What is this “XX” 開 “#” “上/平/入/去” “XX” method for describing character pronunciation?

Question

Here is an incredibly horrible quality excerpt (read: screenshot) from 《四川邛崍油榨方言記》:

here's the highlights from 2 ər that I wanted to point out:

爾 止開三上紙日

兒 止開三平支日

而 止開三平之日

二 止開三去至日

and for contrast the highlights from 3 i

逼 曾開三入職幚

彼 止開三上紙幚

秕 止開三上旨幚

蔽 蟹開三去祭幚

箅 曾鼻子蟹開四去霽幚

The last two “XX” might be final + initial - 逼 for instance 職幚 final i plus initial b -- a backwards 反切 - a 切反, if you will. 反切 usually includes the correct tone with the final, which doesn't seem to be carried out here - 職 would be second-tone, here, if anything - and not first like the tone that is noted for 逼.

上/平/入/去 is, obviously, a tone marker - still not really seeing how the pre-fixed number fits in with it, though.

“X” + 開 I'm more lost on.

Does anyone know what this method is?

How does its components work?

Answer 1

these're codified verse, each character represent a "value" of particular "property", 廣韻 is the origin.

逼   曾開三入職幫

逼 the character looked up

曾 one of sixteen 韻攝

開 開口音 (開 for 開口音, or 合 for 合口音)

三 等第 (一, 二, 三 or 四)

入 entering tone, 聲調 tones (平, 上, 去 or 入)

職 this one is 韻目 (slightly different from 韻母 finals, there're 206 韻目 in 廣韻

幫 it's 聲母 initials

so, back to your question:

“X” + 開

it's [ 通 | 江 | 止 | 遇 | 蟹 | 臻 | 山 | 效 | 果 | 假 | 宕 | 梗 | 曾 | 流 | 深 | 咸 ] + [ 開口音 |合口音 ]

last, it's interesting that the book used traditional chinese script :)

info added.

ok, if you understand cantonese, literary chinese & traditional script, here it's:

韻攝

in the rhythm book 廣韻, there're 206 韻目, which was "assimilated" into 16 韻攝, that, ignoring initials, tones; similar finals were grouped together. i guessed it's easier to remember 16, instead of 206 :)

for example:

通攝, which included "東韻", "董韻", "送韻", "屋韻", "冬韻", "宋韻", "沃韻", "鍾韻", "腫韻", "用韻", "燭韻"; in cantonese (sydney lay scheme), these're:

通 tung1, sound file

東 dung1, sound file

董 dung2, sound file

送 sung3, sound file

屋 uk1, sound file

冬 dung1, sound file

宋 sung3, sound file

沃 yuk1, sound file

鍾 jung1, sound file

腫 jung2, sound file

用 yung6, sound file

燭 juk1, sound file

grep the idea now?

漢語多功能字庫, 鉅宋廣韻

等第

this one, it's roughly louder, loud, quiet, quieter (from 1 to 4). it's derived from 韻圖 (rhyme table).

the internet archive has a copy of 韻鏡, in page 100-101:

https://archive.org/details/02077186.cn

in bottom right, one can find

北
◯
逼
◯

in which, the 等第 of 北 is 一, while 等第 of 逼 is 三