A study on Manchu grammar books in the Qing dynasty

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K00483
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02060:Linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Kobe City University of Foreign Studies
• Principal Investigator: Takekoshi Takashi 神戸市外国語大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (10295230)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 満洲語 / 中国語 / 文法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study attempts to explore how pre-modern Chinese speakers perceived and expressed the grammar of foreign languages, using Manchu grammar books published during the Qing dynasty as material.
According to existing sources, there were no systematic grammatical descriptions of foreign languages before the Ming dynasty. The Manchu grammar books published throughout the Qing dynasty are valuable sources for understanding how Chinese speakers at that time perceived the grammar of the Altaic languages and how they expressed it in Chinese. This study clarifies how Manchu grammatical concepts such as case, conjugation, and derivation were expressed in Chinese, and what kind of thought they were based on.

Free Research Field

言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

この研究では、国内外の研究機関や公共図書館において、現存する満洲語文法書を調査し、文献学的記述を残すとともに、それぞれのデータを収集した。また、収集した文献について、それぞれの異本と系統関係を整理した上で、満洲語のローマ字転写・逐語訳と形態素分析を施したクリティカル・エディションを作成した。また、それぞれの文献が、満洲語の格・活用・語形成といった概念をどのように中国語で表現しているかの一覧を作成した。
以上のような満洲語文法書の研究はこれまで体系的に行われたことがなく、一定の学術的・社会的意義を有するものと思う。