Intensive course 8 - The Life of a Dead Language – …/menu/standard...Classical Chinese in Modern...
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Nordic Consortium for China Studies 1 The Life of a Dead Language – Classical Chinese in Modern Chinese Discourse Intensive course, Zhejiang University General outline It is often assumed that Classical Chinese, also referred to as literary Chinese, is a “dead” language used only as the written medium of communication and discourse starting with early Chinese literary texts written from the 6 th century BC and ending with the baihua movement in the early 20 th century. Modern Standard Chinese did indeed replace Classical Chinese as the main means of written communication after the baihua movement. Features of Classical Chinese did not, however, disappear from the modern language when the classical language lost its status as the common form of written communication. Many semantic and structural forms and traces of the classical language can still be found within domains or genres of the modern Chinese language, such as in formal style, fixed phrases, proverbs,
Transcript of Intensive course 8 - The Life of a Dead Language – …/menu/standard...Classical Chinese in Modern...
NordicConsortiumforChinaStudies
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TheLifeofaDeadLanguage–ClassicalChineseinModernChineseDiscourseIntensivecourse,ZhejiangUniversity
Generaloutline
ItisoftenassumedthatClassicalChinese,alsoreferredtoasliteraryChinese,isa“dead”
languageusedonlyasthewrittenmediumofcommunicationanddiscoursestartingwith
earlyChineseliterarytextswrittenfromthe6thcenturyBCandendingwiththebaihua
movementintheearly20thcentury.ModernStandardChinesedidindeedreplaceClassical
Chineseasthemainmeansofwrittencommunicationafterthebaihuamovement.Features
ofClassicalChinesedidnot,however,disappearfromthemodernlanguagewhentheclassical
languagelostitsstatusasthecommonformofwrittencommunication.Manysemanticand
structuralformsandtracesoftheclassicallanguagecanstillbefoundwithindomainsor
genresofthemodernChineselanguage,suchasinformalstyle,fixedphrases,proverbs,
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compoundwords,slogans,quotations,ads,popmusiclyricsetc.Featuresoftheclassical
languageareappliedrhetoricallyandstylisticallyforspecificdiscursivepurposesinwritten
texts.Thiscoursewillcombinetheoriesoftextualanalysistakenfromdiscourseanalysis
(NormanFairclough)andapplythemtothecontemporaryChineselanguageinorderto
identifyandgrasptherhetoricaluseoffeaturesofClassicalChineseincurrentdiscourse.
Topicsthatthecoursewillcoverare:
• Discourseanalysisandlanguage(Fairclough)
• ClassicalChineselanguageasgenre/styleindiscourse(analysisofe.g.XiJinpingtext)
• ThehistoryoftheClassicalChineselanguage,WesternandJapaneseinfluences,and
thebaihualanguagereform(PingChen,JerryNorman,ChristophHarbsmeier,Shen
Guowei)
• ThegrammaticalstructureofClassicalChinese(Barnesetal.2009)
• TheformsofClassicalChineseinthemodernlanguage(Eifringatel.2016)
• ReadingsinClassicalChinesetexts(Barnesetal.2009)
Thecourseisplannedasaone-weekintensivecourseforScandinavianMAstudentsinChina
Studies,andcountsasatotalof5ECTS(135hours).ItwilltakeplaceataChineseuniversity
campusandwillbeco-taughtbyoneteacherfromtheChineseuniversityandoneteacher
fromaScandinavianuniversity.ThelanguagesofinstructionwillbeChineseandEnglish.
PrerequisitesItisassumedthatstudents:
• ReadandspeakModernStandardChinese(Putonghua)atalevelcorrespondingtothe
requirementsforaBAdegreeinChinaStudiesataScandinavianuniversity
• HavecomprehensiveknowledgeofChinesecultureandsociety
• Areabletohandlebothsimplified(jiantizi)andtraditional(fantizi)formsofChinese
characters.
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AimsofthecourseThemainaimsofthecourseareto:
• Understandthemaintheoreticalfeaturesoftextualdiscourseanalysis
• DevelopfamiliaritywithhowdiscourseanalysiscanbeusedonChinesetext–in
particularontherhetoricalfunctionsofClassicalChineseinthemodernwritten
language
• DevelopanunderstandingofthemainclassicalfeaturesinthemodernChinese
language
• Improvethestudents’abilitytoreadandunderstandclassicalelementsinthemodern
language
• HelpstudentsbecomeabletoreadsimpletextswritteninClassicalChinese
Courseoutline
Time Theme/Title Material
DayOneMorningsession
WelcomeandPresentationTopic:Discourseanalysis,genreandstyleThisfirstsessionwillintroducethetheoreticalframeworktobeappliedinthiscoursewithaparticularfocusonhowthiscanbeappliedtoanalysesofClassicalChineseinthemodernChineselanguage.Inaddition,thisfirstsessionwillgiveanoverviewofthemainfeaturesofClassicalChineseandhowthesecanbedistinguishedfromstandardmodernusage.Note:StudentsarerequiredtobringclassicalandmodernChinesedictionariestoallfurtherclasses.
Fairclough2003orlaterBarnesetal.2009Eifringetal.2016
Lunchbreak
Afternoonsession
Topic:AnalysisofChinesetext(speech/textbyPresidentXiJinping)Studentswillbereadingaspeech/textbyPresidentXiJinpingingroups,asanexampleofpoliticalrhetoric,andwillanalysethetextbyapplyingtheoriesandtoolsfromdiscourseanalysisinordertorecogniserhetoricaluseoffeaturesfromClassicalChinese.
Speech/textbyPresidentXiJinping.Eifringetal.2016
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DayTwoMorningsession
Topics:
- HistoryoftheClassicalChineselanguage- Mainclassicalformsofliterature- Oneexampleofaclassical(rhetorical)text(e.g.公孫龍子·白馬論)
ThehistoryoftheChineseclassicallanguageandthemaingenresandtypesofclassicalliteratureinChinawillbeintroducedintheformofalecture.Thiswillbefollowedbythereadingofashortandwell-knownClassicalChineserhetoricaltext(e.g.公孫龍子·白馬論).
Norman1988,pp.83-110HandoutofClassicalChinesetextwithcommentaries.
Lunchbreak
Afternoonsession
Topics:
- TransmissionfromclassicaltomodernlanguageinChina- Readingofafewtextsfromthetransitionperiodanalysed
byuseofdiscourseanalysis
ThefirstpartofthissessionwillfocusuponthetransitionfromclassicaltomodernlanguageinChina.Themainhistoricalfeatureswillbeintroducedthroughalecture.Then,inthesecondpartofthissessionstudentswillworkwithaselectionoftextsfromthetransitionalperiodtorecogniseandgetfamiliarwiththechangesthattookplaceduringthistransitionalperiod.
Chen1999,pp.67-90Harbsmeier2001,pp.373-410Shen2012,pp.265-281Handoutofexcerptsfromtextsbye.g.LiangQichao,ChenDuxiu,HuShiandothers.
DayThree
Morningsession
Topics:
- GrammaticalfeaturesofClassicalChinese1- Examplesfrommodernusage
Inthissession5studentswillworkcloselywithanumberofgrammaticalfeaturesinClassicalChineseandwillidentifyrhetoricalusageofthesefeaturesincontemporarytexts.
Studentswillidentifytheirownselectionofcontemporarytexts.
Eifringetal.2016Barnesetal.2009
Lunchbreak
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Learningactivities
Thecoursecombineslectures,seminarsandgroupdiscussionsheldinEnglishandChinese
withafieldtrip.Studentswillbegivenassignmentstopreparebeforeeachrespectiveclass
session.Basedonthecourseandthefieldtrip,thestudentsarerequiredtopresentideasfor
afinalposterpresentationonthelastdayofthecourse.Attendanceiscompulsoryaccording
totheregulationsoftheChineseuniversityandstudentsareexpectedtocometoclasseswell
prepared.Studentswillreceivethelistofreadingsaboutonemonthbeforethecoursestarts
Afternoonsession
Topics:
- GrammaticalfeaturesofClassicalChinese2- Examplesfrommodernusage
Inthissession6studentswillworkcloselywithanumberofgrammaticalfeaturesinClassicalChineseandwillidentifyrhetoricalusageofthesefeaturesincontemporarytexts.
Eifringetal.2016Barnesetal.2009
DayFourMorningsession
SeminarTopic:
- Readingof2-4textsfromclassicalliterature
Barnesetal.2009
Lunchbreak
Afternoonsession
Preparationsforfieldworkandposterpresentation.
DayFiveMorningsession
Posterpresentations.
Lunchbreak
Afternoonsession
Posterpresentations.Wrapupandevaluationofthecourse.
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andareexpectedtohavereadatleastthemandatorytextsbeforethebeginningofthe
course.
Courserequirements/examination
The students’ performance during the course, including active class attendance, written
assignments, and a final poster presentationwill count towards completion of the course.
Seminaractivitiesincludestudents’presentationswherestudentswillworkinsmallgroupsof
twoorthree,andwillbeaskedtohandinassignmentsbeforeclass.Studentsshouldcollect
theirownempiricalmaterialandpreparemainideasandresearchquestionsanalysedthrough
themethodsandtheoriesdescribedindiscourseanalysis.Eachstudentwillpresentthefindings
andanalysesoftheirindividualprojectsthroughaposterpresentationinthelasttwosessions.
The presentation should last for 10-15 minutes followed by comments and questions,
altogetherupto30minutesperstudent.Thecoursewillbegradedpassed/notpassed.
CourseMaterial
Barnes,Archie,DonStarr,GrahamOrmerod(2009).Du’sHandbookofClassicalChineseGrammar–AnIntroductiontoClassicalChineseGrammar,AlcuinAcademics.Chen,Ping(1999).ModernChinese.HistoryandSociolinguistics.CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.67-90.Eifring,Halvor,IvoSpiraandRuneSvarverud(2016).Handoutdevelopedforthiscourse.Fairclough,Norman(2003orlater).AnalysingDiscourse.Textualanalysisforsocialresearch,Routledge.Harbsmeier,Christoph(2001).“MayFourthLinguisticOrthodoxyandRhetoric:MoreInformalComparativeNotes”.In:NewTermsforNewIdeas:WesternKnowledge&LexicalChangeinLateImperialChina,Brill,pp.373-410.Norman,Jerry(1988).Chinese.CambridgeLanguageUniversityPress,pp.83-110.ShenGuowei沈國威(2012).”Ciyuantanqiuyujindaiguanjianciyanjiu”詞源探求與近代關鍵詞研究.In:Dongyaguannianshijikan東亞觀念史集刊,Vol.2(June2012),pp.265-281.Inaddition,dictionariesofmodernandClassicalChinese(digitalorpaperdictionaryboughtinaChinesebookstore).
