The integration of music and lyrics continued to develop throughout the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song, a new type of lyrics qu 曲, gained popularity. It reached its height in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). Hence the name Yuanqu 元曲.
Like ci, based on tune patterns, the lengths of qu verses vary. While the vocabulary in ci is refined and elegant, vernacular expressions are common in qu. In qu, to enhance the expressions and for bettering transitions between verses, auxiliary words can be added to the verses.
Individual lyrics or suits of songs are categorized as sanqu 散曲. They are recited or sung without dramatic actions. Large scales of qu accompanied by dance and drama become zaju 雜劇, namely “mixed drama.”
The most significant difference between Song ci and Yuan qu is found in their linguistic characteristics. The rhyme schemes of ci drew upon the phonology of the late Middle Chinese; those of the qu were based on the “Northern sounds,” the Early Mandarin.
In 1324 sanqu author Zhou Deqing (周德清) compiled a rhyme book Zhongyuan Yinyun 中原音韻. Eventually published in 1341, the book was created to reflect the phonological elements of qu—in a strict sense, those of the northern qu. In his annotations, Zhou criticized the people who rejected the current linguistic developments and held on to the prescriptions of the old practice. According to him, Zhongyuan yin (中原音—sounds of the Central Plain) should be the proper tongue.[1] Even though Zhou described it as the language of political arguments, commerce, education, and legislation for the nation, Zhongyuan yin was a northern dialect used in Dadu 大都, the “Grand Capital” of the Yuan Dynasty and today’s Beijing city.[2]
As the Middle Chinese evolved throughout the centuries, it branched into several regional variants. While there were many variants in the mountainous southern regions, Jin 晉and Mandarin were the only two dialects spoken in the north.[3] Shen Zhongwei 沈鍾偉traced the characteristic development of Mandarin back to Liao (907-1125), a Khitan state and Jin (1115-1234), a Jurchen state during the Song Dynasty.[4] Such influences from non-Han cultures continued as the Mongols ruled China proper during the Yuan Dynasty.[5]
Phonological developments of languages are constant and continuous. Qieyun 切韻, with 12,158 entries of characters in 193 rhyme groups, had been the guide of standard practice since the sixth century. In 1008, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty commissioned a new rhyme book Guanyun 廣韻. Despite its expanded entries of 26,194 characters and 206 final rhymes, Guanyun remained close to the tonal organization of Qieyun.[6] A few decades later, in the Daoist treaties Hungji jingshi shu 皇極經世書 (“Book of Supreme World Ordering Principles”), numerologist and ontologist Shao Yong邵雍 (1012-1077) devised a phonological table Shengyin Changhe Tu 聲音唱和圖, in which he categorized/numbered phonemes—initials (sheng) and finals (yin).[7]
Instead of following the sounds of literary tradition, Shao Yong’s phonological analysis reflected the sounds of the northern dialect, practiced in the Central Plain.[8] There were several noticeable developments from the Late Middle Chinese:
•Voiced consonants becoming voiceless
•Ping (level) tone 平聲 splitting into yin (feminine/dark) and yang (masculine/bright)[9]
•Disappearances of final endings in /p/, /t/ and /k/ as well as glottal stops—all characteristics of rù (“entering” or “checked”) tone 入聲[10]
These changes had solidified by the Yuan Dynasty and shaped the characteristics of the Early Mandarin.[11] This branch of the Chinese phonological system, because of its usage in a vast geographical area, gradually became the standard of the spoken Chinese. Zhongyuan Yinyun 中原音韻 has become one of the most reliable phonological sources on Modern Chinese.
The dominance of poetry, either in shi or ci style, waned after the Song Dynasty. On the practical side, the elimination of poetry from the imperial exam was a major factor of this phenomenon.[12] The rise of vernacular languages also contributed greatly to the decline of poetic writing, often restricted by rules. Free from formative restrictions, long-form literature blossomed. The popularity of qu, especially its long form zaju led to major developments in Chinese theatrical literature. Novels, represented by the “Four Classic” Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義, Journey to the West 西遊記, Water Margin 水滸傳, and Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢, became the predominant literary genre during the Ming and the Qing dynasties.[13]
Both the phonological changes and the colloquialization of literature in the 13th– and the 14th-centuries would have strong impact on the next wave of changes taking place at the turn of the 20th century.
[1] 周德清, 《中原音韻》, 〈正語作詞起例〉: 余嘗於天下都會之所，聞人間通濟之言：「世之泥古非今、不達時變者眾；呼吸之間，動引《廣韻》為證，寧甘受鴂舌之誚而不悔。亦不思混一日久，四海同音，上自縉紳講論治道，及國語翻譯，國學教授言語，下至訟庭理民，莫非中原之音。……與堅守《廣韻》方語之徒，轉其喉舌，換其齒牙，使執而不變、迂闊庸腐之儒皆為通儒，道聽塗說、輕浮市廛之子悉為才子矣。」
[2] Compilers and editors of Siku Quanshu 四庫全書 placed Zhongyuan Yinyun in the Jí集 (“Collections”) category. They also commented on Zhou Deqing’s linguistic views:
“. . . Since Yuefu were based on northern tunes, it should naturally be sung in northern sounds. This catalogue by Dequing, therefore, was based on the inherent characters of [qu.] For this reason, it was appropriately applied in Northern qu until now. To attack ancient sounds based on [the northern sounds] seemed limited by a single opinion, overly obstinate. Each language belongs to its region. It evolves over time. [Just as] literary work has its style. . ..”
“. . . 樂府既為北調, 自應歌以北音. 德清此譜, 蓋亦因其自然之節所以作. 北曲者沿用至今, 言各有當, 此之謂也. 至於因而掊擊古音, 則拘於一偏, 主持太過. 夫語言各有方域, 時代遞有變遷, 文章亦各有體裁. . ..”
[3] Xiang 湘and Gan 贛 are used in the middle/lower middle Yangtze regions. Wu 吳 is spoken in the lower Yangtze region. (Shanghainese is one of many dialects in this group.) Min 閩 is spoken in the southeastern coast, including today’s Fujian Province and Taiwan; Yue 粵, Cantonese, spoken in Canton Province and Hongkong; Hakka 客家, spoken wherever Hakka people reside—in Canton, Taiwan, East Asia and South Asia. All these dialects are still in used today.
[4] Shen, Zhongwei, and 沈鍾偉. “THE ORIGIN OF MANDARIN / 官話的起源.” Journal of Chinese Linguistics 39, no. 1 (2011): 1–31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23754434.
[5] Yuan_dynasty_Wiki
[6] The full name of Guanyun was 《大宋重修廣韻》, meaning “Revised and Expanded Rhymes of the Great Song Dynasty.”
[7] Shao_Yong_Wiki; 皇極經世聲音唱和圖_Wiki_zh-tw
Alain Arrault, “Numbers, Models and Sounds: Numerical Speculations of Shao Yong (1012-1077)”, Monumenta Serica, 61 (2013): 183-201.
[8] Often referred as “Bianluo” sounds 汴洛語音—sounds from 汴Bian, capital of the Song Dynasty, and 洛 Luo, western capital Luoyang 洛陽.
[9] Ma Chuandong and Tan Lunhua, “Research on the Time When Ping Split into Yin and Yang in the Chinese Northern Dialect”, Chinese Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, (2014), 19-23.
[10] Editors of Siku Quanshu gave an observant explanation of this development: “Northern sounds were meandering and laden with heaviness. They did not make short conclusive sounds. All entering tones were [turned] into [the other] three tones. It was a natural occurrence of regional practice.”
“北音舒長遲重，不能作收藏短促之聲。凡入聲皆讀人三聲，自其風土使然。” 《四庫全書, 中原音韻》
[11] It is important to note that many phonological elements of Middle Chinese are preserved in dialects, especially those of the southern regions.
[12] In 1756, poetry was again included in the exam.
[13]Classic_Chinese_Novels_Wiki
The texts of these great novels were written in a style mixing classical (literary) Chinese and colloquial expressions.