Gǔyīn biǎo 古音表
Tabular Schema of Old Phonology by 顧炎武 (Gù Yánwǔ, 1613–1682), the fifth of his Yīnxué wǔshū
About the work
The systematic-tabulation volume of Gù Yánwǔ’s Yīnxué wǔshū: a 2-juàn presentation of his ten-rhyme-class scheme for Old Chinese, against which all the corrective and exegetical work of the previous four volumes can be aligned. Ten classes, given by píngshēng with the other tones following: (1) 東 / 冬 / 鍾 / 江 — i.e., what the Guǎngyùn split into 4 classes; (2) 支 / 脂 / 之 / 微 / 齊 / 佳 / 皆 / 灰 / 咍 — 9 Guǎngyùn classes merged; (3) 魚 / 虞 / 模 / 侯 — 4 classes; (4) 真 / 諄 / 臻 / 文 / 殷 / 元 / 魏 / 痕 / 寒 / 桓 / 刪 / 山 / 先 / 仙 — 14 classes; (5) 蕭 / 宵 / 肴 / 豪 / 幽 — 5 classes; (6) 戈 / 麻 — 2 classes; (7) 陽 / 唐 — 2 classes; (8) 耕 / 清 / 青 — 3 classes; (9) 蒸 / 登 — 2 classes; (10) 侵 / 覃 / 談 / 鹽 / 添 / 咸 / 銜 / 嚴 / 凡 — 9 classes. Each class is rooted on its píngshēng member and the corresponding shǎng / qù / rù readings of each entry-graph follow. Major innovation: the rùshēng graphs are split between classes — i.e., a single rù-tone graph may belong to one Old class in píngshēng and a different Old class in rùshēng (the “rù wéi rùnshēng” doctrine of Yīn lùn KR1j0078). This rù-splitting is the most contested feature of Gù’s scheme: his student Pān Lěi 潘耒 extended it in the Lèiyīn (later attacked by Lǐ Guāngdì in the Róngcūn yǔlù); Jiāng Yǒng’s 江永 and Duàn Yùcái 段玉裁’s later work re-organised the rù-tone differently. The Sìkù tíyào finds the rù arrangement contestable but the rest of Gù’s 10-class scheme largely sound and methodologically necessary as the framework underlying the Yīnxué wǔshū.
Tiyao
The Gǔyīn biǎo in 2 juàn. Composed by Gù Yánwǔ of the present dynasty — the fifth of his Yīnxué wǔshū. Divides into 10 classes: 東 / 冬 / 鍾 / 江 — first; 支 / 脂 / 之 / 微 / 齊 / 佳 / 皆 / 灰 / 咍 — second; 魚 / 虞 / 模 / 侯 — third; 真 / 諄 / 臻 / 文 / 殷 / 元 / 魏 / 痕 / 寒 / 桓 / 刪 / 山 / 先 / 仙 — fourth; 蕭 / 宵 / 肴 / 豪 / 幽 — fifth; 戈 / 麻 — sixth; 陽 / 唐 — seventh; 耕 / 清 / 青 — eighth; 蒸 / 登 — ninth; 侵 / 覃 / 談 / 鹽 / 添 / 咸 / 銜 / 嚴 / 凡 — tenth. All take the píngshēng as class-head, with the other three tones following. Graphs that should move-in or class-mergers are noted within. Cross-checked against the older method, broadly aligned. Only the rùshēng arrangement — splitting graphs across classes — is debatable; though Gù’s argument for it is sharp, the disturbance to the inherited tone-classification is contested by other scholars. Gù’s pupil Pān Lěi made the Lèiyīn in 8 juàn — Lǐ Guāngdì’s Róngcūn yǔlù attacked it severely; that overflow comes from this book. As a single-author work paired with the rest of the wǔshū, it should be preserved together. Furthermore, the matching of Old phonology with the rhyme-classes here is a genuine corrective for Wú Yù’s 吳棫 errors. Recorded for reference. Presented Qiánlóng 46 / 5 (1781). General Editors Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Gǔyīn biǎo (1643–1667) is the systematic-tabulation volume of Gù Yánwǔ’s Yīnxué wǔshū, presenting his 10-rhyme-class scheme for Old Chinese. This 10-class scheme — a major reduction of the Guǎngyùn’s 206 — is the foundational framework underlying all of Gù’s Yīnxué wǔshū and the starting point of all subsequent Qīng Old-phonology work. The 10-class scheme remained the orthodoxy through Jiāng Yǒng 江永 and Duàn Yùcái 段玉裁 (with refinements: Duàn’s 17-class scheme is essentially Gù’s 10-class with sub-divisions); was extensively revised by Wáng Niànsūn 王念孫 (21 classes); reached its definitive Qīng form in Wáng Yǐnzhī’s Jīngyì shùwén and Jiāng Yǒugào’s Yīnxué shíshū. Modern Old Chinese reconstructions (Karlgren 1923–1940, Pulleyblank 1962, Baxter 1992) all begin from this Qīng inherited 21–30-class scheme, traceable in unbroken descent to Gù’s 10-class scheme of Gǔyīn biǎo. The rùshēng splitting feature is the most contested element. notBefore = 1643; notAfter = 1667.
Translations and research
- Wáng Lì 王力. 1985. Hàn-yǔ yǔ-yīn shǐ. — Standard tradition history; Gù’s 10-class scheme.
- Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1962. The Consonantal System of Old Chinese. — Notes Gù as the founder of modern Old Chinese reconstruction.
- Baxter, William H. 1992. A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. — Standard modern reconstruction; explicitly anchored on the Qīng tradition descending from Gù.
- Karlgren, Bernhard. 1923. Analytic Dictionary of Chinese and Sino-Japanese. Paris: Geuthner. — Systematically uses Gù’s 10-class scheme (via Duàn Yù-cái’s refinement) as the framework for Old Chinese reconstruction.
Other points of interest
The 10-class scheme of Gǔyīn biǎo is the single most influential phonological-historical framework in the entire history of Chinese linguistics: every subsequent Qīng gǔyīnxué scholar refined it; every modern Old Chinese reconstruction descends from it. Pān Lěi’s Lèiyīn (Gù’s pupil’s extension) was famously attacked by Lǐ Guāngdì — an instructive intra-school dispute on the proper handling of the rùshēng.