Why has the four-character case become the main format of Chinese idioms? Open any dictionary of Chinese idioms, and most of them are four-character idioms.
Take the popular Dictionary of Modern Chinese Idioms (updated edition, published by Shanghai Education Publishing House) as an example. The dictionary contains 8,7 idioms, including 8,42 four-character idioms, accounting for about 9%. In this regard, people will naturally ask such a question: Why has the four-character case become the main format of Chinese idioms? In this regard, we can answer from the following aspects.
As the main format of Chinese idioms, the one-character and four-character case conforms to the benefit principle of language communication, and it should be the benefit principle of language communication to convey as much information as possible in a concise language, that is, to be concise. Chinese idioms are rich and profound in content, whether they are directly quoted from ancient poems, summarized from ancient myths, fables and historical stories, or processed from ancient poems and sentences.
Considering the benefits of language communication, idioms need an optimal language form that can contain complex and complete meanings and be concise. As we all know, idiom is a special fixed phrase, which is a complete unity in meaning. It can't be interpreted literally in isolation, and its function is equivalent to a word in application, so it is actually a stereotyped morpheme combination.
However, most morphemes in Chinese are monosyllabic, which are expressed as Chinese characters in writing. Therefore, the number of words is an element that must be considered in seeking brevity. We might as well imagine what would happen if Chinese idioms were more than four words or more.
Take "Smith", "besieged on all sides" and "beyond the reach of the whip" as examples. Their rich connotations are obviously unclear if only two words are used. In three words, it's written as "fox false threat", "song all around" and "beyond the reach of the whip", which is simple and simple, but the meaning is very unclear.
(A few idioms need only three words to express their meanings completely, and people extend them into four-character cases for aesthetic reasons, such as "fighting at hand-fighting at hand" and "not surprising", which is another matter.) If they are written as "the power of the fox and the fake tiger", "besieged on all sides" and "although the whip is not as long as the horse's belly", the information capacity will not increase much. It can be seen that the four-character case is the best format for idioms to be concise.
Then, why can four-character idioms be concise? This should be examined from the relevant characteristics of Chinese itself. First of all, most of the "characters" that make up four-character idioms are monosyllabic morphemes.
They integrate form, sound and meaning, have independent and complete meanings, can be used freely or relatively freely, participate in the formation of various words, and have large information capacity. For example, "seeking truth from facts" is composed of four morphemes, and the meanings of each relatively independent morpheme are organically linked to express a rich and complete meaning.
In particular, idioms such as "The donkey is at his wit's end", "Waiting for the rabbit" and "Carving a boat for a sword" are described by four morphemes, and then metaphorically extended, so that idioms contain richer and deeper meanings beyond the literal meaning. This is undoubtedly due to the large semantic capacity of monosyllabic morphemes in Chinese.
Secondly, Chinese is a non-morphological language, and the composition of language units mainly depends on word order and function words. Among them, the direct combination by word order is closely related to the concise characteristics of four-character idioms.
As long as the morphemes that enter idioms can be semantically matched with each other, and at the same time conform to logic and language habits, they can be flexibly combined directly by word order without the help of other language components, forming complex and diverse grammatical relationships such as juxtaposition, subject-predicate, deviation, predicate-object, predicate-complement, and so on, and expressing rich meanings in this way. For example, "straightforwardness and quickness of speech" means that the "straightforwardness" and "quickness of speech" in the subject-predicate relationship constitute a coordinate relationship; The "capable person is a teacher" is a subject-predicate relationship composed of the "capable person" with a positive relationship and the "teacher" with a predicate-object relationship, and so on, all of which are directly combined by morphemes with the help of word order.
For this reason, it is possible to accommodate such flexible and diverse grammatical structures and load such rich information content in this small world of four-character idioms, and become a concise unity. Second, four-character idioms have rich aesthetic characteristics and are loved by people. First of all, four-character idioms reflect the beauty of balance.
Paying attention to the beauty of balance is a remarkable tendency of the traditional aesthetic psychology of the Han nationality, which is reflected in many fields of the culture and art of the Han nationality. For example, the neat and symmetrical shelf structure of square Chinese characters, the parallel words and phrases commonly found in ancient poetry, lyrics and prose, the strict balanced and symmetrical pattern of ancient architecture, and the emphasis on compactness, symmetry and stability in calligraphy, seal cutting and painting all show that our ancestors paid great attention to the beauty of balance.
This aesthetic tendency is bound to be projected on Chinese as one of the carriers of Chinese culture, including people's choice of idiom formats. Four-character idioms are four syllables in pronunciation; Physically, there are four square Chinese characters; In the rhythm of morpheme arrangement, most of them are two-two combinations, such as "dragon and phoenix dance", "hundred rivers return to the sea" and "amazing things". Grammatically, there are a large number of juxtaposition structures, such as "justified", "ancient and modern Chinese and foreign" and "a thousand words", all of which show a strong beauty of symmetry and balance.
This makes four-character idioms meet people's requirements for balanced beauty to a great extent. Secondly, four-character idioms have the beauty of change.
equilibrium is not equal to negative change. People not only pay attention to the beauty of balance but also pursue the beauty of change, seeking change on the basis of balance and achieving balance in change.
For example, the flat changes of ancient metrical poems and the long and short sentences of words; Running script and cursive script in calligraphy art; Cornices, curved corridors, arch bridges, etc. in architectural art are all examples of pursuing intricate changes in balance. This pursuit of changing beauty also profoundly affects people's choice of idiom formats.
The intricate changes of four-character idioms are manifested in phonetics, that is, the tones of each word in the idiom can form flat changes and ups and downs, such as "feel at first sight" (flat and flat), "big book and special book" (flat and flat) and "bizarre" (flat and flat) In the rhythm of morpheme arrangement, in addition to the two-and-two combinations, they can also form one or three combinations, such as "danger/imminent", "wood/what is done", "vast/like a sea of smoke" and "trinity", such as "a belt/water" and "running counter to/running against". 2. The more four-word words at the beginning, the better.
There is much to be learned, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to be done, much to talk about Dafa, little to be honest and generous, much to be done, much to be done. You're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you're done, you Big hand, big book, big book, big tree, cool off, big words, big fanfare, big stick, big policy, big straight, big straight, big wisdom, big courage, big wisdom, big foolish, big and honest, big fuss, big wheel, big knife, big dream, big dream, big name, big name, difficult to live in Daming, big fallacy, big mistake, big plan, big trouble, big trouble, big trouble, big trouble, big mistake, big trouble, big trouble, big trouble There is no way to go against the tide, and there is no end to the ups and downs, and there is no end to the ups and downs, and there is no end to the greatness of the world. If you are clumsy, please be greatly influenced by the power, and you will be in charge of the power. Your honor, Mr. Benevolence and righteousness will kill the scenery, and you will be very humorous. You will be greatly disappointed, and you will be greatly puzzled. Jiangdong went to the north and south of the Yangtze River, and the big masters were defeated. The big money was like a rafter, and there was no argument. If there was a big step, the big talent was big, the big talent was big, the big talent was big, and the big talent was big, and the big car was big, and it was a big surprise. 3. Why most idioms are four words
No one has defined them, but they are all used and established in the language for a long time.
So the definition of idioms has been a controversial topic in academic circles for a long time. The so-called idiom is a fixed phrases formed by long-term use and tempering in language.
it is a language unit that is larger than a word and its grammatical function is equivalent to a word. Idioms are mostly composed of four characters.
characteristics: ① the structure is relatively stereotyped. (2) the integrity of meaning.
③ the habituation of time and space. ④ Historicity of formation.
⑤ the nationality of content and form. Source: ① Historical stories.
② fables. (3) myths or other legends.
④ classical literary works. Idioms are fixed phrases or sentences that express general concepts, and most of them are composed of four words.
For example, "castle in the air", "famous name", "shine on you", "colorful" and "joyfully happy" are all four-character idioms. Idioms with less than four words, such as "knocking on the door", "unwarranted" and "taking it for granted", and idioms with more than four words, such as "peaches and plums are all over the world", "real gold is not afraid of fire", "a willing heart is powerless", "a leopard cannot change its spots" and "only state officials are allowed to set fires, but people are not allowed to light them", account for an absolute minority.
Idioms are similar to proper names, scientific terms, proverbs, two-part allegorical sayings, quotations and common phrases composed of four words. For example, proper names and scientific terms are fixed phrases; Proverbs, two-part allegorical sayings and quotations are not only fixed phrases or sentences, but also have meanings similar to idioms. Ordinary phrases composed of four words are concise, and the forms are the same as most idioms, such as "East, West, North and South" and "Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter", but these are not idioms.
clarifying the differences between idioms and proper names, scientific terms, etc. will help to determine what idioms are and what they are not. Now I will briefly explain this aspect.
Idioms are different from proper names: although proper names and idioms are fixed phrases composed of several words, proper names express specific concepts. For example, "Lizhuang Primary School" is only a unique name of a school (of course, there may be duplicate names), and "Guang 'an People's Commune" is only a unique name of a commune. Idioms express general concepts. For example, the idiom "falling apart" can be used to describe a defeated flower, a defeated army or a scattered crowd.
Another example is the idiom "with relish", which can be used to describe anyone who is particularly interested in something. Idioms are different from scientific terms: scientific terms represent scientific concepts, not general concepts.
For example, scientific terms such as "subjective initiative", "revolutionary optimism", "infinite inflorescence" and "parallelogram" are not idioms, although they are all fixed phrases composed of several words. Idioms are different from proverbs: proverbs are mostly sentences rather than phrases.
Proverbs are often used in people's spoken language, but less in articles. Proverbs often have a strong oral color, unlike idioms, which have a classical Chinese color.
proverbs are not as neat as idioms. For example, proverbs such as "Sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight" and "All crows are black" are not so neat.
Of course, if these proverbs must be called idioms, they can be forced. Idioms are different from two-part allegorical sayings: two-part allegorical sayings are a fixed sentence, which must be composed of two parts, the first part is a metaphor for things, and the second part is a positive explanation.
In order to get a vivid, vivid and concrete expression effect, you can also quote two-part allegorical sayings like idioms. For example, "A clay idol crossing the river is hard to protect itself.
"Dogs meddle with mice." "The clay idol washes his face more and more ugly.
""Candied Rhizoma Coptidis is sweet first and then bitter. " These words are "two-part allegorical sayings" rather than "idioms".
Idioms are different from quotations: there are individual sentences in ancient works, such as "intrigue" (see Du Mu's Epanggong Fu) and "getting to the bottom" (see Su Shi's Red Cliff Fu), etc. Because they are often used by people, they later became idioms. But such as, "Qian Fan on the side of the sinking boat, Wan Muchun in front of the sick tree.
"is two poems written by Liu Yuxi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. These two poems are not often used by people, but occasionally quoted in the article.
Therefore, this kind of sentence should be called "quotation" and not regarded as an idiom. Idioms are different from ordinary phrases composed of four words, because most of them are composed of four words, so some people often regard ordinary phrases composed of four words, especially those with strong classical Chinese colors, as idioms.
It should be pointed out that whenever the words in a phrase can be interchanged, it should be regarded as an ordinary phrase. For example, the phrase "fundamental change" can also be changed to "radical change", "fundamental change" or "great change" on some occasions.
Another example is the phrase "close cooperation", which can be changed to "close cooperation" and "profligacy", and can be changed to "profligacy" or "profligacy". After these phrases have been changed, they do not affect the content and make people feel very appropriate.
phrases that can be changed freely like this are all common phrases. As for idioms, they are an organic whole, and the words that make up idioms can't be replaced by other words with the same or similar meanings.
For example, the idiom "the rest of my life in a tiger's mouth" cannot be changed to "the rest of my life in a wolf's mouth" or "the rest of my life in a leopard's mouth" or "the rest of my life in a tiger's mouth". Another example is: "No matter how rhetoric a colonialist talks about peace, it can't hide their aggressive nature.
"In this sentence, not only can we not change" rhetoric about peace "into" rhetoric about peace ",or" rhetoric about peace ",but it is also very reluctant to change it into" rhetoric about peace ". The difference between idioms and proper names, scientific terms and two-part allegorical sayings seems quite obvious.
Generally speaking, the differences between idioms and quotations, common phrases and proverbs are clear, but some of them are not easy to distinguish. We should admit that some fixed phrases or fairly fixed phrases are between idioms and proverbs, quotations or ordinary phrases, and it is not necessary to divide them.
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