Yīn lùn 音論
Discourse on Phonology by 顧炎武 (Gù Yánwǔ, 1613–1682), the first of his five-part Yīnxué wǔshū 音學五書
About the work
The general-introduction volume of Gù Yánwǔ’s Yīnxué wǔshū — the five-book set that founded modern Chinese historical phonology. 3 juàn, 15 essays. Composed in Chóngzhēn guǐwèi (1643) — i.e., in the final months of the Míng dynasty, before the events of 1644 forced Gù into hiding — and revised over the following decades; the Sìkù recension is the form preserved in Pān Lěi 潘耒’s printed Yīnxué wǔshū. The 15 essays: Upper juàn — (1) “gǔ yuē yīn jīn yuē yùn” (anciently called yīn, today called yùn); (2) “yùnshū zhī shǐ” (the origin of rhyme-books); (3) “Táng Sòng yùnpǔ yìtóng” (Táng vs. Sòng rhyme-charts: similarities and differences). Middle juàn — (1) “gǔrén yùnhuǎn bùfán gǎizì” (Old phonology is loose and does not require character-substitution — the explicit refutation of xiéyùn); (2) “gǔshī wú xiéyīn” (Old poems have no xiéyīn); (3) “sìshēng zhī shǐ” (the origin of the four tones); (4) “gǔrén sìshēng yīguàn” (Old phonology unifies the four tones); (5) “rù wéi rùnshēng” (the rù tone is an interpolated tone); (6) “jìndài rùshēng zhī wù” (recent errors of the rù tone). Lower juàn — (1) “liùshū zhuǎnzhù zhī jiě” (interpretation of the Six-Book zhuǎnzhù); (2) “xiānrú liǎngshēng gèyì zhī shuō bùjìnrán” (the older view of two-readings = two-meanings is not generally correct); (3) “fǎnqiè zhī shǐ” (origin of fǎnqiè); (4) “NánBěicháo fǎnyǔ” (fǎnqiè in the Northern and Southern Dynasties); (5) “fǎnqiè zhī míng” (the term fǎnqiè); (6) “dúruò mǒu” (the gloss “read like X”). The Sìkù tíyào finds Gù’s discussion of the rù tone unsatisfying but acclaims everything else as “yuányuán běnběn” (root-and-branch sound) — establishing Gù as the orthodox successor of Chén Dì 陳第 in Old phonology.
Tiyao
The Yīn lùn in 3 juàn. Composed by Gù Yánwǔ of the present dynasty. Yánwǔ has the Zuǒzhuàn Dùjiě bǔzhèng already recorded. Since Chén Dì made the Máo Shī gǔyīn kǎo and the QūSòng gǔyīn yì, the gateway of Old phonology has been clear; but the clearing of underbrush had not yet led to a deep refinement. To Yánwǔ falls the recovery of the foundations: he traced the source materials, re-examined the Classics and traditions, composed the Yīnxué wǔshū to set things right — this being the first of the five. Upper juàn in 3 essays: (1) “Anciently called yīn, today called yùn”; (2) “Origin of rhyme-books”; (3) “Táng / Sòng rhyme-chart similarities and differences.” Middle juàn in 6 essays: (1) “Old phonology loose, requiring no character-changing”; (2) “Old poems have no xiéyīn”; (3) “Origin of the four tones”; (4) “Old phonology unifies the four tones”; (5) “Rù is an interpolated tone”; (6) “Recent errors of rù.” Lower juàn in 6 essays: (1) “Interpretation of liùshū zhuǎnzhù”; (2) “The older view of two-readings = two-meanings is not always right”; (3) “Origin of fǎnqiè”; (4) “fǎnqiè in the N.-S. Dynasties”; (5) “The term fǎnqiè”; (6) “Dúruò mǒu” — 15 essays in all, all citing the older texts in evidence. Only the rù-tone discussion changes the inherited rule too radically to be precise; the rest are root-and-branch sound, sufficient to correct popular errors. — Indeed the principles of the five books. The book was completed in Chóngzhēn guǐwèi (1643). At that time the older recension of the Jíyùn and the biéběn Guǎngyùn had not yet emerged, so [Gù] did not know the differences between Táng and Sòng rhyme-divisions stem from Chén Péngnián 陳彭年 and Dīng Dù 丁度; nor had Fēng Yǎn’s Jiànwén jì been printed, so he did not know that the Táng official rhyme-classification was fixed by Xǔ Jìngzōng. Yet across the whole book, the doctrine is precise and broad. In the century since, those who speak of phonology, however much they extend and refine — even when they go beyond Gù — are still building on Gù; and on the elucidation of Old meanings, since Chén Dì, Yánwǔ stands proudly as the orthodox tradition. Chén Wàncè’s Jìndàozhāi jí has a Lǐ Guāngdì xiǎozhuàn saying: “Lǐ Guāngdì received his phonology from Yánwǔ”; Wàncè’s postface to Lǐ Guāngdì’s Shījí says: “Lǐ Guāngdì advanced Yánwǔ’s phonology, finding it subtly aligned with antiquity — therefore for his Old phonology gloss-readings he did not use Wú Yù’s 吳棫 Yùn bǔ but Yánwǔ’s Shī běnyīn” KR1j0079. — A clear sign that this book is the good edition. Presented Qiánlóng 46 / 10 (1781). General Editors Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Yīn lùn (1643, with Qīng-period revision) is the introductory and theoretical volume of Gù Yánwǔ’s Yīnxué wǔshū — the foundational five-book set of modern Chinese historical phonology, comprising also Shī běnyīn KR1j0079, Yì yīn KR1j0080, Tángyùn zhèng KR1j0081, Gǔyīn biǎo KR1j0082 and the supplementary Yùn bǔ zhèng KR1j0083. Gù’s principal theoretical advances: (a) the explicit rejection of xiéyùn and the assertion that Old phonology is a coherent system in its own right (extending Chén Dì); (b) the principle “Old phonology is loose and requires no character-substitution” (i.e., refusing the SòngMíng practice of reading xié substitutes); (c) the recognition that Sòng (post-1011) rhyme-classifications differ systematically from Táng official rhyme-classifications. The book is the methodological charter of Qīng gǔyīnxué: through Lǐ Guāngdì 李光地 (Gù’s pupil) it became the orthodox phonological framework for the Yīnyùn chǎnwēi KR1j0074 and the entire Qīng tradition. The Sìkù tíyào identifies Gù as the successor of Chén Dì and “the orthodox tradition” (zhèngzōng 正宗) of Old phonology. notBefore = 1643 (the year of completion); notAfter = 1667 (the year by which Gù’s revisions had been completed and the work circulated through the Lǐ Guāngdì connection).
Translations and research
- Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1962. The Consonantal System of Old Chinese. Asia Major, n.s. 9. — Treats Gù Yán-wǔ as the founder of modern Old Chinese phonology.
- Wáng Lì 王力. 1985. Hàn-yǔ yǔ-yīn shǐ. — Standard tradition history; Gù’s 10-rhyme-class scheme is the foundation of all subsequent reconstructions.
- Mai Yün 麥耘 (Mài Yún). 2009. Yīn-yùn yǔ fāng-yán yán-jiū 音韻與方言研究. — Treats Gù’s Yīn-xué wǔ-shū.
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §16.3.3.
Other points of interest
The Yīnlùn is the explicit counter-statement to Wú Yù’s 吳棫 xiéyùn paradigm: where Wú had treated anomalous Shī-rhymes as ad-hoc substitutions, Gù argues these are genuine reflexes of an Old phonological system distinct from the Sòng Guǎngyùn. This argument — not original to Gù (Chén Dì made it first) but here given its theoretically sharpest formulation — is the foundation of all later Qīng work on Old Chinese.