A Study Of The Rhetorical Ambiguity Of Dunhuang Bien-wen

As the link between the ancient chinese and the modern chinese, Dunhuang bien-wen ,linguistically,inherits the classical language of the pre-Qin period and the Han Dynasty,and pioneers the vernacular colloquialism of the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty. As the linkage between the ancient literature and the modern literature, its form of the combination of rhyme and prose and the unique linguistical charm take important place in the history of chinese literature. The thesis takes the rhetorical ambiguity in the Dunhuang bien-wen for the object of study and tries to study its rhetorical characteristic in a deep-going way by means of making a systematic study of its value in bien-wen,its rhetorical characteristic,its effect of express in figures of speech,result of express and its causes of formation , and also demonstrates its value in the linguistics and in the literature in a way more objective and more concrete.The first chapter of the text reorganizes a summary for the documents of bien-wen, and elaborates separately its discoveration,reorganization of the document and acdemic value, and espacially discusses the special value of rhetorical ambiguity in Dunhuang bien-wen., and reveals value of the rhetorical ambiguity in Dunhuang bien-wen and even in the whole history of literature and that of language by its influence on the literature in its content of creation, its style of language and its artistic method. The second chapterexplains the rhetorical characteristics of the rhetorical ambiguity of language of bien-wen: implicit, humorous, lively.From these three rhetorical characteristics, emerges that rhetorical ambiguity is a linguistic activity which of high aesthetic value. The third chapter explains the express effects of the rhetorical ambiguity in the figures of speech of bien-wen: satire, mild and indirect, analogy and metaphor;The fourth chapter illustrates causes of formation of the rhetorical ambiguity in the bien-wen by three sides: the flourishing economie and civilization in the Tang Dynasty , the need of preaching the Buddhist Scriptures and the need of appreciation of the beauty of the common people.