Chapter 4 Discussion on Second Pronunciation

When reading vernacular Chinese, there are right and wrong pronunciations (based on Putonghua, the same below).There are many mistakes, one of the important ones is: the same form (such as "between") has different pronunciations (jian, jian), and when it should be pronounced that way (such as sunny and cloudy), it is pronounced this way ( sunny to cloudy).The right or wrong pronunciation of this kind is a problem in the current common language. This article is about classical Chinese, so it can be ignored. When reading classical Chinese works, the problem of how to count certain characters correctly and how to pronounce them incorrectly is very complicated.To be useful today, the problem can be simplified.First, we can ignore the ancient sound or the problem of the old sound.Because: a.Can't figure it out.For example, Confucius always read "Guan Guan Jujiu", right?What exactly is the flavor?I am afraid it is difficult to imitate.After that, Li Du in the Tang Dynasty, of course, also read it, what charm?We only know that it must be different from Confucius, but it is also difficult to imitate. b.It's useless even if we can figure it out, because we have to read it with the phonetic system of modern Mandarin.For example, the numbers "one", "seven", "eight" and "ten" were not pronounced in level tone in the old days, but are now pronounced in level tone.Another example is "day", "moon", "wood" and "meat". The old sounds are all entering tones, and now the dictionaries have noted the tones (Chinese pinyin also has no symbols for entering tones).2. There are many characters in classical Chinese classics, which are not used or hardly seen in modern Chinese. How to pronounce them can be determined by books such as "Ciyuan", "Cihai" or "Kangxi Dictionary" and "Zhonghua Dictionary". As for the error, it can be ignored here.It should be noted that such words are still common in modern Chinese, but certain usages in classical Chinese still need to be pronounced separately, such as "女" is pronounced ru, "内" is pronounced na; "(口)占" is pronounced zhan , "Wang (World)" reads wang; "(spear) shield" reads shun, "(Great) Cheng" reads sheng; "Qiuci" reads qiuci; "Khan" reads kehan; "Nanwu" reads namo; and so on.This kind of character is easy to look up the text and make the sound; is it true that the sound of the text must be wrong?Or some calculations are wrong and some can not be wrong?Obviously, if reading Chinese and pronouncing it can be counted as a mistake, speaking and reading classical Chinese can reduce the burden.This question is not simple.In addition, there is a broader question: Classical Chinese is a thing of the old age, so is it feasible to completely disregard old habits in pronunciation?The problems are large and numerous, and they cannot be solved by the fragmented ideas of one or two people; here I just want to analyze the general situation of the problems, so that I can know what to do when I read the lecture, or know how to choose.

two We can start with "burden".It is easier to have no burden than to have one, and that is something everyone knows.However, it is not appropriate to analyze the problem in such a general way, because the burden can also be qualitatively different: some are unnecessary, and some are necessary.Unnecessary things can be thrown away, but what is necessary cannot be thrown away.A certain usage of a certain word needs to be read separately. If abandoning this additional reading will cause misunderstanding or inconvenience, this additional reading, as a kind of burden, is necessary, otherwise it is meaningless.This principle is easy to say, and it is estimated that it is easy to obtain the consent of the majority; the difficulty lies in using it to identify specific words.Arm Ru said, I suggest reading "Mencius" from now on, "However, there is no king, there is no such thing", and the "king" should go to Yangping. I guess my students will agree, but my teacher may not agree.In case of disagreement, it is difficult to deal with it calmly.

However, reducing the burden, as a principle in dealing with the pronunciation of classical Chinese, is still advisable, even unavoidable.Why do you say that?There are facts to prove it.1. The additional reading of some words is too trivial, and it seems awkward to maintain it, and everyone has already given up by coincidence.For example, "going on a mission", "governing the country", "consoling" and "advising" are now read literally, instead of reading shi, chi country, condolences, and loyalty.2. When the Putonghua Pronunciation Review Committee reviewed different readings, it touched a little bit of classical Chinese, and the principle of reducing the burden was already used.Such as "(practice) action" is read xing, not xing; "(not) win (enumeration)" is read sheng, not sheng; )" read ye, not she. (It's a pity that it has not been expanded. This principle is also used to clean up the classical Chinese that is not seen or rare in modern Chinese. If it is cleaned up in this way, people who speak and read classical Chinese can go into battle with ease, which is really a great merit.) 3. Dictionaries This principle has also been quietly used.Taking "Ci Hai" as an example, when a certain word is read in another way in classical Chinese, most of it is another phonetic notation, which means "should" be read in a different way; a few are not handled in this way.There are two kinds of them, one is small in number, and it is marked with "pronunciation" (meaning that it can be read in this way); , but pack lightly.Fourth, it is the general trend in the future to read the text and produce the sound, regardless of reading it differently.For example, "(again) three", few people pronounce san; "(you) said", few people pronounce shui; "Qiu" and "Gai" used as surnames, even I have the pronunciation of the text, and do not pronounce qiu, ge up.5. It seems that it is easier to give up the reading of some characters.For example, "wen (guoshifei)" does not read wen, "yi" when presented as a gift does not read wei, "funny (funny)" does not read gu, and "(A) Fang (gong)" does not read pang, which is not very good ?

The principle of lightening the burden, to put it more carefully, is to give up another reading if it is read literally without affecting the expression and understanding of meaning.This principle is easy to determine, but it will encounter difficulties in applying it.The difficulty is not at the ends but in the middle.One end can obviously be discarded, such as "number" (when you read shuo many times), "qian" (when you are a son-in-law, read qing) in general words, "(pu) she" (read ye) in proper names, "(Li) ) Shiqi" (read yiji), etc., if read literally, it will not cause misunderstanding, so it is no problem to give up and read it again.One end cannot be given up obviously, for example, "responsibility" communicates with "debt", "xin" communicates with "stretch", and "knowledge" communicates with "zhi"; )" reading zhi, "(Baiyun) concept" reading Guan, reading it literally will cause misunderstanding, so it is not easy to give up.The number of words in the middle may not be many, but the types are ever-changing. How to get them needs to be carefully considered, and even solved individually. I can’t go into details here.

What must be considered here is how to deal with such problems when speaking and reading classical Chinese.Obviously, language is a communication tool shared by everyone. It is only about pronunciation. How to pronounce a certain word can only be determined by convention or by the competent department (such as the sound review committee). Individuals, no matter what their opinions are, should not make their own decisions. .In my personal opinion, there are two ways to go.One, completely according to the dictionary, such as "Jishou" reads qishou, "Qinchuan" reads qingguan, "Zhu Ti" reads shushi, "Shan Yu" reads chanyu, "Modun" reads modu, etc.; the dictionary indicates the "pronunciation" It may be from the pronunciation or not from the pronunciation; if the dictionary indicates "old reading", tell the students or remember that there was another reading in the old days, but not today.Another way is to use the principle of reducing the burden as appropriate, explain to the students or remember that a certain usage of a certain word has another reading, and it can never be used.

three As mentioned earlier, the pronunciation of classical Chinese is very complicated.The above only talked about one aspect of complexity; there is another aspect, which comes from the common patterns in classical Chinese, such as leveling the rhymes and coordinating rhymes.So the question arises, what if the pronunciation is completely according to the pronunciation of modern Mandarin, and the burden is lightened according to the discretion, and this happens to conflict with the requirement of balancing the rhyme and harmony?One way is to ignore it, which will lose the beauty of sound that comes from the balance and harmony; the other way is to keep the sound beauty and chase the old reading.See the example below:

(1) Only when the general wins the three armies bravely can he stand out for the world. (Qiu Chi's "Book with Chen Bo") (2) The sound of the flute · Pharynx, Qin E's dream of breaking the Qin Tower · the moon.Qin Lou · month, every year willow color, Ba Ling hurt · farewell. (Li Bai's "Recalling Qin'e") Example (1) "出", the old sound is the word entering the tone, and modern Chinese is pronounced in the level tone; if it is pronounced in the level tone, it is out of tune with the level of "jun". "Don't" is also a entering tone character, and it is pronounced in a level tone in modern Chinese; if it is pronounced in a level tone, it cannot rhyme with "pharynx" and "month".If you want to take care of the beauty of the voice, you have to find the old tone and pronounce it as the tone. (Here we talk about zhe tones, because there is no entering tone in Mandarin, so it can only be pronounced as going tones. Therefore, strictly speaking, the so-called chasing old tones can only be roughly chased to "Zhe", not "Ru" in detail.)

Speaking and reading classical Chinese, it is difficult to give up the beauty of the sound; if you can't give up, you have to endure some troubles in pronunciation.Fortunately, there are not many such troubles, and the burden is not too heavy after getting used to it.The following categories give some examples so that you can know where you need to pay attention. Prose is "casual", but sometimes there are problems with coordination. (3) If the people are rich, they will have enough money, and if the people are extravagant, they will live with hunger and cold. ("Salt and Iron Theory · This Discussion")

(4) However, it leads to Wuxia in the north and Xiaoxiang in the Antarctic. (Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Tower") Example (3) "足", example (4) "太", the old capital pronounced the flat tone; now it is pronounced in the level tone, which is incompatible with the level tone "生" and "Xiang".There may also be inconsistencies. (5) The sky gets one to clear, the earth gets one to calm, the gods get one to get spirit, the valleys get one to prosper, all things get one to live, and the kings get one to make the world chaste. (Chapter 39 of Laozi) (6) Wen Dao Bai, thought Moji Ruo... ("Zhuangzi Qiushui") Example (5), Qing, Ning, Ling, Ying, Sheng associated rhymes; "Zhen" old pronunciation Cheng, and the above several The word Xieyun, now read Zhen, not Xieyun.Example (6), "hundred" is a entering sound character, and it is pronounced bo in Chinese pinyin, and it rhymes with "ruo"; now it is pronounced bai, and it does not rhyme.

Parallel prose, which is stricter than prose, pays attention to duality, and reads it in the present pronunciation, and sometimes there will be incongruity between the level and the oblique. (7) Build on the success of the incident and increase the splendor, change the basics and intensify. ...... The beauty ends in praise and encouragement, and the image inspires praise. ... Zhong Lianzhi defeated the Qin army, and Qi State under him. ... Although it is passed on in brief, but things are different. (Xiao Tong's "Preface to Selected Works") (8) Meng Chang is high and clean, and has no heart to serve the country; Ruan Ji is rampant and crazy, how can he cry like a poor man. (Wang Bo's Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng)

Example (7), "Fa", "Guo" and "Dou" used to be pronounced in the flat tone, which is coordinated with the flat tone of "Xing", "Jun" and "Zhang"; now it is read in the flat tone, which is uncoordinated.Example (8), "Jie" and "Crying" used to be pronounced in the flat tone, which is in harmony with the level tone of "Kang" and "Xin", but now it is pronounced in the level tone, which is not coordinated.Fu is stricter than parallel prose, because it has rhyme and often pays attention to duality. (9) Zhao Rong and Er Ju · forward, Ma Hanming did not stop. (Jiang Yan's "Hate Fu") (10) Cage the heaven and the earth in the shape, and put everything in the pen.He began to linger in the dry kiss, and finally drifted away in Ru Han.The rationale supports the quality to stand up, and the article to tie the knot.Faith and appearance are not bad, so every change is in the face.If you think about music, you must laugh, but in dialect, you just sigh. (Lu Ji's "Wen Fu") Example (9) "Xi" was pronounced in the flat tone in the old days, which is in harmony with the "Qian" in the flat tone; now it is pronounced in the flat tone, which is uncoordinated.Example (10), "Duan", "Han" (the old readable flat tone), "complex", "Yan" and "Tan" (the old readable flat tone) rhyme together; according to the current pronunciation, "Han" and "Tan" do not rhyme . It is poetry (including poems, words, songs, etc.) that requires the coordination of level and oblique and rhyme. (11) Play the yellow warbler · son, Mo · teach the branch · cry.When I cry, I am surprised by my concubine's dream, and I can't get Liaoxi. (Jin Changxu "Spring Resentment") (12) What's the matter in Xiaoxiang? Go back, the water is clear and the sand is bright. The moss on both sides.2. Fifteen strings play the night moon, but the resentment is not defeated, but the resentment flies. (Qian Qi's "Returning Wild Goose") (13) Amorous feelings have hurt parting since ancient times, and it is even more desolate for the Qingqiu Festival.Where are you sober tonight?On the banks of the willows, the wind blows and the moon fades away.This year, it should be a good time and a good scene.Even if there are thousands of styles, who can I talk to? (Liu Yong's "Yu Linling") Compared with the styles mentioned above, poetry is particularly strict in terms of balance, that is, not only at the end of the sentence, but also in the middle of the sentence (roughly speaking, the poem needs two, four, The six are clear, the words are generally like this but not all the same); the restrictions on the rhyme are also relatively strict, especially in modern poetry.In this way, speaking and reading poems, if they are all read according to the current pronunciation, there will often be a phenomenon of level imbalance and inconsistent rhyme.For example (11) "teaching", the old reading can be jiao, "get", the old reading de; example (12) "ten", the old reading is shi, "sheng", the old reading is: only the balance can be coordinated.Example (11) "儿", the old pronunciation is ni; example (12) "回", the old pronunciation is huai: ability to coordinate rhyme.Example (13), this word uses entering rhyme, in which "bie", "jie" and "shuo" are now pronounced in flat tone, and if they are not read from the old, they cannot be rhymed together.Then, how to deal with the pronunciation problem of flat and harmonious style, especially poetry?There are two ways.One is to read it from the old place where it is necessary to adjust the rhyme and rhyme (if it is for people to listen to, it is necessary to explain clearly why it is read this way).One is to read according to the current pronunciation, and explain clearly that the incongruity and incoherent rhyme are due to the changes in pronunciation from ancient to modern times.I personally tend to use the former method.