Collection of Essays on the Study of Chinese Characters

Author: Wang Yunzhi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-12
Features: The research on Chinese characters and Chinese language includes three aspects: Palaeography and the History of the Chinese Language, Modern Chinese Grammar and Rhetoric, and Dialectology and Phonology, with a focus on the study of ancient scripts and Chinese dialects.
The features of the Palaeography and the History of the Chinese Language academic direction are:
1. Research on oracle bone script and the etymology of Chinese characters.
2. Leading research in Shang and Zhou bronze inscriptions and the Shuowen Jiezi.
3. In the field of Warring States period scripts, Professor Zhou Baohong has a monograph titled Research on the Forms of Ancient Pottery Inscriptions, and Professor Dong Lianchi has papers such as Interpretation of the Character "Bian" in Chu Bamboo Slips and Interpretation of Several Characters with the Component "Cong" in Chu Script. These are significant achievements in this field, laying a solid foundation for further research.
4. Research on the history of the Chinese language, with a focus on vocabulary and phonology.
The features of the Dialectology and Phonology academic direction are:
1. Focusing on Jin dialect while also covering Central Plains Mandarin.
2. Guiding dialect research with modern phonological theory and methods.
3. Emphasizing experimental methods and applying modern scientific approaches to study dialects.
The features of Modern Chinese Grammar and Rhetoric are developed in the following aspects:
1. Closely integrating general linguistic theory research with modern Chinese language research, striving to apply new concepts and methods of modern linguistics to solve practical problems in modern Chinese grammar research.
2. Studying syntax from the perspective of rhetoric and viewing rhetoric from the standpoint of syntactic analysis, thereby broadening the scope of modern Chinese grammar research.
In the past three years, nearly 292 papers have been published by faculty members. This collection selects some representative papers, primarily those by faculty members. The papers of predecessors such as Zhu Xing, Li Xingjian, Cao Congsun, and Gao Shougang are included in this collection, with each only featuring one paper, such as Gao Shougang's Semantic Conversion and Homonymous Words in Chinese.