Research On The Vocabulary Of History Of Five Empires(Old Version)

So far inadequate research was done in China around studies of ancient linguistics in Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty.To address the problem,this dissertation choose History of Five Empires(old version)as its study scope,and supplemented by History of Five Empires(new version).For the first time ever,tentative efforts were made to study the lexicon appeared in History of Five Empires(old version)by applying Synchronic description and diachronic comparison methodology.Through systematic reading and summarization,the following conclusions are hereby reached:Firstly,both History of Five Empires(old version)and History of Five Empires(new version)are orthodox descriptive books of that period of history.There were little differences in describing historical events in the two books,however,there were vast differences in terms of selection of biographies of people and how details were presented together with other aspects,and the differences in language styles were even more obvious.Through comprehensive and exhaustive reading and comparison,it was found that there were more informal and oral languages in istory of Five Empires(old version)compared to History of Five Empires(new version).In second chapter titled studies of spoken words,we elaborated informal spoken languages by dividing them into three categories,namely,nouns,verbs and adjective words.The spoken nouns were abundant and specifically speakingthey cover the following contents,nouns containing character of "Er"(?)?"Fu"(?)?"Tou"(?)and "Fan"(?),Prefix of "A"(?)and Suffix of "Jia"(?)and "Zi"(?).On top of that,there were rich lexicon in nouns regarding addressing relatives,general titles,vocational titles and timing.Secondly,in the dissertation,we found that History of Five Empires(new version)tend to use less common ancient words,while in History of Five Empires(old version),the words chosen were easier to understand.This conclusion was found through conscientious comparison of how the same person were described in the two books.By saying that,there were subtle differences when it comes to specific choice of bi-syllables.For instance,obscure words of "Luo tuo"(??)?"Se qian"(??)?"Xun di"(??)were used in History of Five Empires(old version),while in History of Five Empires(new version),simpler words were chosen to express the same meaning,such as "Luo po"(??)?"Se hei"(??)?"Lue di"(??).By noticing these details,we can't say that History of Five Empires(old version)always chose the common and spoken words from start to end,and we shall also pay attention to those subtle differences when we make comparisons.Besides,through the comparison of bi-syllables,we found that some words are no longer used in contemporary Chinese lexicon,such as "Ci bi"(??)?"Xun di"(??)?"Lue di"(??)?"Dun huan"(??)?"ben gui"(??),and "yi ri"(??)etc.Thirdly,in the chapter of monosyllabic words interpretation,we unfold the discussion from the four perspectives,namely,correct interpretation,comprehensive definition,proper examples and exhaustive lexicon.We checked against several large dictionaries,and summarized a bunch of featured monosyllables.They were either not included in dictionaries or lagged behind current interpretation.Variant forms of Chinese characters and phonetic loan characters were also found,such as "Zhuo"(?)?"An"(?)?"Zhi"(?)?"Kuan"(?)?"Ke"(?).In addition,the usage of "lai"(?)is also very distinctive.It can be made up of different words,such as "xiang lai"(??),"bi lai"(??),"su lai"(??)and so on.We believe that the word "xiang lai"(??)is the grammaticalization of "xiang"(?)and "lai"(?),then they are fixed into words.Fourthly,although History of Five Empires(old version)was an orthodox history book,there was no lack of vivid spoken language in the book,this was even more obvious when it came to sentence structure.For example,the word "Lai"(?)as an aspect auxiliary word had strong features.Besides that,the quantifier words were also often applied,such as the collocation of "Lian"(?)and "five hundred”,was an example to act as a direct component of a sentence by using substitution,a common rhetoric skill.The original meaning of "Guan"(?)was a thread to collect coins,and now acted as a quantifier,and this was also an example of how metonymy was used.The similar methodologies are still in use in modern Chinese,and some have vanished.Fifthly,through studies of words describing frequency,we are of the opinion that the wide application of these words in modern Chinese is closely connected to their core meaning.In words group relating to "attack",there were words "Gong"(?)?"Po"(?)?"Ji"(?)?"Qu"(?)?"Ba"(?)and "Lue "(?).Take "Gong"(?)as example,it not only appeared in sentences like"surround but not attack",but also collocated with other words such to form compound words such as "Gong ji(??)?Gong xia(??)?Gong wei(??)?Gong bi(??)?Gong po(??)?Gong ding(??)".We can say that the transformation of verb plus other words had played a roles in facilitating the appearance of bi-syllables.Through diachronic analysis of sub-group words relating to"frequency"?"attack" and "Escape",our previous conclusion is further reinforced that the language in old version was more informal and spoken than that of new version.However,this does not mean that there is no spoken language in new version.Sixthly,through the comparison of interpretation of new words of both versions,we can find that Grand Dictionary failed to include a lot of words appeared in History of Five Empires(old version),and this accounted for the highest percentage.Grand Dictionary listed interpretation to words in History of Five Empires(old version)for the first time,as well as books of the same period or books later of History of Five Empires(old version).In comparison,there were far less new words with new interpretation appeared in History of Five Empires(new version)than that of History of Five Empires(old version).There were many examples of lack of definition or outdated definition in Grand Dictionary.We hereby summarize that the difference in number of interpretation of new words could be attributed to external factors and internal factors.The external factors mainly refer to the literature atmosphere in early Song Dynasty.The internal factors mainly refer to the increasing usage of by-syllable words.There was a close connection between the by-syllable trend and other factors including vanishing metathesis word building,creation of overlap by-syllables,verb plus other words collocation and etc.Seventhly,with the appearance of new social phenomenon,variety of new words were brought to existence.New words relating to imperial examination were created such as "Wen jie"(??)?"Qu jie"(??)?"Ba jie"(??)and etc.Words relating to official documents such as "Zhu guan"(??)?"Mo kan"(??)?"Kao xian"(??)and etc.Words relating to economical terminology such as "Huo quan"(??)?"Nu lin"(??)?"Shenghao"(??)and etc.Words relating to construction such as "Bie ye"(??)?"Ku lu"(??)?"Yin hong"(??);Words relating to fauna and flora such as "Ji hi"(??)?"Wei mao"(??)?"Kui huo"(??),"Jia lu"(??)and etc.Words relating to daily appliances such as "Can"(?)?"Yin mu"(??)?"Jian Xing"(??)and etc.Words relating to sacrifice and funeral such as "Chao Xiang"(??)?"Jiao yin"(??)?"Cu cui"(??)and etc.Eighthly,during this period,there were regular interaction and communications between different nationalities.Buddhism continued its influence on the culture of central plains of mainland China,and vocabulary relating to Buddhism continued its usage on various occasions.Another issue worth mentioning is that hierarchy of military titles were taking shape due to the influence of frequent military wars and clashes occurred in that period.These military titles undoubtedly represented the social main-stream was militant.In specific chapters,we elaborate the military titles of this period by dividing them into sub-groups,and this was done from the perspective of affixoid and cognitive linguistics.