The Study On Dissertation On The Characters And Sounds Of The Chinese Language:Including Tables Of The Elementary Characters,and Of The Chinese Monosyllables(1809)by Joshua Marshman

In recent years,more and more literature of researching Chinese by occidental is being explored.Dissertation on the Characters and a contributor of the Chinese Language:including tables of the elementary school Characters,and of the Chinese monosyllables is a doctoral thesis about Chinese Characters,Sounds and Grammar by Joshua Marshman,a British missionary.It was completed and published in 1809.In the dissertation,Marshman's theory of Chinese Characters seems unique,the comparative analysis of the Sounds and the views of Chinese lexical and morphological,etc.,are creative and worthy of exploration,sorting and research.This thesis bases on Marshman's Dissertation on the Characters and a contributor of the Chinese Language,and the content which is mainly divided into three parts:the introduction,the main body and the conclusion.The first part of this thesis is the introduction,mainly introduces the research object and research status at home and abroad about the selected topic,and set the research objectives that will achieve,explain the research theory,method that are used in discussion.Besides,it will also give some introduction of the life and works of Marshman.The main part of this thesis is from the second chapter to the fourth chapter,which mainly discuses Marshman's views of Chinese language.And the linguistic data of Chinese Characters,Sounds,Grammar that shows in Dissertation on the Characters and a contributor of the Chinese Language is respectively collated,analyzed and researched.The second chapter investigates Marshman's unique theory of Chinese characters.According to the structure,Marshman divided the Chinese characters into different classes.It is a further development to the configuration of Chinese characters.The main discourse of the third chapter is about Marshman 's views on Chinese Sounds,and his understanding of fanqie,the Initial powers,the Final powers and the Tones of Chinese language.It is notable to pay attention to the comparison between Chinese and Sanskrit,Siamese,Burmese etc..The fourth chapter researches on Marshman's understanding of the Chinese Grammar.In Dissertation on the Characters and a contributor of the Chinese Language Marshman discusses the categories of Chinese morphology,mood and tense in detail,and the examples all comes from The Analects of Confucius,so it is to say,when Marshman talks about Chinese Grammar he talks about classical Chinese grammar.This is the significant difference to other western scholars' view.Chapter five discusses the academic status and limitations of Marshman's Dissertation on the Characters and a contributor of the Chinese Language.The last part is the conclusion,summarizing the discussion in this thesis and the prospect of research in this area.By sorting out the occidental's study and research of Chinese in this period may enlighten the deep thinking of Chinese features.