Ideography and Chinese language theory : a history / Timothy Michael O'Neill.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Neill, Timothy Michael, author.

Series:

Worlds of East Asia ; Band 26.

Welten Ostasiens, 1660-9131 ; Band 26 = Worlds of East Asia Mondes de l'Extrême-Orient

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Chinese characters--History.

Chinese characters.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (356 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin, [Germany] ; Boston, [Massachusetts] : De Gruyter, 2016.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This book is a much-needed scholarly intervention and postcolonial corrective that examines why and when and how misunderstandings of Chinese writing came about and showcases the long history of Chinese theories of language. 'Ideography' as such assumes extra-linguistic, trans-historical, universal 'ideas' which are an outgrowth of Platonism and thus unique to European history. Classical Chinese discourse assumes that language (and writing) is an arbitrary artifact invented by sages for specific reasons at specific times in history. Language by this definition is an ever-changing technology amenable to historical manipulation; language is not the House of Being, but rather a historically embedded social construct that encodes "idian human intentions and nothing more. These are incommensurate epistemes, each with its own cultural milieu and historical context. By comparing these two traditions, this study historicizes and decolonializes popular notions about Chinese characters, exposing the Eurocentrism inherent in all theories of ideography. Ideography and Chinese Language Theory will be of significant interest to historians, sinologists, theorists, and scholars in other branches of the humanities.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Egyptian Hieroglyphic and Chinese Characters

Chapter One: Platonism and the Strong Theory

Chapter Two: Aristotelianism and Soft Theory

Chapter Three: Hellenized Egypt, Pythagoreanism, and the Primitivist Theory

Chapter Four: Patristic Apologetics and the Scriptural Theory

Chapter Five: Neoplatonism and the Hermetic Theory

Chapter Six: Universals and the Scholastic Theory

Chapter Seven: Renaissance Neoplatonism and the Emblematic Theory

Chapter Eight: Athanasius Kircher on Egyptian and Chinese Ideography

Chapter Nine: The Great Chinese Encyclopedia

Chapter Ten: Zhengming 正名“Making Words Correct” and Chinese Language Theory

Chapter Eleven: Chinese Language Theory and the Interpretation of the Classics

Chapter Twelve: The Erya and Lexicographic Classification

Chapter Thirteen: The Erya and Chinese Language Theory

Chapter Fourteen: The Shuowen jiezi and Chinese Language Theory

Chapter Fifteen: The “Shuowen Postface” (Annotated Translation)

Conclusion: Ideography and Chinese Language Theory

Appendix: The Metalinguistic Terms Ming 名,Yi 義,Yi 意, and Zhi 志

Bibliography

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed July 22, 2016).

ISBN:

9783110457223

3110457229

9783110459234

311045923X

OCLC:

954046775