A Study On The Annotation And Punctuation Of Article In The Song Dynasty

Article containing both "annotation" and "punctuation" originated from China’s Song Dynasty. Its style and thought influence the whole history of commentary, and has important theoretical consequences and academic value. Making a Study on the commentary of article of Song Dynasty has considerable significance. The thesis investigates the problem from five perspectives:history, type, cause, form, and content.The history:reviewing the literatures of commentary on article of Song Dynasty in the historical perspective. From a large amount of literature, I pick out more than 30 books available that have both "annotation" and "punctuation", and analyze them from many perspectives, such as the writer, press time, comment form, comment content, etc. In that way I understand the history of commentary on article of Song Dynasty.The cause:historical factor, request of real world, personality of commenter and form of commentary. The previous note and criticism of poem are the beginning of "annotation". The previous reading method, such as punctuation, mark, etc, is the beginning of "punctuation". The commentary are attributed to many social conditions: the policy of paying more attention to culture, and holding imperial examinations, or the fashion of seeking methods of the commentary, and great skills of printing. Commenter’s taste and cultural degree are personal factors. Methods, that "express the writer’s meaning and open the reader’s heart", are functional factors.The type:investigating the literatures of commentary on article of Song Dynasty from many perspectives. From the perspective of the-article’s style, it can be categorized into the classic and the present. From the perspective of the article’s compiled era, it can be classified into the general historical type and dynastic historical type. From the perspective of the article’s compiled purpose, it can be divided into the imperial examination and the non-imperial examination. From the perspective of the editor of the article, it can be separated into groups such as the self-edited and the compilation.The form:comprehensive analyzing of the form which is used in the process of "annotation" and "punctuation". There are ten signs, such as dot (、), circlet (o), long vertical (|)、short vertical (|)、pen (O)、cutting line (一)、bracket (())、square (□) and hollow dot ((?))。There are several forms of commentary:general commentary, head commentary, side note, finished note, and head note. There are a vast number of terms which convey rich information.The content:cultural purpose, reading purpose and writing purpose. For reading purpose, articles suggest that reading materials should be targeted at famous writers of Tang and Song Dynasty, especially Song Dynasty. Reading methods include literature reading method, writer reading method and comparative method. Writing purpose theory put emphasis on how to get ideas, use words, combine clauses, structuralize content, make writing order and scale, innovate writing skills, use rhetorical techniques, and avoid errors. These express the view of writing in suitable form, and emphasize the importance of graceful form.