On During The Qin Dynasty In Ancient China The Construction Of Word And Meaning Theory, And "language And Meaning" The Beginning

The construction and differentiation of word and meaning is the focus of research on Chinese ancient thoughts, culture, philosophy, literature, aesthetics and etc. Owing to its complexity, any exploration into the issue is of great significance and much value. The thesis is aimed at dynastic and comprehensive analysis of the construction and differentiation of pre - Qin' philosophers' word and meaning theory,which is also the origin of Chinese word and meaning theory.The thesis argues that the theoretical basis of Chinese word and meaning theory and the kernel of differentiation of word and meaning are both derived from pre - Qin thoughts. Those fundamental social and cultural changes during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States lead to the variety of pre - Qin rational thoughts. With the appearance and the contention of various schools of thought as the social and cultural background, discussion about the relationship between word and meaning became heated,and they were all rooted in the combination of Heaven and man.It s due to the marvelous wisdom of those various schools of thoughts that the word and meaning theory turned into being,so it's deeply characterized by the times. Those schools of thoughts include the Taoist School loving the nature, the Confucian School advocating active participation in the worldly affairs, the Legalist School approving legality,and the Mohist School acclaiming pragmatism. Although the early word and meaning theory first appeared as good strategies to administer the country,which is different from its subsequent equivalent,the above thoughts still provided it with a basic frame,entailing the following ideas; word conveys meaning, word fails in conveying meaning, meaning obscures word. In other words, the ancient Chinese word and meaning theory didn' t possess an overall, unified and theoretical system.The thesis also claims that the word and meaning theory during that period centers on four subjects; the functions of language,the differentiation of word and meaning,the relationship between language and mastery of language,and the construction of the second language system,among which the differentiation of word and meaning and the construction of the second language system are more important and both work as the basis of the change of the word and meaning theory from a philosophical issue into an issue of arts and other exquisite theories.Quotations, analysis and elaborations of the word and meaning theories of the schools of thought are included in the thesis as well; the Tao is not what it itself means (Lao Zi), meaning obscures word (Zhuang Zi) ,word is means of expression (Confucius),mastery of language benefits a man(Mencius), word is the name of an object(Xun Zi)and word fails in conveying meaning, so creation of an image helps out(The Book of Changes), In the meanwhile,the thesis doesn't overlook the word and meaning theories of Mohists,Shang Yang and Qu Yuan.In the end, the thesis draws a conclusion from the above research on the word and meaning theory , culture and arts that pre - Qin period contributes to the origin of Chinese word and meaning theory, and the core of the theory combines itself with other different thoughts and theories, which lays a solid theoretical foundation for the unification of such various schools of thought as the Confucians, the Legalists, and the Mohists, and the formation of the word and meaning theory with Chinese characteristics.