Sìshēng quánxíng děngzǐ 四聲全形等子
Phonological-Grade Charts in Full Form for the Four Tones by anonymous SòngYuán transitional compiler
About the work
A 1-juàn anonymous SòngYuán děngyùn (phonological-grade chart) book, conventionally referred to as Sìshēng děngzǐ 四聲等子. Establishes the 16-shè 攝 framework — the high-order classification of all medieval Chinese rhymes into 8 inner (nèizhuǎn 內轉) plus 8 outer (wàizhuǎn 外轉) categories — that became standard in subsequent děngyùn studies. Defines 14 technical ménfǎ (rules-of-spelling) including yīnhé / lèigé / shuāngshēng / diéyùn / píngqiē / píngyùn / yùxiàpíngqiē (the xiá / yù leaping-rule) / rìjìpíngqiē (the rì-initial substitution rule). The book was widely confused with Liú Jiàn’s 劉鑑 Jīngshǐ zhèngyīn qièyùn zhǐnán KR1j0067 (Hòuzhìyuán 2 / 1336): Qián Zēng’s Dúshū mǐnqiú jì claims this is just a re-titling of Liú Jiàn’s book. The Sìkù tíyào refutes Qián’s identification on internal evidence: the shè-numbering differs (zēng 曾 here is nèi 8, in Liú is nèi 6; liú 流 here is nèi 6, in Liú is nèi 7; shēn 深 here is nèi 7, in Liú is nèi 8); the jiāng 江 / gěng 梗 shè are appended to dàng 宕 / zēng in this book but stand alone in Liú’s; the 7-yīn gāngmù (labial = gōng, throat = yǔ) here departs from the Yùpiān’s 5-yīn jué — Liú’s 5-yīn jué maintains the Yùpiān tradition; and crucially, the foreword to Liú’s book by Xióng Zémín 熊澤民 (Hòuzhìyuán bǐngzǐ, 1336) explicitly says “Of old there was the Sìshēng děngzǐ — orthographically standard, but in places the analysis was unclear; Guānxī Liú Shìmíng then composed Jīngshǐ zhèngyīn qièyùn zhǐnán” — proof that this book pre-dates Liú Jiàn and that Liú’s work in fact corrects this book’s jiāng / gěng misplacements. notBefore is therefore set after the date of the Yùnjìng (c. 1161 — the closest demonstrable parent) and notAfter before the publication of Liú Jiàn’s Zhǐnán (1336).
Tiyao
The Sìshēng quánxíng děngzǐ in 1 juàn. Compiler’s name not given. Qián Zēng’s Dúshū mǐnqiú jì says it is identical with Liú Jiàn’s Qièyùn zhǐnán, only re-titled. Cross-checking the two: the discrimination of yīnhé / lèigé / guǎngtōng / júxiá / nèiwàizhuǎnshè / zhènjiù / zhèngyīn píngqiē / jìyùnpíngqiē / yùxiàpíngqiē / rìjìpíngqiē / shuāngshēng / diéyùn — these are all in Liú’s Zhǐnán ménfǎ and Yùyàoshí; but the wording’s depth and clarity differ greatly. The 16 shè — nèishè tōng 通, zhào 照, yù 遇, guǒ 果, dàng 宕, zēng 曾, liú 流, shēn 深; wàishè jiāng 江, xiè 蟹, zhēn 臻, shān 山, xiào 效, má 麻 (assimilated to 假), gěng 梗, xián 咸 — same 16 as Liú’s. But here zēng is nèi-8 whereas Liú makes it nèi-6; here liú is nèi-6 whereas Liú makes it nèi-7; here shēn is nèi-7 whereas Liú makes it nèi-8 — small but consistent differences. Furthermore, here the jiāngshè wài-1 is appended to dàngshè nèi-5, and gěngshè wài-7 is appended to zēngshè nèi-6, whereas in Liú they are separate charts — a substantive difference of arrangement. While Liú does append jiǎshè wài-6 to guǒshè nèi-4 (and the jiǎshè covers 歌 and 麻 — 歌-麻 tōng — so legitimately appended to guǒ), here’s jiāng appended to dàng is wrong (江 is consonant with 東 / 冬 not with 陽 / 剛); and gěng appended to zēng misreads the difference between 庚 / 蒸. Looks like not a single hand. Also: this book’s 7-yīn gāngmù assigns labials (幫 / 滂 / 並 / 明 / 非 / 敷 / 奉 / 微) to gōng and throat-initials (影 / 曉 / 匣 / 喻) to yǔ — quite a departure from the Yùpiān’s 5-yīn tradition. Liú’s Zhǐnán 5-yīn jué preserves the Yùpiān tradition; the two books cannot be one. Liú’s book has a foreword by Xióng Zémín dated Hòuzhìyuán bǐngzǐ (1336) that says: “Of old there was the Sìshēng děngzǐ — for the descent it was the standard orthography, but the in-between analyses still had unclarities; Guānxī Liú Shìmíng composed his book Jīngshǐ zhèngyīn qièyùn zhǐnán” — i.e., Liú’s 16-shè charts in fact come from this book, with the dàng-附-江 and zēng-附-梗 errors corrected. So this book is not Liú’s. As a děngyùn book — second only to Sīmǎ Guāng’s Zhǐzhǎngtú in antiquity — it deserves preservation. Presented Qiánlóng 46 / 11 (1781). General Editors Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Sìshēng děngzǐ (often Sìshēng quánxíng děngzǐ in the WYG title) is one of the foundational děngyùn (phonological-grade chart) books of the SòngYuán transition, anonymous, datable on the witness of Xióng Zémín’s 1336 preface to Liú Jiàn’s Zhǐnán as pre-1336. Establishes the 16-shè framework (8 nèizhuǎn + 8 wàizhuǎn) that became standard in post-Yuán phonological scholarship. Modern phonology (Lǐ Xīnkuí 1991) treats it as a witness to the late-Sòng / Yuán phonological synthesis prior to Liú Jiàn’s better-organised Zhǐnán. The Sìkù tíyào’s textual-critical work — distinguishing this book from Liú Jiàn’s on the basis of fine arrangement-differences — is methodologically excellent. notBefore is provisionally set at 1241 (post-Yùnjìng) and notAfter at 1336 (pre-Zhǐnán); modern scholarship leans toward a Southern-Sòng date.
Translations and research
- Lǐ Xīn-kuí 李新魁. 1991. Hàn-yǔ děng-yùn xué 漢語等韻學. — Standard treatment.
- Zhào Yìn-táng 趙蔭棠. 1957. Děng-yùn yuán-liú 等韻源流. — Tradition history; treats this work alongside the Yùn-jìng.
- Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1984. Middle Chinese. — Uses the 16-shè of this book in conjunction with the Yùn-jìng and the Qī-yīn-lüè as the basic distributional frame for Late Middle Chinese.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s clean refutation of Qián Zēng’s misidentification of this work with Liú Jiàn’s Zhǐnán — using minute internal evidence about shè-numbering — is a model of philological reasoning. The book’s jiāng-appended-to-dàng arrangement (corrected in Liú Jiàn) is the principal symptom that this book pre-dates Liú’s revision.