Xing Bing Linguistic Study

Xing Bing is the famous scholar of Confucian classics and Chinese exegesis interpreter in the early Northern Song Dynasty, whose works Lun Yu Zhu Shu,Xiao Jing Zhu Shu and Er Ya Zhu Shu are all included in Shi San Jing Zhu Shu.ln the perspective of ideological history,Xing Bing initiates the practice of explaining the Confucian classics through the philosophy of principle as order. As a harbinger of the Neo-Confucianism in the Northern Song Dynasty,he plays an important role in the evolution of Confucianism. However,up to now there are only few papers studying his linguistic theory which are slightly insufficient in the width as well as in the depth. Therefore,this thesis which tends to study his linguistic thoughts can fill the blank space of this field.The Chinese linguistic theory,on the one hand,is expressed in the linguistic works such as Er Ya,Fang Yan,Shuo Wen Jie Zi and Shi Ming etc.;on the other hand,in the notes and commentaries of the ancient books of the scholars through the ages. Once we start to analyze and study these notes and commentaries,we can put their linguistic ideas in good order and then enrich and develop the history of Chinese linguistics.The linguistic theory contained in the rich materials of the above three books is extremely valuable.If we set about unearthing and arranging it,this will do much good to the studies of the history of Chinese linguistics and enable us to evaluate properly the historical figure Xing Bing as well.This thesis tends to study his linguistic achievements in philology, exegetics, lexicology and grammar mainly by employing the traditional methods like induction and analogy integrated with the relevant theories of modem linguistics.Firstly,he does a lot of research on the complicated phenomena of character application in ancient books and make specific analysis and distinction of the variant forms of Chinese characters, phonetic loan characters and ancient characters and later periods characters,so that it clears away the verbal obstacles while we reading the ancient books.In particular,his research on the Chinese character turns the direction from its form to its sound, tries to dispel the mists of forms of characters and to explore the relation between the character's sound and its meaning which exerts a profound influence on the history of Chinese philology.Secondly,he generally applies the methods of seeking its meaning according to its phonetics to clarify the phonetic loan characters,explain the vocal switch and explore the etymology which changes the traditional concept of valuing forms but sounds beginning from Han Dynasty. Therefore,Mr.Huang Kan says: "the latter-day Confucians demonstrate Er Ya throughphonetics,but this method actually starts from Xing Bing. "Thirdly,he observes the evolution of the characters' meanings and tries to find out its regulations in a historical and developing way. As to the large number of synonyms in Er Ya,Xing Bing distinguishes them through the designative meanings and their inner forms. Besides,he has carried out deep studies on the disyllabification, local dialect and folk adage and some peculiar examples of Chinese characters,some of his ideas still considered very valuable.Finally,on the basis of the former studying achievements,he gets more clear understanding about the types of function words as well as their respective grammatical functions.Meanwhile,his research on the flexible usage and the order of Chinese characters as well as the passive sentence patterns elevates its grammar studies to a brand-new position greatly enlightens the later generations.Through the analysis, we can see there are lots of points of his linguistic theory and practice far beyond the elder generations.His research,which succeeds that of Han & Tang Dynasties and inspires that of Ming & Qing Dynasties,establishes the beginning of the later development of linguistics.Xing Bing's linguistics turns out an important part in the development of Chinese linguistics.