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This book discusses the way Chinese scholars developed a national grammar. Chinese didn’t develop grammar until China’s contact with Western grammar books in the 19th Century. The first indigenous grammar was published in 1889. It included some traditional notions, but mainly imitated European grammar. It was followed by a number of other similar works. To move away from this imitation, a group of grammarians started to look into the Chinese tradition of commenting on classics. This led to a variety of alternative grammars. After the war, Western linguistics started to gain influence in China. With the establishment of the PRC in 1949, efforts began to have a standard grammar adopted nationwide. The first attempt at such a grammar was published in 1956. This book spans the period 1898 – 1956.This book combines historiography and linguistics to distinguish different periods in the timespan covered. It shows how the development of a national grammar cannot be studied separately from language policies and discussions on the national language. The description of each period includes a general introduction of the relevant events in that period and a treatment of the major works of grammar.
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Peter Peverelli The History of Modern Chinese Grammar Studies The History of Modern Chinese Grammar Studies Peter Peverelli The History of Modern Chinese Grammar Studies Peter Peverelli Faculty of Economic & Business Administration VU University Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands ISBN 978-3-662-46503-5 ISBN 978-3-662-46504-2 DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-46504-2 (eBook) Library of Congress Control Number: 2015936142 Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer-Verlag GmbH (www.springer.com) Berlin Heidelberg is part of Springer Science+Business Media Acknowledgments Many persons and institutions have in various ways contributed to the present study. I hereby wish to express my gratitude to all of them. However, some of them deserve special mention. First of all, there is the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, which provided a grant to do research in the PRC in 1981. In China, the first institution to be mentioned is the Chinese Department of Peking University, especially Mr. Lu Jianming, who on many occasions acted as an intermediate between me and the bureaucracy. Also, Profs. Wang Li and Zhu Dexi should be mentioned for giving me valuable background information. Many other staff members of this department also did the utmost to make my stay at Beida a very pleasant one, even when I returned a year later t