However, China has a parallel set of Chinese, that is, the vernacular, which is the language used by ordinary people in conversation. Ordinary people know nothing about classical Chinese, let alone use it as a daily conversation. This vernacular Chinese is the Chinese language with the absolute majority of users and frequency in the history of China. But it can't be said that vernacular Chinese is a language without words.
The number and range of ancient Chinese characters in China far exceeded the narrow range of thousands of words used by modern people, and modern Chinese evolved from this parallel Chinese. We can see from the existing literary masterpieces, such as Tang and Song vernacular literature, Yuan Zaju, and the "three words and two beats" in Ming Dynasty that ancient vernacular Chinese is not as different from modern Chinese as classical Chinese.
If you can't verify their pronunciation, at least their grammar and words are clear on paper. The ancient vernacular Chinese has hardly changed much from the modern vernacular Chinese in the May 4th Movement to the modern Chinese, but modern people have tidied up the western grammar and added a lot of words.
2. How did vernacular Chinese evolve from classical Chinese? Since ancient times, Chinese has been divided into classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese. Classical Chinese is the official language and the written language of officials and scholars.
However, China has a parallel set of Chinese, that is, the vernacular, which is the language used by ordinary people in conversation. Ordinary people know nothing about classical Chinese, let alone use it as a daily conversation. This vernacular Chinese is the Chinese language with the absolute majority of users and frequency in the history of China. But it can't be said that vernacular Chinese is a language without words.
The number and range of ancient Chinese characters in China far exceeded the narrow range of thousands of words used by modern people, and modern Chinese evolved from this parallel Chinese. We can see from the existing literary masterpieces, such as Tang and Song vernacular literature, Yuan Zaju, and "Three Words and Two Beats" in Ming Dynasty that ancient vernacular Chinese is not as different from modern Chinese as classical Chinese.
If you can't verify their pronunciation, at least their grammar and words are clear on paper. The ancient vernacular Chinese has hardly changed much from the modern vernacular Chinese in the May 4th Movement to the modern Chinese, but modern people have tidied up the western grammar and added a lot of words.
3. How did China's classical Chinese transition to vernacular Chinese? Docking source: Guangming Daily 19 17 1. Hu Shi published an article "My humble opinion on literary improvement" in New Youth, which clearly advocated replacing classical Chinese with vernacular Chinese, conforming to the requirements of historical development.
19 18 in may, Lu Xun published the diary of a madman, the first vernacular novel of new youth, which laid the foundation of new literature. Newly-established journals, such as Weekly Review and Trendy, have also begun to publish various forms of vernacular literature creation and translation works.
Since the second half of 19 19, China's vernacular publications have mushroomed to hundreds, and even the publications mastered by the old literati, such as Novel Monthly and Oriental Magazine, have gradually changed to vernacular. 1920 In March, the Ministry of Education of Beiyang * * * promulgated the vernacular as "national language", which was adopted by schools all over the country.
At this point, vernacular Chinese became the official language. Why can classical Chinese, which has been used for more than two thousand years, be replaced by vernacular Chinese in a few years? This is a question worth discussing.
First of all, Chinese characters play a very important role. Chinese characters, from Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Jinwen, Dazhuan, Xiaozhuan to Lishu, are all written in a systematic way.
Especially from the Qin dynasty to the modern writing, Chinese characters have basically not changed. From classical Chinese to vernacular Chinese, the style has changed, but the symbols of the recording language have not changed.
The characteristics of Chinese characters beyond the times make ancient and modern Chinese seamlessly connected in writing. Chinese dialect is very complex, and classical Chinese has been consistent for thousands of years, which has the function of super-dialect; Chinese characters have the function of super-dialect, and Chinese characters can also undertake this function of classical Chinese. The vernacular Chinese recorded in Chinese characters can reach all dialect areas in China.
In this way, the resistance of vernacular Chinese replacing classical Chinese is much smaller. Secondly, the vernacular Chinese gained an advantage in modern times.
Vernacular writing can serve the public, and "I write by hand" opens up the connection between spoken and written language. Speaking and writing are consistent, easy to learn and use. Classical Chinese is different from oral Chinese, which is difficult to learn and use.
The vernacular Chinese has a strong power to express new ideas. It is clear and easy to understand today's events in today's language. Classical Chinese is an old saying about today's events. Seeing flowers in the fog and being stretched is inevitable.
Lyric notes are the strength of classical Chinese; Classical Chinese lacks the reflection of modern science and technology and the new content of the new era. Like today's "World Trade Organization" litigation, computer instructions, mathematical papers, there is no way to use classical Chinese.
Third, the evolution from classical Chinese to vernacular Chinese is a gradual process, not a sudden change. During this period, it experienced the transition of ancient vernacular, which was in line with the law of language evolution.
Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the polyphony of spoken language has become increasingly obvious, and the trend of colloquialism has begun to emerge. There are many colloquial words in Shi Shuo Xin Yu written by Liu Yiqing in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Later, the legends of the Tang Dynasty with the nature of storytelling became more colloquial. The Dunhuang Bianwen we saw today was told to ordinary people by people who spread Buddhism, of course, it was spoken.
Look at Song and Yuan scripts and Yuan and Ming zaju, both of which are market-oriented and "vendors". Not to mention the novels of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, which are simply vernacular.
The language of A Dream of Red Mansions in Qing Dynasty is not much different from that of modern Chinese. Now classical Chinese has been abandoned, but we still have to learn classical Chinese. Why? The elements of classical Chinese are deposited in modern Chinese.
The development of vocabulary and meaning is cumulative. After a long period of accumulation, the internal energy is gradually adjusted and exchanged, and old components are adopted to form a new system. Some monosyllabic words in pre-Qin Chinese entered modern Chinese as basic words, and the other part as morphemes formed modern disyllabic words and accumulated in modern Chinese vocabulary.
For example, the shallow meaning of "bi" still stays in words such as "light", "vulgar", "light" and "base", all of which are examples of the ancient meaning of pre-Qin directly entering modern Chinese disyllabic words. As far as modern Chinese is concerned, this disyllabic word with pre-Qin ancient meaning is closely combined into a unified unit of use because it contains a non-free morpheme and uses ancient meaning. Users will not pursue morpheme meanings one by one, especially when creating words, the ancient meanings will be diluted.
There are also many ancient disyllabic words that directly enter modern Chinese. The words with "book" in Modern Chinese Dictionary are written words in classical Chinese, such as "Moon", "Danqing", "Unfortunately" and "Favorable". Another example is Lian Mian Ci (disyllabic words with only one morpheme): "wandering", "bright", "wandering" and "ephemeral", all of which are examples of classical Chinese words entering modern Chinese. Classical Chinese already has elements of vernacular Chinese, and vernacular Chinese also has elements of classical Chinese. It is very natural for the two to penetrate each other.
In addition, there are many Chinese idioms that are beyond the reach of other languages. These idioms can greatly improve the expressive ability of Chinese. They are concise and full, clear and implicit, rich but not boring, vivid and not greasy, and are the essence of Chinese.
To understand these disyllabic words and idioms, we must dig roots in historical Chinese. National spirit in classical Chinese.
China people have a long tradition of attaching importance to Chinese studies. Chinese studies are the foundation of China's study, and the most important ones are Confucian classics and primary schools.
The basic spirit of being a man and building a country lies in the Five Classics, which is the axis of Chinese culture and the cultural identity symbol of Chinese children. The "Five Classics" have profound meanings, and people generally start with The Analects of Confucius and Mencius.
The Analects of Confucius and Mencius are actually popular versions of the Five Classics. The ancients read classics, on the one hand, to cultivate a sense of language and acquire the ability of classical Chinese, on the other hand, to receive ideological education and establish the concept of "self-cultivation, governing the country and leveling the world"
Gu He and Zhang Taiyan believe that only by retaining the roots of traditional culture can we retain the national soul. In ancient times, China began to recite four books and five classics when he was a child. Although he didn't understand the content at the moment, these notes were printed in his mind. When he can understand them, they can be transformed into ideas.
These traditional classics have been handed down from generation to generation, forming the foundation of China people's cultural and psychological structure, and influencing the aesthetic taste of China people from generation to generation. When people have a free spiritual dialogue with those ancient people with profound cultural accomplishment, they can enhance their experience and understanding of life.
National spirit and language learning complement each other. In the Song Dynasty, Zhao Pu "ruled the world with the Analects of Confucius". In fact, he can basically read the Analects of Confucius well.
4. Historical development of vernacular Chinese Before the May 4th Movement in China, Chinese was divided into classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese.
In pronunciation, it can be divided into pronunciation and white voice; In terms of style (including vocabulary and grammar), it can be divided into classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese. The vernacular Chinese is actually a folk dialect, which is opposite to the pronunciation (such as Guang Yun Yin and Hongwu Zheng Yun). Compared with classical Chinese, vernacular Chinese is a written expression close to the language of daily life, which is obviously different from classical Chinese in terms of vocabulary, syntax and charm.
Chinese has been divided into classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese since ancient times. Classical Chinese is the official form of expression, the language and style of male and female scholars.
However, China has a parallel set of Chinese, that is, the vernacular, which is the language used by ordinary people in conversation. In contrast, classical Chinese is more rigorous, standardized and logical than vernacular Chinese.
Since there were no tape recorders and other equipment in ancient times, we first learned about the ancient literary form-classical Chinese. However, with the in-depth study of China's ancient culture, we also realize that in ancient times, the official spoken language was not the local vernacular in the capital, but had a special pronunciation standard, that is, pronunciation.
For example, the official written language in the Ming Dynasty was classical Chinese, and the official oral language was based on the book Hongwu Zheng Yun, which was based on the Nanjing vernacular at that time. Obviously, the phonetic system of Hongwu Zheng Yun was more standardized and rigorous than any dialect at that time.
As for ordinary people, they don't understand classical Chinese at all, let alone as a daily conversation. They all speak the local dialect.
But it can't be said that vernacular Chinese is a language without words. The number and range of ancient Chinese characters in China far exceeded the narrow range of thousands of words used by modern people, and modern Chinese evolved from this parallel Chinese.
We can see from the existing literary masterpieces, such as Tang and Song vernacular literature, Yuan Zaju, and "Three Words and Two Beats" in Ming Dynasty that ancient vernacular Chinese is not as different from modern Chinese as classical Chinese. If you can't verify their pronunciation, at least their grammar and words are clear on paper.
The ancient vernacular Chinese has hardly changed much from the modern vernacular Chinese in the May 4th Movement to the modern Chinese, but modern people have tidied up the western grammar and added a lot of words. .