The Lexical And Grammatical Research On The Story Of A White Rabbit Published In Ming Dynasty

The southern opera which named The Story of a White Rabbit, was popularity and performed in Yuan Dynasty. We found three integrated editions of this southern opera which published in Ming Dynasty. They are Yongshun Version which published in Chenghua years in Beijing, Fuchun Version which published in Wanli years in Nanjing, Jigu Version Which published in the end of Ming in Changshu. These editions reflect the language differences both on times and region. The thesis is focus on the language of these editions, meanwhile, take another 23 anthologies as supplementary material, to search the background dialect of these editions. And try to conjecture the relationship of them.It is found that in Yongshun Version, Zhan(站) has already replaced Li (立). Fuchun Version was similar to Yongshun Version. But the latter version which published in Changzhou only use Li(立). Dialect was the cause of the difference. But on the study of Yin(饮) and Chi(吃), we noticed Yongshun Version and Jigu Version look similar, they were mostly use Chi(吃). Because of the author of Fuchun Version prefer to use ancient words, Yin(饮) is in a majority in this version.In the second chapter, we have investigated 17 words which are considered to be able to reflect the time or territorial property of the text. The results showed that Yongshun Version used quite a few new words which arose in Ming, and some of these words were only used in northern dialects. That means this version was modified by northerners. The language of Jigu Version is Wu dialect. According to the usage of Ke(科) in Yongshun Version, We speculate that the author of this version was familiar with Yuan opera.In the third chapter, we have investigated the first person pronouns in these version, and got the following conclusions:(1)Wu(吾) appeared frequently in Fuchun Version, for the author prefer to use ancient words.(2)There was no An(俺)in Yongshun Version, that was consistent with Ming version Laoqida. Fuchun Version use An(俺),it’s likely that Jianghuai mandarin was affected by the northern dialects. Jigu Version also use An(俺), but that was the Southern author in imitation of northerner’s oral language.(3)Zan(�'�) which means I were only used in libretto, in order to make the music harmonious.(4) Zijia(自家)(means I) only used in the introduction of a character, the form which Yongshun Version used was similar to that in Yuan opera, and the form used in Fuchun Version and Jigu Version was arose in Ming Dynasty.(5)In all these three version Nu (奴) can used as a woman’s first person pronoun. But it’s rare to use Nu(奴) in Ming’s spoken language. The operas’ language was just follow the collocation of Song.(6)In Yongshun Version inclusive form and exclusive form are isomorphic. It’s similar to Wu dialect and Jianghuai mandarin. Further more, Zhengtong Linronglu which reflect Beijing mandarin in 15 century was also used Womei(我每) like that.We also investigated four kinds of interrogative sentences("VP-Neg","X-Neg-X", "可 VP" and "VP 么"). And found both Yongshun and Jigu Version has sentences like "VP 不 VP", Jigu Version used "V也不 V",it’s a common form in The Sixty Kinds of Southern Opera. We speculated that was affected by Yuan Opera. Yongshun Version have one sentence that used "VO 不 V".This kind of interrogative sentence was existed in Beijing mandarin in the middle of 15 century. There are many interrogative sentences like " 可 VP (么) "("interrogative adverb+VP+modal particles/negative words") in Jigu Version, which was the biggest difference between Jigu Version and Fuchun Version. This special syntax had started to be used before Qin Dynasty. In Ming, it might still existed in oral language. Compared with the anthologies, such as Huichi Yadiao, Zhaijin Qiyin, Gelin Shicui, Zuiyiqing, we noticed that these versions are heterogeneous, they reflected different dialects.According to the investigation, we draw the conclusion that Fuchun Version’s language was different from those anthologies which published in Jiangxi. It was probably reflect the Jianghuai mandarin. Yongshun Version had been adapted by northerners, and it was likely to reflect Beijing mandarin. Jigu Version was written by a author who spoke Wu dialect. However, as an opera text, the language must be intermixed, we should use them carefully, but they are really very important to the study on the development history of Chinese language.