Jiang Qian’s Study Of Shuo Yin

Shuo Yin is a phonological textbook compiled by educator Jiang Qian during his lectures in various places during the Republic of China period,and was written during the year of Yi Mao-Bing Chen(乙卯—丙辰),that is,from 1915 to 1916 AD;It was officially published in 1936.The"Natural Vowel Table"in the book is based on the old Chinese sound initial system in the early Min Dynasty,and the thirty-six letters in the Middle Ages are deleted and merged into thirty-four soft and rigid(also called yin and yang)initials,and the initial representative words are changed to reflect the characteristics of the sound.This paper uses the pronunciation method to analyze the separation conditions of the soft and rigid initials in the natural initial table,and points out that the establishment of the soft and rigid initial is a compromise of integrating the northern and southern dialects and foreign language,that is,to build a universal five-sided,all-encompassing initial framework,The initial table uses Zhuyin letters to mark the phonetic,abandoning the traditional Fanqie(反切)Zhuyin method,reflecting the transitional characteristics of the evolution of traditional phonology to modern phonology."Natural final"does not list a complete final system,its essence is to separate from the head vowel point of view of the Kai Qi He Cuo Four Hu(开齐合撮四呼),emphasizing the four hu to unify the final,highlighting the importance of the head vowel to the final system."Qing Zhuo Liu Zhuan Yin"(清浊六转音)is a six kinds of tonal categories according to the Wuyuan dialect of the author’s Hui language,namely Yin Ping,Yang Ping,Yin Shang,Yang Shang,Yin Qu,And Yang Qu.The whole book is based on the initial and it as the pivot,clarifying the"yin and yang initial double-voice transliteration","ancient and modern dialect initial transliteration"and"Chinese and foreign phonetic transliteration".The four tables listed in Shuo Yin that compare ancient and modern Chinese and foreign phonetics clearly show the"natural sound"idea advocated by the author.This paper uses methods such as comparative mutual verification method and internal analysis method,combined with the social environment,academic background and the author’s writing purpose,to investigate the phonological ideas of Shuo Yin,pointing out that its fundamental purpose is to unify Chinese,popularize education,and save the survival of the people;at the same time,it timely sorts out the development of Chinese phonology in the late Qing Dynasty and early Min Dynasty,and then explores some characteristics of the evolution of phonological research from tradition to modernity in this period.On this basis,the advantages and disadvantages of Shuo Yin are evaluated.