs and Chu Ci. They believed that the ancients could temporarily reread the rhyme words, and they had not yet discovered the pronunciation principles that changed over time, and they thought that the pronunciation of the ancients in the pre-Qin era was the same as that of the Song Dynasty.

However, in this era, Wu Yan found that the rhyme phenomenon of the Book of Songs was regular in works such as "Mao's Poetry Leaf Rhyme Complement", and he summarized the medieval rhyme into nine rhymes through the investigation of the rhyme foot character system. Although Wu Yan lacked a clear concept of history (he confused the rhymes and feet of the Tang and Song dynasties with those of the pre-Qin dynasty), his research took the first step into the right direction, opening up new avenues for future generations of scholars to study ancient sounds. In addition to him, Zheng Zhen, Xiang Anshi, Cheng Zhen and others conducted research on ancient sounds.

The earliest scholar to use scientific methods to study ancient sounds was Gu Yanwu. He inherited Chen Di's idea that "ancient poems have no leaf sounds" and aimed to restore the pronunciation of ancient Chinese. He invented the research method of "segregating Tang rhyme": sorting out the rhymes of the Book of Songs and analyzing the rhyming behavior of these words.

The words that rhyme in the Book of Songs usually belong to the different rhyme classes of the Guangyun, because the finals of these words are similar or the same in the ancient sound, and later become different in the Middle Ages. However, the rhyming behavior of ancient sounds is reasonable, and the medieval rhyme class can be assigned to several groups according to these rhyming behaviors, these groups are called "rhyme parts", and the medieval rhyme class of the same rhyme part can rhyme in the Book of Songs, but some medieval rhyme classes appear in several different rhyme parts at the same time. Gu Yanwu summarized the rhyme into ten rhyme parts. Although he was not rigorous enough in the division of rhymes and ignored many important antagonisms, he established the foundation for the study of ancient sounds, and until now, his "segregation of Tang rhymes" is one of the principles of ancient sound construction.

Qing scholars constructed ancient sounds differently than modern linguists. At the time, they believed that Middle Ages that belonged to the same rhyme had the same pronunciation in antiquity, and that later one of the rhyme classes retained its original pronunciation, and the others changed. This approach is seriously flawed.

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During the Sui and Tang dynasties, a unique "pronunciation dictionary" of Chinese appeared, that is, rhyme books and rhyme diagrams. This is a special work of the ancients to classify Chinese pronunciation, such as "Cut Rhyme", "Collection Rhyme", "Guangyun" and so on.

And this kind of "pronunciation dictionary" mainly corresponds to the Middle Ages.

The study of Middle Chinese is a branch of Chinese phonology. Since there was no recording equipment in the Middle Ages, people could only reconstruct the Chinese language in the Middle Ages through objective records. At present, Middle Chinese is reconstructed on the basis of the following three basic sources:

1. The rhyme books of the Sui and Tang dynasties and the Song Dynasty ("Cut Rhyme", "Classic Interpretation", "Guangyun"), etc.; 2. The rhyme diagram compiled according to the rhyme book; 3. The rhyme used by poets of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang dynasties; 4. The traces of Middle Chinese left in various Chinese dialects (such as Guanhua, Liunan, and Jin); 5. The pronunciation of Chinese characters in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese; 6. The Sanskrit-Chinese and Tibetan-Chinese counterwords, and the materials used to transliterate Sanskrit and Tibetan words in Chinese characters.

"Cut Rhyme" is a rhyme book edited by Lu Fayan in the Sui Dynasty, and it is the most important basis for the study of Middle Chinese phonetics. The language of which place the rhyme book represents, the academic community has debated endlessly, and there are the following views:

"Cut Rhyme" represents the dialect of Chang'an. "Cut Rhyme" represents the Luoyang dialect. "Cut Rhyme" is a comprehensive system of Jinling and Luoyang.

Lu adopts the principle of never separating and not combining: as long as the rhyme of two characters is different in one of the dialects he consults, he uses different reverse cut words to remember the finals of these two characters in the "Cut Rhyme", although the pronunciation of the two characters is the same in other dialects. Thus, the phonological categories (sound, rhyme, and tonality) of the Cut Rhyme represent the opposition of all the phonological classes in all dialects: the Cut Rhyme has more phonological categories than any particular dialect.

The phonetic division of "Cut Rhyme" is quite consistent with the "Classic Commentary" and "Jade Chapter" of the same generation, and the three scholars of Lu Fayan, Lu Deming and Gu Yewang coincided to obtain the same result, which proves that "Cut Rhyme" was not fabricated by Lu Fayan out of thin air.

"Commentary on the Classics" is a dictionary used by the ancients when reading the scriptures, written by Tang Lu Deming, 30 volumes. It mainly focuses on the study of ancient sounds, and also distinguishes the teachings, citing 14 documents "Zhou Yi", "Shangshu", "Mao Poems", "Zhou Li", "Rites", "Rites", "Spring and Autumn Zuo Chuan", "Ram Biography", "Liang Biography", "Filial Piety Classic", "Analects", "Laozi", "Zhuangzi", "Erya" preserved a dictionary of early pronunciation in the Tang Dynasty, which was respected by scholars of all dynasties.

The preface to the Commentaries on the Classics reads as follows:

The work of the husband's book has many authors. Written by Confucianism, it is just a book, it has been around for a long time, and it is sincere. However, the consecration has been returned, and it is inevitably biased, and the quality is detailed and brief, and it is different from each other. So far in the Han and Wei dynasties, the posthumous texts can be seen, or they have been specially intended, or the ancestors have recounted the old sounds, and each teacher has become a heart, and the production is like a face. In addition, Chu Xia's voice is different, the north and south are different, right and wrong believe what they hear, the severity is because of what they have learned, and then they learn to drill and admire, and they rarely hear the point. The husband sent it, but in the literary language, if it is a millimeter, it is a thousand miles wrong.

The Master said, "If the name is not right, the word will not be good, and if the word is not good, the word will not be accomplished." Therefore, the name of a gentleman must be spoken, and his words must be feasible. Si Fu is full of words, and it is prosperous. However, the purity of the two rites, including the delicate spirit of the five elements, although the restoration of the natural longitude, must be learned to know. Therefore, Tang Yao's teacher Yu Xu You, Zhou Wenxue Yu Shushu, went to the saint and still learned, and the rest of the matter? As for Bao Julan, the play was the first; dyeing silk and cutting Zizi, the work was in the initial change; the instrument was established, and it was difficult to change and change; one smoke and one smear, and it smelled for ten years. How can it be easy? How can it be easy? I love the tomb less, pay attention to art and literature, although I have ambitions and things, but I still have writings. Guangdong is the age of the Emperor, the lack of Shangzhen, the old sound of the province, and the great simplicity of suffering. The situation has been silent for a long time, the more righteous it is, the more obedient it is, attacking heresy, and competing for life and chiseling. Not in his position, not in his government, both in his duties, rather than as a success? The ancient and modern are recorded together, including its pivotal points, the scriptures are detailed, the precepts are both debated, the quality is not wild, and the complexity is not the turnip. Show the learning of the family, use the heirs, order the service to maneuver, dare not fall, and my comrades, there is no secret. But the Craftsman's Guide makes fun of erudition, and it doesn't hurt Yun Er to say what he says.

Since there was no recording equipment in the Middle Chinese period, and Chinese characters were not alphabetic characters, the pronunciation could not be strictly recorded, and the pronunciation of Middle Chinese could only be determined by analyzing and studying the above materials. Since Gao Benheim first applied the research methods of Western linguistics to Middle Chinese, many Chinese and foreign linguists have proposed the construction of Middle Chinese phonetics. Due to the limitations of the material itself and the different understandings of the material, the foley sounds of each school are somewhat different, but the views of the academic community are basically the same on many important characteristics.

Many of the characteristics of modern Chinese have been established in Middle Chinese, such as a morpheme being a syllable, no consonant clusters that may exist in ancient Chinese, tones with distinguishing functions, and so on. Thus a syllable can be analyzed into initials, finals, and tones. The initials are the opening consonants, and the finals must contain a rhyme, which can also be preceded by a rhyme and followed by a rhyme.

The study of Middle Chinese phonetics mainly revolves around the cut rhyme, but even in the era when the "cut rhyme" was produced, the accents were not uniform in various places.

"Yan's Family Motto" says: "The southerners regard money as salivation, stone as shooting, cheapness as envy, and licking as a lick; "It proves that the accents of the south and the north during the Northern and Southern Dynasties were different. The phonetic system represented by the "Cut Rhyme" underwent several changes in the late Middle Ages. In terms of initials, from the gang, the out, and, and the Ming produced non, dressing, Feng, and micro, as mentioned above.

In addition, the Japanese Chinese pronunciation uses the clean sound p to read the b of "Cut Rhyme", and the voiced B is used to read the m of "Cut Rhyme", which also vaguely reflects the characteristics of late Middle Chinese.

In terms of tone, the original voiced character at the beginning of the voiced sound has become a voiced voice.

Han Yu's "Discernment" said: "In the Han Dynasty, there was Du Du, how should this son be secret? Will he be suspicious of his surname, and will not be suspicious of his suspicion?"

In short, Han Yu thinks that "Du" and "Du" are homophonic, because he also pronounces "Du" as a voice. The second four tones are divided into two parts according to whether the initials are clear or voiced. Japan's Enron's "Si Tan Zang" said: "At the end of Chenghe, Master Zheng came, first studied Luoyang, listened to Taiyuan, and finally learned Chang'an." The momentum is strange, and among the four sounds, each has its own weight. ”

It is said that at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Shamen Shouwen created 30 letters to represent the initials of Middle Chinese, which were later derived from 36 letters. The initials of the "Cut Rhyme" system are obtained by connecting the reverse cut words, which is basically consistent with the thirty letters.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chen Li wrote "Examination of Cut Rhyme", which introduced a new method of analyzing the system of "Cut Rhyme".

At that time, "Publication Fallacy Fills Gaps and Cut Rhymes" had not yet been published, so he had to use "Guangyun" for research.

He used the coupling method to analyze the reverse cut characters, and found that the 36 letters on the rhyme diagram actually ignored the opposition of some sound classes in the "cut rhyme"—the orthodontic sound "zhao, wear, bed, and review" were divided into two categories. According to the Sanskrit-Chinese antiphons and dialect materials, the pronunciation of the initials of the "Cut Rhyme" era can be measured.

Ancient Chinese did not have a phonetic transcription system, and they used the method of reverse cutting to indicate the pronunciation of Chinese, for example, the character "dong" can be annotated as "德红切", which means that the pronunciation of the character "dong" is spelled from "de" and "hong".

The ancients would also arrange words with the same rhyme together to form a "rhyme". When the pronunciation of Chinese characters is drawn in a set of tables, it becomes a "rhyme map", and the reader can search for the words that need to be viewed according to the initials and finals. Traditional rhyme books and rhyme diagrams are very important, and linguists can not only find the secrets of ancient Chinese pronunciation, but also compare them with today's languages. However, the rhyme book appeared after the Six Dynasties, and the rhyme map appeared after the late Tang Dynasty, and there are not many records of spoken language.