Introducing and translating Otto Jespersen in China in the past 100 years
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Changliang Qu
Abstract
As a prolific linguist Otto Jespersen used to have a strong impact on the Chinese linguists who wrote descriptive grammars in the first half of the 20th century for the Chinese language. However, his influence was interrupted during the Cold War decades and then neglected in the land that once embraced his ideas. In the recent decade, a revived interest in Jespersen propels a retrospect on the complicated history of his influence in China. Based on the critiques and translations published in China, this paper intends to explore both the linguistic and the extra-linguistic reasons for the history of the Chinese acknowledgement of Jespersen’s linguistic ideas.
Abstract
As a prolific linguist Otto Jespersen used to have a strong impact on the Chinese linguists who wrote descriptive grammars in the first half of the 20th century for the Chinese language. However, his influence was interrupted during the Cold War decades and then neglected in the land that once embraced his ideas. In the recent decade, a revived interest in Jespersen propels a retrospect on the complicated history of his influence in China. Based on the critiques and translations published in China, this paper intends to explore both the linguistic and the extra-linguistic reasons for the history of the Chinese acknowledgement of Jespersen’s linguistic ideas.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword and acknowledgements ix
- Editors’ introduction xiii
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Part I. Notions
- Un essai d’histoire comparée de la grammatisation des langues romanes 3
- Linguistic description and language philosophy in Wilhelm von Humboldt’s North American grammars 21
- La phrase grammaticale moderne 35
- Wegener’s Wortsatz and the notion of sentence 49
- Why is it so hard to establish gestalt ideas within linguistics? 65
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Part II. Representations of language and reception of theories
- Klaproth, Balbi and the language atlas 81
- Nation and race in the twentieth century scientific discourse on Viking Age runestones 101
- L’homme dans la langue 113
- Saussure/Mallarmé 129
- Introducing and translating Otto Jespersen in China in the past 100 years 143
- On the reception and revivification of Cartesian linguistics 157
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Part III. Pedagogy, linguistic policy and codification
- Greek grammatical learning papyri 173
- The history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT) in the history of linguistics 189
- Sprache der Nähe vs. Sprache der Distanz and the nineteenth century codification of Modern Czech 205
- Linguists and lawyers 221
- Name index 237
- Subject index 241
- Name index 237
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword and acknowledgements ix
- Editors’ introduction xiii
-
Part I. Notions
- Un essai d’histoire comparée de la grammatisation des langues romanes 3
- Linguistic description and language philosophy in Wilhelm von Humboldt’s North American grammars 21
- La phrase grammaticale moderne 35
- Wegener’s Wortsatz and the notion of sentence 49
- Why is it so hard to establish gestalt ideas within linguistics? 65
-
Part II. Representations of language and reception of theories
- Klaproth, Balbi and the language atlas 81
- Nation and race in the twentieth century scientific discourse on Viking Age runestones 101
- L’homme dans la langue 113
- Saussure/Mallarmé 129
- Introducing and translating Otto Jespersen in China in the past 100 years 143
- On the reception and revivification of Cartesian linguistics 157
-
Part III. Pedagogy, linguistic policy and codification
- Greek grammatical learning papyri 173
- The history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT) in the history of linguistics 189
- Sprache der Nähe vs. Sprache der Distanz and the nineteenth century codification of Modern Czech 205
- Linguists and lawyers 221
- Name index 237
- Subject index 241
- Name index 237
