王念孫連語理論探賾

The dissyllabic words classified by Wang Nien-sun as lien-yü 連語 in his Kuang-ya shu-cheng 廣雅疏證 and Tu-shu tsa-chih 讀書雜志 are mostly either shuang-sheng 雙聲 or tieh-yün 疊韻, with a few falling under neither category. Wang believed that the meaning of a word inhered in the sound. It is therefore mistaken to try to find out the meaning of a lien-yü by analysing the graphs with which the expression is made up. He also pointed out that the components of a lien-yü are synonyms and thus they cannot be given different interpretations separately. Wang noted that the variants of a lien-yü were sometimes a result of change of sound. He also discussed the various relations of sound of these lien-yü and divided them into a number of categories: tieh-yün chi chuan 疊韻之轉, shuang-sheng chi hsiang-chin 雙聲之相近, cheng-chuan 正轉, pien-chuan 變轉, chi-yen 急言 and hsü-yen 徐言, ch'ih-yen 侈言 and yüeh-yen 約言. Wang pointed out that the meaning of a lien-yü inhered in the sound and criticised the mistake of other scholar in deriving the meaning from too literal an interpretation of the graphs. Although the meanings of a lien-yü are many, they are derived from a single core meaning. The characteristic of a lien-yü, according to Wang, is that its components can be used together or singly, and it is even possible for the order of the components to be reversed. There are, however, shortcomings in Wang's theory of lien-yü. First, he insisted that the components of a lien-yü are always synonyms. Although such a theory can correct the mistakes of earlier theories whereby the components of a lien-yü are taken to have different meanings, it does not apply to all lien-yü. In fact, the meanings of some lien-yü are the aggregate of the meaning of their components. Secondly, Wang did not seem to have given an explicit reason for thinking that the meaning of a lien-yü was never the aggregate of the meaning of its components. Thirdly, Wang did not go into the reasons why lien-yü came to be used to designate a particular thing. Fourthly, while Wang insisted that the meaning of a lien-yü inhered in the sound, he, nevertheless, attempted to find out the graphs with which it was originally written. Fifthly, Wang did not seem to be aware of cases when two lien-yü in the same sentence are variants. Lastly, Wang did not go into the cause of the formation of lien-yü. On the whole, Wang's achievement in his studies of lien-yü put in the shade his contemporaries such as Tai Chen 戴震, Ch'eng Yao-t'ien 程瑤田, Tuan Yü-ts'ai 段玉裁 and Hao Yi-hsing 郝懿行.

並列關鍵字

無資料

國際替代計量

王念孫連語理論探賾

全文下載

主題瀏覽