A Survey And Comment Of Xu Tongqiang's Sinogram As Basic Unit Theory

The relationship between language and graph is a fundamental problem in linguistic study. Centering on Sinogram, the tradition of Chinese study mainly concerns with graphics, historical phonology and philology. Its kernel part is meaning. On the adoption of Western linguistic theory, Modern linguistics accepts phonocentrism and discontinues Sinogram-centered tradition, causing a kind of"Indo-European eyes". The emergence of"basic unit"theories is reflective of such influence. From"word unit","sentence unit","word group unit"to"clause unit", there is no way to be rid of"Indo-European eyes". Under such circumstance, the proponent of Sinogram as Basic Unit (SBU) tries to find a new way for Chinese study from the starting point of Chinese itself. Basing on Chinese study Mr. Xu Tongqiang considers Sinogram as the basic structural unit of Chinese and establishes a theoretical framework of Chinese semantic syntax. SBU realizes the shift of starting point and starts from Chinese authentically instead of Indo-European language. SBU is an original linguistic theory. On the one hand it inherits and develops the long tradition of Chinese linguistics; on the other hand it absorbs the theorizing spirit of Western linguistics. SBU tries to realize the integration of Sino-Western linguistics and that of modern linguistics and Chinese traditional study.This dissertation consists of seven parts: Introduction retrospect the history of Chinese"basic unit"study since MaShiWenTong published in 1898 and points out the original significance of SBU. The second part classifies the history of SBU as three periods: preliminary period; theoretical formation period; thorough development period. The third part introduces the relevant scholars'study and comment about SBU. The fourth part summarizes the six basic theoretical points of SBU. The fifth part analyses the theoretical and practical value of SBU. Theoretically, its value lies in theoretical originality and methodology, etc. Practically, its value lies in contrastive linguistics and teaching Chinese as foreign language. The sixth part raises doubts and proposes modification about two questions existed in SBU. The final part reaffirms the originality significance of SBU and predicts its future.The original point of the dissertation is that it makes modification about"iconicity is the methodological principle of Chinese study"in SBU and proposes that imagery principle should be the methodological principle of Chinese study for Sinogram is formed by the principle of imagery and isomorphism between Sinogram and Chinese. It raises doubts about the division between"gram"and"graph"in SBU and considers that it severs the indivisible concepts of"sinogram"and"sinograph"artificially. SBU isn't rid of phonocentrism and this exposes its non-exhaustiveness.