Research On Paronym In Sanli Zhu Of Zheng Xuan

Zheng Xuan's etymological investment developed the old theory of Shengxun of pre-Qin days and affected his student Liu Xi's Shiming, so his study is the hub of the etymological investment in the early period. This paper does textual research on paronoyms in the book of Sanli Zhu by Zheng Xuan.Instructed by the theory and method of modern etymology, this paper use comparative linguistics, sememe and statistics to analyze the 342 sets of paronoyms which were made by Zheng Xuan in the book of Sanli Zhu. Based on explaining the reason for named things, we analyze the relation types of pronunciation and meaning of words, conclude its theory and method of etymological investment and study his etymological achievement and limitations. Furthermore, this paper aims at providing the document language materials and the terminology and the theory for the establishment of a scientific etymological order.It has six Sections.Section one is introduction. This part briefly states the tenet, significance, theoretical gist,research method, pronunciation standard, historical and present reasearching situation on etymology and Zheng Xuan.Section two is a brief introduction to Zheng Xuan's academic origin and background of etymology exploration. Interpreting classics, konwing old pronunciation and dialect, at the same time learning etymological knowledge from his predecessors, Zheng Xuan had the bases of etymological investment. He was deeply affected by argument of term and denotation and Shengxun of pre-Qin days.Section three is the survey of Zheng Xuan's view of language and paradigm of etymological investmen.Firtly, it expounds Zheng Xuan's view of the relationship between pronunciation and meaning, word motivation and word of the times. Secondly, it reviews in turn the method , object and content of etymological investmen. Zheng Xuan already had a conscious awareness of etymological investmen.Section four is the verification of those paronyms in Sanli Zhu. This section is the body of the paper. This section dredges 342 sets of paronyms. Among them 280 groups of paronyms are sorted out, which now have been affirmed or recognized by scholars. The auther analyzes the reason for named things and the relationship between pronunciation and meaning in order to add more verification. By tracing the source and citing documentary evidence,from two aspects, pronunciation and meaning of words, the author verified 62 sets of paronyms. It further enriches the cognate case.Section five is the analysis of the relation types of pronunciation and meaning of words. This section describe the relation types of pronunciation and meaning of words, so that we can find the disciplinarian of phonology transformation and the clue of semantic change.Section six is the analysis of contribution and faults of etymological investmen by Zheng Xuan. This section concludes its achievement and contribution from three levels (theory, method and practice)and criticizes its limitation and faults. In theory, Zheng Xuan first advanced his view on etymology, that is,"seeking meaning phonetically". Second he exposed systematically and thoroughly the multiplying rules of words by deducing the argumentative type of naming things. In methodology, Zheng Xuan used the methods of etymlolgical investment, Shegnxun and Chenshu, which are principal model of etymlolgical investment for monosyllable and polysyllabic word. Furthermore, Zheng Xuan recognized the important value of the clues to phonetic character of words in etymlolgical investment.In practice effectiveness, fistly, he linked 342 sets of etymological cognate. Secondly, he seeked the etyma of some words. Thirdly, he explained the etymological meaning of words. Forthly, he seeked the origin of the sememe.fifthly,he revealed the reason for named thing. Furthermore, he provided the clue to link different phonetic character of words. This contribution help to lay a good foundation for the system to study the modern etymology.In short, Zheng Xuan has made a tremendous contribution to etymological research. He produced etymological thought of"seeking meaning phonetically", linked a large number of etymological congnate, trained his student Liu Xi who continued all of his etymological investment and wrote a etymological work, Shiming.Zheng Xuan has a profound impact on the etymological research of the later generations.