| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
Fiscal Year 1991: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
Fiscal Year 1990: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 1989: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this study is to clarify the Chinese view of their own language and the development of linguistic research activities by examining the writings of Chinese authors from pre-Qin Dynasty to the the end of the Qing Dynasty.
The following is a summary of our results :
1. Acquisition and investigation of an extensive literature on our subject.
2. Compilation of A Selected Bibliography of the history of Chinese Linguistics which can be used in showing the Chinese view of their own language and the development of linguistic activities.
3. Clarification of the following issues :
(1)An abstract speculation about the language was advanced during Qin Dynasty(221206 B. C.). The thoughts of Xunzi and Kongzi can be compared with the thesei and physei theories in ancient Greek, respectively. The concepts of Ming and Shi of Mozi can also be compared with significant and signifie of F. de Saussure(I 857 - 1913). However, this kind of abstract speculation was not further developed in subsequent periods.
(2)During the Han Dynasty(206 B. C. -A. D. 22 1), the Chinese characters occupied the central position in the field of learning and politics as can be illustrated in the preface of Shuo-wen jie-zi. Scholars began to concentrate on three aspects of the Chinese characters : the shape, the pronunciation and the meaning.
(3)The transition from the abstract to the concrete, as implied in(1)and(2), was interpreted as showing : a)the Chinese after Qin Dynasty came to attach importance to concrete perception more than abstract speculation, and, b)the nature of the Chinese language itself. Being an isolated language, the Chinese word is composed of one syllable, and a Chinese character has the nature of 'logograph'. These resulted in a tendency in which the matter of linguistic concern was chiefly concentrated on three elements of the Chinese characters.
(4)Consequently, the linguistic research in China developed in a characteristic manner, differing from that of the other countries.
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