Chapter 24 Section IX The Gentle and Stylish Alphabet

Ancient Indians attached great importance to linguistic knowledge.Their characters are phonetic characters, so they paid attention to the study of phonetics very early on. Grammar books appeared in BC, and a fairly scientific alphabet also appeared.Unlike India, due to the different characteristics of characters, the ancient Chinese had a lot of research on philology, but not enough research on grammar and phonetics.Therefore, Chinese phonology and grammar came into being relatively late. The introduction of Indian Buddhist culture has promoted China in terms of linguistics, especially in phonology, grammar, and lexicography, which have a greater impact on China.In Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures, and in the writings of some monks who went to India to learn Buddhist scriptures, the knowledge of Indian linguistics was introduced to China.However, ancient Indian grammar did not contribute to the establishment of the Chinese grammar system, but it contributed to the emergence and development of Chinese phonology.On this point, although many scholars in the past dynasties have disputes, the views of most scholars are basically the same.

Song Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bi Tan" Volume 1 and 4 said: "The study of phonology, since the sinking is about four tones, and Tianzhu Sanskrit came to China, and its skills gradually became dense." "Yun: "The Chinese are suffering from different sounds. For example, the study of cutting rhymes has not been understood by people since the Han Dynasty. , because its origin flows from the other ear." Volume 64 "Fanshu" also said: "The study of Qieyun originated from the Western Regions, and it was passed down in the old days. The fourteen characters permeate all the sounds. In terms of proficiency, it is called the Brahman Book. .’ But it’s still not yet. Afterwards, thirty-six letters were obtained, and the way of phonology was prepared.” Here, the so-called “Qieyun” refers to phonology, and the ancients called the unique pinyin and phonetic methods of Chinese characters as "Fanqie" and "fourteen characters" refer to the 14 vowels in Indian Sanskrit.The above three paragraphs mean that since the introduction of Buddhism, Indian linguistics has influenced China. It was not until Shen Yue confirmed the four tones in the Southern and Northern Dynasties that China began to have phonology, which gradually developed and became more and more sophisticated; People are not good at distinguishing sounds, so they didn’t know phonology before the Han Dynasty. Phonology was actually introduced from the Western Regions. The reason why Buddhists often know the pinyin table, but Confucian scholars don’t know it is because of phonology. The origin of Chinese is in the Western Regions (referring to India); Chinese phonology originated in the Western Regions (referring to India). In the past, it was said that the Indian language used 14 vowel letters to run through all syllables. , which is not enough to produce a real phonology, and it was not until later with 36 letters that a truly systematic phonology was established.Scholars since modern times have different views on these words, but one thing is certain, that is, the emergence and development of Chinese phonology is a result of cultural exchanges between China and India.

The name "letter" first appeared in the translation of Buddhist scriptures between the Jin and Song Dynasties, and there are also records about letters in the "Xitan Ziji" written by Shamen Zhiguang in the Tang Dynasty.This shows that the appearance of letters is directly related to the spread of Sanskrit.Among the documents found in Dunhuang, there are two materials written by the Tang Dynasty, "Gui Thirty Letters Case" and "Shou Wen Yun Xue Fragments". The former lists 30 letters: Duan, Tou, Ding, Ni, Shen, Chuan, Zen, day, heart, evil, illumination, essence, clarity, obedience, metaphor, view, path, group, doubt, dawn, box, shadow, knowledge, thoroughness, clarity, coming, non-existence, fragrance, unity, and clarity.The latter list is also 30 letters, which are the same as the above, and the 30 letters are divided into five categories: "lips, tongue, teeth, teeth, and throat". Tongue sounds are divided into "tongue sounds" and "supralingual sounds". Dental consonants are divided into "dental consonants" and "orthodontic consonants", and laryngeal consonants are divided into two types: light and turbid.This proves Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bi Tan", after the Jin and Song Dynasties, due to the influence of Sanskrit, the development of phonology has become increasingly sophisticated.By the Tang Dynasty, the understanding of the pronunciation position and pronunciation method of the initial consonant in the Chinese syllable was quite clear, so the thirty letters of Shouwen appeared.

Although we don't know much about Shouwen Shang's life story, we only know that he was born in the Five Dynasties, but the appearance of the alphabet did have a great impact, and it provided people with a way to simplify and standardize the initial consonants.Because of this, the so-called "alphabet poetry" appeared later, such as the famous "Zaomei Poem" in "Yun Lue Yi Tong" in the Ming Dynasty, which became a new stage of development of Chinese phonology. "Zaomei Poetry" is like this: "The east wind breaks through the early plum blossoms, and a branch blooms towards Nuan. No one sees the ice and snow, and spring comes from the sky." There are only 20 characters, which are easy to remember, but they do not list the letters with the same pronunciation in the At the same time, there is still a lack of science.The subsequent "Five Fang Vowels" uses nouns as the alphabet names, and pays attention to the classification of pronunciation parts: "Bangpao wood wind, fighting soil bird thunder, bamboo insect stone sun, shearing magpie silk cloud, Jinqiao fire frog." This is very close to the initial consonants B, P, M, F, D, T, N, L, etc. of modern Chinese pinyin.It can be seen that from the thirty letters to the initial consonants of modern Chinese Pinyin, this is an inseparable development process, and the influence of Indian Sanskrit can also be said to be extremely far-reaching.