A Study Of Features Of Chinese Phonetics In English Sinology In The 19th Century

As an important part of Western sinology,British sinology differs from the Sino-Sinian sinology represented by French sinology and shows its own characteristics.British sinologists found a large number of Chinese language phenomena through the study of Chinese language,and wrote many sinological writings with far-reaching influence on later generations.This paper analyzes the description of the Chinese phonetic system in English sinology,investigates the development of Chinese phonetics in the 19th century,and the British Sinologists'cognition of Chinese phonetics,and provides suggestions and inspiration for teaching Chinese as a foreign language.This paper is divided into six chapters.The first chapter of the thesis is the introduction,which mainly introduces the reason of the topic selection,the research method used in this paper,the research value and significance of this topic.Chapter two is the literature review part,combing the research status of the academic community on the phonetic scheme of the Romans and the Chinese phonetics recognition.Chapter three analyzes the initial consonants written by the 19th-century British sinologists,such as Robert Morrison,Joseph Edkins,James Summers,Thomas Francis Wade,and Frederick William Baller,and their understanding of the Chinese initials.Comparing with the Initial Consonant System in the The Scheme For Chinese Phonetic Alphabet,we find the similarities and differences and analyze the reasons.Then we integrate the systems and make horizontal comparisons to clarify the development of the Chinese initials and the reasons for their changes.Chapter four analyzes the vowel systems and the understanding of vowels in the phonetic program of the 19th-century British sinologists.Comparing each vowel system with the modern Chinese syllable system,then we compare the six vowel systems horizontally,to find out the reasons for the development of Sinologists'understanding of the Chinese vowel system and the reasons for their differences.Chapter five introduces understanding of tone and tone change of Mandarin in Morrison and other sinologists'books,and then analyzes the reasons of their different opinions on tone perception and the development of tones.Chapter six compares the phonetic system of Morrison and other British sinologists in the 19th century with the phonetic system of Nicolas Trigault and some other sinologists in the 17th century.It analyzes the similarities and differences of initials,finals,and tones between the 17th and the 19th century,to find the evolution of the Cognition and the Cognitive Features of English-speaking Sinologists in the 19th Century.Chapter seven summarizes the characteristics of Chinese phonetic cognition of English sinologists in the 19th century based on the analysis above,and analyzes the influence of these Chinese phonetic studies on later generations and their implications for Chinese language teaching.