Research Of The Hsin Ching Lu Or Book Of Experiments By Thomas Wade

The Hsin Ching Lu or Book of Experiments is the first of a series of contribution to the study of Chinese for student interpreters of the British Consulate by Thomas Francis Wade, a famous diplomat in the19th century. This thesis aims to make a textual research on its background of compilation and the possibilities of arrangement, as well as analyzes the first debut of the Wade System presented in this book. Besides, the frequent occurrences of the grammar points-the empty word "ti(的)" and "liao(了)" are studied in the hope of promoting the further research on the Chinese achievements of Wade. The paper is divided into five chapters:The first chapter is about the significance of the topic. A detailed introduction of the present studies on Wade, the theories and the methods adopted as well as the sources of the materials will be put forward in this chapter.A biographical sketch of Wade and a brief introduction of his Chinese learning experience will be given in the second chapter. It may be a critical period from1841to1861for Wade to learn Chinese and his view of Chinese was formed during this period. He held the idea that Peking dialect had become the official language and British interpreters should learn. Further study is developed as an elaboration of arranging materials for this book. The Hsin Ching Lu is a production of Wade’s Chinese training plan for British student interpreters and an experimental study on phonetics, vocabularies and grammars of the Peking dialect. It is elaborately compiled by Wade, the Category of T’ien(天类)may be from Chinese official Manchu-Sino dictionary《御制增订清文鉴》and Amplification of the first chapter of the Sheng Yu Kuang Hsun(the Sacred Edict) from《圣谕广训衍说》by the ex-Salt Commissioner Wang Yu-po. Many oral vocabularies of the Peking dialect are selected.△further study on the origins of the Wade orthography in the Hsin Ching Lu as well as the characteristics of initials, vowels and tones are presented in the third chapter. There are27initials,39vowel and397syllables in total. The palatalization of ancient jian(见) and jing(精) groups as well as the fusion of sharp and rounded sounds occurred and the groups of yi(疑) and wei(微) had disappeared and merged into the zero initials in this book of the mid-19th century. Furthermore, Wade noticed the four tones in the Peking dialect and the disappearance of ju sheng or entering tone. Therefore, it may be presumed that the initials, vowels and tones of the Peking dialect have been finalized in the19th century. This chapter also tries to explore the development of the Wade System after the publication of the Hsin Ching Lu:it was revised firstly in two editions of A Progressive Course designed to assist the student of Colloquial Chinese (Yu-yen Tzu-erh Chi.1867/1886) and later in two editions of A Chinese-English Dictionary (1892/1912) of Giles.23syllables as well as the vowels of iai and uo were incremental and diacritics were simplified, it had a better understanding of the neutral tone and r-ending retro flexion in the Yit-yen Tzu-erh Chi. Giles simplified the diacritics to a greater extent, cancelled the syllable liin and added the syllable jua; thus Wade-Giles System had been formed.The grammatical functions of the empty word "(?)(的)" and "liao(了)" as well as Wade’s interpretation in the Hsin Ching Lu are overall given in the fourth chapter. The particle "ti(的)" covers all the functions of "de(的)","di(地)","de(得)" as the sign of attributives, adverbials and modal case in the Hsin Ching Lu. It may be concluded that the grammatical functions ofu were stereotyped, and it may be influenced by the Manchu grammar. The phonetic variants of the particle liao arc liao3, liao1la1and lo in the Hsin Ching Lu. It may be presumed that in the process of grammaticalization from the aspect particle to the modal particle, liao perhaps has the trans it ionary voice lo and la in the Peking dialect, and the process of grammaticalizalion may be like this: liao→lo/la→le, which may be also the result of the influence of the Manchu language.The last chapter concludes the main point of the Hsin Ching Lu as well as its possible values. It is a comprehensive experiment of Chinese and a vivid reflection of the oral language of the Peking dialect in the mid-19th century. Furthermore, the debut of the Wade System in this book has laid a basic foundation for his later masterpiece Yu-yen Tzu-erh Chi.