Introduction to "MaShi WenTong"

張楠

Abstract As the first works of Chinese grammar， "MaShi WenTong" has epoch-making significance in the history of Chinese grammar. It marks that Chinese grammar study has become an independent science. This research intends to generalize "WenTong".

Key words grammar; MaShi WenTong

中圖分類號：H146 文獻標識碼：A DOI：10.16400/j.cnki.kjdkx.2015.10.012

1 Introduction

As the first Chinese grammar studies by our Chinese， "MaShi WenTong"（"WenTong"， forshort） marks the formal birth of Chinese grammar studies. Ma Jianzhong， the author of "WenTong"， assisted Li Hongzhong① in the activities of "YangWu"② after study abroad in France. He has a good command of western languages， such as English， French， ancient Greek and Latin， etc， as well as our Chinese ancient books and records.

"WenTong"， well-organized and with its grand scope， deserves to called a linguistic classical works.（Gong Qianyan，2000：232） As a result， domestic scholars have done much research about "WenTong". For instance， Lv Shuxiang， Wang Li， Gong Qianyan（2000）， Zhang Wanqi（1987）， Wang HaiFen（1991）， Chen Changlai（2002）， Song Shaonian、Shao Yonghai、Zhang Meng， Lu Jianming、Shen Yang、Yuan Yulin、Li Zuofeng（2003）， etc. Large number of books and articles about "WenTong" spread throughout our country. Those researches of "WenTong" touches upon all aspects， including its era background， the purpose of writing， research objectives， method of analysis， research of words， research of sentences， and also its limitations， achievements， historical position， etc. In spite of these abundant achievements， the research， related "WenTong" to some western discourse analysis studies， is rare.

2 Gist Of Its Contents

There are ten volumes in "WenTong". Volume One is named "ZhengMing"， which MaShi also calls "definition". Here， the total number is 23 definitions. This volum accounts for defining the 26 noun terminology， including word， sentence element， status， sentence， phrase and clause， pause， etc. Then it talks about word from Volume Two to Volume Nine， among which notional word from Volume Two to Volume Six， and the left are about function word.

MaShi divides notional word into five categories， that is， noun， pronoun， verb， adjective， adverb. Also， the function word has its four classification， preposition， conjunction， modal particle， interjection.

All the eight volumes， covering from Volume Two to Volume Nine， discuss the function and role of words in phrases， clauses or sentences. The last volume， Volume Ten， is about phrase， clause and sentence. This volume has summarized and complemented the previous nine volumes by making a further discussion about all the sentence elements and the classifications of pause， phrase， clause and sentence.endprint

3Source Of Academic Thinking; Research Objectives and Method Of Analysis

MaShi's research on Chinese grammar， on one hand， builds its theoretical foundation on Latin grammar， which is based on Indo-European traditional grammar. On the other hand， "WenTong" inherits our forefathers" achievements.

MaShi's research objectives are writings in classical Chinese from pre-Qin dynasty， Western Han dynasty and Easter Han dynasty to HanYu③， which， in his view， were the models of articles and could be imitated by followers. So， MaShi took it for granted that all articles should follow this pattern. Otherwise， it had no right to be counted as the so-called articles. Just as the preface says，

“上稽經史，旁及諸子百家，下至志書小說，凡措字遣辭，茍可以述吾心中之意以示今而傳后者，博引相參，要皆有一成不變之例。愚故罔揣固陋，取四書、三傳、史、漢、韓文為歷史文詞升降之宗，兼及諸子、語、策，為之字櫛句比，繁稱博引，比例而同之，觸類而長之，……輯為一書，名曰文通。”（《馬氏文通·序》，2002：10）

（Any essays， from Confucian classics， history， various schools of thought and their exponents during the period from pre-Qin times to the early Han dynasty， to local annals and novels， have been quoted as long as they remain unchanged in language structure and grammar. According to my own standard， I did a research on a large scale and then edited this book named "WenTong".）Also， in introductory remarks， it says，

“此書為古今來特創之書。凡事屬創見者，……必確有憑證而后能見信于人。為文之道，古人遠勝今人，則時運升降為之也。……今所取為憑證者，至韓愈氏而止。”（《馬氏文通·例言》，2002：16）

（This book is a special creation. As far as writing concerned， the ancients are superior to the moderns. So all my quotations are those pre-HanYu.）

He continues，

“諸所引書，實文章不祧之祖，故可取證為法。其不如法者，則非其祖之所出，非文也。”（《馬氏文通·例言》，2002：17）

（Those essays are from esteemed founding father. So they can be modeled. On the contrary， those against the grammar law， in fact， can not be considered as articles at all.）Thus it proves that MaShi's research objectives are classical.

As for his method of research， it is "imitative". MaShi has explained Chinese language grammar in accordance with western grammar and system. The introductory remarks express，

“此書在泰西名為葛郎瑪。葛郎瑪者，音原希臘，訓曰字式，猶云學文之程式也。各國皆有本國之葛郎瑪，大者相似;所異者音韻與字形耳。……此書系仿葛郎瑪而作。”（《馬氏文通·例言》，2002：15）

（This book is called "GeLangMa" in the West， whose pronunciation originates in Greek. "GeLangMa" just means the principles and laws. And all countried have their own "GeLangMa"， which are actually similar. The only difference lies in sounds and character patterns. In a word， this book does imitate "GeLangMa".） It also shows in its epilogue that，endprint

“斯書也，因西文已有之規矩，于經籍中求其所同所不同者，曲證繁引以確知華文義例之所在。”（《馬氏文通·后序》，2002：13）

（This book models itself on western grammar and tried to draw the rules from Confucian classics.）

However， when MaShi was writing "WenTong"， in spite of imitating Latin grammar， he also found many characteristic laws of Chinese grammar， which has made great contributions to grammar research of our ancient Chinese. Therefore， it is clear that "WenTong"， instead of mechanically imitating Latin grammar and then indiscriminately copying， demonstrates its own originality.

In conclusion， "WenTong" not only emphasizes language materials， but also stress method of research， such as analysis， synthesis， deductive method， inductive method. Consulting western grammar， "WenTong" recognizes the common character of grammar. What"s more， it also pays much attention to the peculiarity of ancient Chinese and then manages to seek the characteristic grammar facts of Chinese language.（張萬起，1987：179）

Note

① Li Hongzhang， （1823-1901）， the leader of the party of "YangWu" at the late of Qing dynasty.

② Activities of "YangWu"， during 60-90 in 19th century， when Emperor TongZhi and then Emperor GuangXu in power， the Qing Government advocated adopting western capitalist nations" modern scientific production technology in order to develop our national industry.

③ HanYu，（768-824）， a writer and philosopher in Tang dynasty of China.

Reference

[1] 陳昌來.二十世紀的漢語語法學[M].書海出版社，2002.

[2] 龔千炎.龔千炎語言學論集[M].京華出版社，2000.

[3] 李佐豐.上古漢語語法研究[M].北京廣播學院出版社，2003.

[4] 馬建忠.馬氏文通[M].商務印書館，2002.

[5] 王海芬.馬氏文通與中國語法學[M].安徽教育出版社，1991.

[6] 張萬起.馬氏文通研究資料[C].中華書局，1987.endprint