Organizer: Sandra Breitenbach, Western Washington University
Chair: David Prager Branner, Yuen Ren Society
Discussants: David Prager Branner, Yuen Ren Society; Erhard Rosner, University of Gottingen
An analysis of the first systematic descriptions of the Chinese and Japanese languages written by Westerners during the 17th through to the 19th centuries indicates that they were strongly influenced by the Greco-Latin grammatical tradition. The reasons for adopting a Latin model to illustrate the structural principles of East Asian languages go beyond a mere Eurocentric bias and have to be carefully evaluated by a cross-disciplinary and comparative approach. When other factors, such as the socio-cultural surroundings or the climate of opinion which prevailed at that time, as well as findings from disciplines such as historiographical linguistics, literature, or psychology are included in our analysis, a more balanced evaluation can be made. The contributions of early missionaries and Western scholarship in general were to initiate reflection on the nature of the languages they interpreted, thereby providing valuable insights into their structures.
Invaluable information on how East Asia received Western ideas on both the language structure and social discourse in use at that time come to light that are still relevant to linguistics as practiced today. The present panel intends to depict the nature of the reception of Western thought in the East, which strongly influenced the later course of East Asian grammatical studies and discourse towards language standardization. In conclusion, the study of the history of East Asian language descriptions suggests that the respective modern languages, as well as linguistic theory in general, still appear to be biased towards a traditional set of Western derived values.
Etienne Fourmont (1683–1745): The Chinese Language, "The Painting of Sounds and the Language for the Eyes"
Cecile Leung, Winthrop University
This paper presents early European conceptions of the Chinese language during the eighteenth century. Etienne Fourmont was one of the first European scholars to write grammars of the Chinese language, namely, the Meditationes Sinicae published in Paris in 1737 and the Grammatica Duplex published in 1742. Fourmont’s interpretation of Chinese appears to be influenced by the perception of the Orient prevalent at that time, and fostered the European interest in China. Fourmont linked the study of languages to the understanding of the origin of human civilization when speculating about the 214 Chinese radicals found in the Chinese dictionaries he examined in Paris: he read the sequence of the radicals as revealing the dawn of Chinese civilization. Intrigued by the classification of characters in Chinese dictionaries, he concluded that this system reveals that the alleged "inventors of the Chinese language" proceeded in a philosophical way attributing to each character a component indicating its rang d’être (rank in the category of being).
Fourmont considered each character as manifesting the essence of what it signified but also as painting the sound and speaking to the eyes. Even though this interpretation proved to be original, his explanation of syntax and morphology was mainly copied from Chinese grammars written by missionaries. By applying a "philosophical reading" to the Chinese characters, and by continuing to use Latin to describe Chinese, Fourmont’s studies perpetuate the myths European "Proto-Sinologists" held on the Chinese language during 18th century Europe.
The First Grammars of the Chinese Language: Early Notions of Chinese in the Context of Missionary Studies and Modern Linguistics
Sandra Breitenbach, Western Washington University
The study of early Chinese language descriptions provides inestimable insights in the development of linguistic thought and is relevant for linguistics as practiced today. The first published grammar of the Chinese language was written by the Dominican Francisco Varo (Canton 1703), and was intended to serve instructional needs. The grammatical concept was determined by the Greco-Latin tradition; however, innovative elements are also found. Varo’s Chinese grammar is important for several reasons. The text contains valuable data on the nature of late Ming and early Qing guanhua and its phonology, syntax, and lexicon, and is an indispensable source for the history of Mandarin. The comparison of early Chinese and Japanese texts reveals that the influence of Latin as represented in Varo’s grammar is, to some extent, found throughout the history of Chinese language descriptions written by Europeans, and is even found in Chinese grammars written by Chinese and in missionaries’ textbooks on western languages such as the indigenous languages of South America.
An analysis of these sources provides the modern reader with genuine insights in the structure of the respective languages, and reveals the reasons for the myriad of misconceptions on Chinese in particular that are still held today. Only when awareness of the mechanisms that contribute to the formation of ideas is created, we will be able to rethink Orientalism and move towards a more "neutral" approach for the linguistic description of East Asian languages, that, finally, will affect linguistic theory as a whole.
Encounters with Chinese: The Western Missionary and Cantonese Grammar
Stephen Matthews, University of Hong Kong
Early missionary studies of Cantonese, although primarily intended as pedagogical aids, contain observations which have had lasting import for Chinese linguistics as practiced today. In this paper we focus on the studies of Louis Aubazac, Georges Caysac and Thomas O’Melia. They were among the first Western scholars to grasp the problems raised by the notion of "dialect," the diversity within Chinese and the apparent absence of expected grammatical categories. The use of Latin models, although criticized as a form of Eurocentric bias, allows original insights and leads to a growing awareness of the structural characteristics of the language.
Public Speaking in Meiji Japan: Early Perceptions of Western Rhetoric through the Journal Yuben
Massimiliano Tomasi, Western Washington University
The first half of the Meiji period saw the introduction of Western Rhetoric to Japan in its original meaning of the art of speech. Public speaking rose to unprecedented levels of popularity among politicians and intellectuals, deeply affecting the social and political life of the new nation. It became an integral element of early Meiji cultural life, as well as one of the most important forms of social discourse in Meiji Japan at least until the establishment of the National Diet (1890).
However, the upsurge of militarism which swept Japan at the turn of the century caused a major setback to its popularity. Various laws enacted by the government drastically restricted the freedom of public speaking for many years to come. Only at the beginning of the Taisho period a new wave of interest in the art of speech began to take shape among students and intellectuals. Such a new trend was reflected in the foundation of the monthly journal Yuben, which became a leading and inspiring force in the revival of public speaking in the second decade of the twentieth century.
This study will examine the contents of all issues of the journal published between 1912 and 1926, in an attempt to clarify how Western rhetoric was perceived at the time of its introduction, and how it contributed to several crucial issues of the time, including the creation of a standard national language.