Jīngshǐ zhèngyīn qièyùn zhǐnán 經史正音切韻指南
Guide to the Spelling-Rhymes for Standard Pronunciation in the Classics and Histories by 劉鑑 (Liú Jiàn, zì Shìmíng 士明, of Guānzhōng), Yuán Hòuzhìyuán 2 / bǐngzǐ / 1336
About the work
The most influential of all post-Sòng děngyùn (phonological-grade chart) books and the standard pedagogical reference for fǎnqiè spelling under the YuánMíngQīng. 1 juàn. Building on Sīmǎ Guāng’s 司馬光 Qièyùn zhǐzhǎngtú KR1j0058 as base, supplemented by the anonymous Sìshēng quánxíng děngzǐ KR1j0066 (which Liú judges flawed in its arrangement of the jiāng / dàng / gěng / zēng shè), and explicitly correcting that book’s errors. The work establishes the canonical 16-shè arrangement and adds the Yùyàoshí 玉鑰匙 (“Jade Key”) ménfǎ — the core technical-rules set for fǎnqiè spelling — that became the standard pedagogical framework. Liú’s preface (also 1336) is striking: he claims the work was written to provide zhèngyīn 正音 (standard pronunciation) for the Classics and Histories, observing that Yuán-period readers freely confused qīng and zhuó (e.g. shàng 上 read as shǎng 賞), confused fǎnqiè spelling-pairs (e.g. fújī read as féi, where pí is correct), and adopted dialectal corruptions (e.g. 雞 jī read as qí 齎; 癸 guǐ read as gùi 貴; 菊 jú read as 韭 jiǔ). The book is the principal Yuán-period attempt to define zhèngyīn against dialectal drift — an attitude foundational to the early-Míng Hóngwǔ zhèngyùn KR1j0068. The Sìkù tíyào judges the book flawed in its guǎngtōng / júxiá and nèiwàizhuǎn doctrine (which Liú simply omits), but acknowledges its dominance of the genre. Some end-of-book material in the surviving copies (the Zhízhǐ Yùyàoshí of monk Shì Zhēnkōng 真空 and the Ruòyú zhízhǐ ménfǎ) is rejected as apocryphal by the Sìkù compilers and excised.
Tiyao
The Jīngshǐ zhèngyīn qièyùn zhǐnán in 1 juàn. Composed by Liú Jiàn of the Yuán. Jiàn, zì Shìmíng, self-styled a man of Guānzhōng — too broad to identify the prefecture or county. Qièyùn spelling must be grounded in the Děngzǐ; with Sīmǎ Guāng’s Zhǐzhǎngtú the děngyùn method is fully developed; Jiàn made this book on the Zhǐzhǎngtú base, with reference to the Sìshēng děngzǐ, and added gézǐ ménfǎ — the rules-of-spelling — so that students could derive readings cleanly. Hence its popularity. As to the kāihé 24 shè, nèiwàibāzhuǎn, guǎngtōng / júxiá — Jiàn passes over without discussion: presumably the doctrine had become tangled at the start, and he simply set it aside. Yet today’s děngyùn references cite Liú’s Qièyùn zhǐnán — so we record it here, that we might trace the method’s history. The original copy carries appended at end the Míng monk Shì Zhēnkōng’s Zhízhǐ Yùyàoshí in 1 juàn — but this is just the first and second mén of Zhēnkōng’s Piānyùn guànzhūjí; and the Ruòyú zhízhǐ ménfǎ in 1 juàn — clumsy and roundabout — is on a level with the Guànzhūjí. Both are deleted here. Presented Qiánlóng 46 / 11 (1781). General Editors Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Jīngshǐ zhèngyīn qièyùn zhǐnán (1336) is the most influential post-Sòng děngyùn chart-book and the principal pedagogical reference for fǎnqiè spelling under the YuánMíngQīng. 16-shè arrangement, 36 zìmǔ × 4 děng matrix, with the Yùyàoshí 玉鑰匙 set of formal rules-of-spelling. The work crystallises the late-Yuán phonological synthesis: takes Sīmǎ Guāng’s 司馬光 Zhǐzhǎngtú as base, supplements from the Sìshēng děngzǐ KR1j0066 (an anonymous earlier work), corrects the latter’s jiāng / gěng shè placements, and adds practical ménfǎ. Liú’s preface frames the work as a corrective for the dialectal corruption of zhèngyīn in the post-Sòng era — an attitude foundational to the early-Míng Hóngwǔ zhèngyùn KR1j0068’s anti-Wú dialect program. notBefore = notAfter = 1336 (Hòuzhìyuán 2, bǐngzǐ). The Sìkù compilers excise the apocryphal end-matter (Shì Zhēnkōng’s Zhízhǐ Yùyàoshí and the Ruòyú zhízhǐ ménfǎ).
Translations and research
- Lǐ Xīn-kuí 李新魁. 1991. Hàn-yǔ děng-yùn xué 漢語等韻學. Beijing: Zhōnghuá. — Treats Liú Jiàn’s Zhǐ-nán as the standard reference of the děng-yùn tradition.
- Zhào Yìn-táng 趙蔭棠. 1957. Děng-yùn yuán-liú 等韻源流. — Tradition history.
- Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1991. Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation in Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin. Vancouver: UBC. — Treats Liú Jiàn’s chart-book as a primary witness for Late Middle Chinese.
Other points of interest
The Yùyàoshí (Jade Key) set of ménfǎ attached to Liú’s Zhǐnán — defining yīnhé, lèigé, guǎngtōng, júxiá, zhènjiù, zhèngyīnpíngqiē, jìyùnpíngqiē, yùxiàpíngqiē, rìjìpíngqiē etc. — is the principal practical pedagogical apparatus of the děngyùn tradition. The Sìkù’s textual-critical demonstration that the popularly-attached Zhízhǐ Yùyàoshí is by the early-Míng monk Shì Zhēnkōng (not by Liú Jiàn) is a useful philological correction.