<p>Seems to be <a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B8%85%E6%BF%81%E9%9F%B3#.E6.BC.A2.E8.97.8F.E8.AA.9E.E7.B3.BB" rel="noreferrer">清浊音</a>, with ◒、◓ representing 次清、次浊. There are no tones in old Chinese, so it can't be 平／仄, but the way the tones emerged can well be heavily related to the voice of the consonant.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-26T22:02:19.760Z
thank you!  clearly I was thinking about the problem wrong, but didn't know how to set myself right.  With this I can learn it correctly.
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-27T00:15:23.253Z
Looking up 平／仄 I find: level and oblique tones (technical term for classical Chinese rhythmic poetry). Above Yang says 'there are no tones in old Chinese'. It is not my wish to be pedantic, just curious how to square this circle?
Peter Pan
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2015-05-27T00:34:54.410Z
Tones emerged in middle Chinese, the asker mentions old Chinese. (though if he's mis-identifying the period, my answer could be invalid)
Yang
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-27T04:24:50.580Z
Don't want to be a nuisance, but 'Classical Chinese' would be 'Old Chinese' or 'Middle Chinese'? Or some other period?
Peter Pan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-27T21:39:17.383Z
@Yang sorry for the inaccurate English - the old was supposed to be modifying "book", not Chinese (perfectly understandable why you read it the other way).  I meant old books with Chinese in them, not a technical reference to Old Chinese (which I believe predates the development of 词 in any case)
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-26T21:57:56.740Z
2015-05-26T21:57:56.740Z
Yang
<p>I recently bought an old manual of how 詞 (classical lyric) are supposed to be "filled".  The pages look like this:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/eikK0.jpg" alt="欽定詞譜"></p>

<p>Naturally am curious about the meaning of the circle symbols next to each characters and suspect they are related to classical "平／仄" phonology.  Indeed ◯ seems associated exclusively with 平声 and ● appears to refer to anything <em>but</em> 平声: specifically 去／入／上声.  </p>

<p>However I am baffled about the significance of ◒ and ◓.  Analysis of some 菩薩蠻 lyrics indicates that the half-symbols, intuitively enough, mean that either 平/not-平 is allowable in that position in the lyric. For example, the first line of such a lyric has the pattern:</p>

<p>◒◯◓●◯◯●,</p>

<p>And the following are legal tonal groups (based on a pull of some 词 and conversion of the lyrics to classically defined tonal categories):</p>

<p>平平入入平平入
or
去平平去平平去</p>

<p>In that case what is the difference between ◒ and ◓?  Since baidu-ing "circle things AND classical poetry" has not proven fruitful, so thought I would ask for help here.  What are those "circle things" even called, properly?</p>

<poetry>
What do the Symbols ◒ and ◓ Signify In Old Chinese Poetry Books?
# What do the Symbols ◒ and ◓ Signify In Old Chinese Poetry Books?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-05-26)

I recently bought an old manual of how 詞 (classical lyric) are supposed to be "filled". The pages look like this:

![欽定詞譜](https://i.sstatic.net/eikK0.jpg)

Naturally am curious about the meaning of the circle symbols next to each characters and suspect they are related to classical "平／仄" phonology. Indeed ◯ seems associated exclusively with 平声 and ● appears to refer to anything *but* 平声: specifically 去／入／上声.

However I am baffled about the significance of ◒ and ◓. Analysis of some 菩薩蠻 lyrics indicates that the half-symbols, intuitively enough, mean that either 平/not-平 is allowable in that position in the lyric. For example, the first line of such a lyric has the pattern:

◒◯◓●◯◯●,

And the following are legal tonal groups (based on a pull of some 词 and conversion of the lyrics to classically defined tonal categories):

平平入入平平入
or
去平平去平平去

In that case what is the difference between ◒ and ◓? Since baidu-ing "circle things AND classical poetry" has not proven fruitful, so thought I would ask for help here. What are those "circle things" even called, properly?

**Tags:** poetry


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-05-26. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

Seems to be [清浊音](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B8%85%E6%BF%81%E9%9F%B3#.E6.BC.A2.E8.97.8F.E8.AA.9E.E7.B3.BB), with ◒、◓ representing 次清、次浊. There are no tones in old Chinese, so it can't be 平／仄, but the way the tones emerged can well be heavily related to the voice of the consonant.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: thank you!  clearly I was thinking about the problem wrong, but didn't know how to set myself right.  With this I can learn it correctly.  
> **username_2**: Looking up 平／仄 I find: level and oblique tones (technical term for classical Chinese rhythmic poetry). Above username_1 says 'there are no tones in old Chinese'. It is not my wish to be pedantic, just curious how to square this circle?  
> **username_1**: Tones emerged in middle Chinese, the asker mentions old Chinese. (though if he's mis-identifying the period, my answer could be invalid)  
> **username_2**: Don't want to be a nuisance, but 'Classical Chinese' would be 'Old Chinese' or 'Middle Chinese'? Or some other period?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 sorry for the inaccurate English - the old was supposed to be modifying "book", not Chinese (perfectly understandable why you read it the other way).  I meant old books with Chinese in them, not a technical reference to Old Chinese (which I believe predates the development of 词 in any case)  

---

