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TheLifeofaDeadLanguage–ClassicalChineseinModernChineseDiscourseIntensivecourse,ZhejiangUniversity

Generaloutline

ItisoftenassumedthatClassicalChinese,alsoreferredtoasliteraryChinese,isa“dead”

languageusedonlyasthewrittenmediumofcommunicationanddiscoursestartingwith

earlyChineseliterarytextswrittenfromthe6thcenturyBCandendingwiththebaihua

movementintheearly20thcentury.ModernStandardChinesedidindeedreplaceClassical

Chineseasthemainmeansofwrittencommunicationafterthebaihuamovement.Features

ofClassicalChinesedidnot,however,disappearfromthemodernlanguagewhentheclassical

languagelostitsstatusasthecommonformofwrittencommunication.Manysemanticand

structuralformsandtracesoftheclassicallanguagecanstillbefoundwithindomainsor

genresofthemodernChineselanguage,suchasinformalstyle,fixedphrases,proverbs,

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compoundwords,slogans,quotations,ads,popmusiclyricsetc.Featuresoftheclassical

languageareappliedrhetoricallyandstylisticallyforspecificdiscursivepurposesinwritten

texts.Thiscoursewillcombinetheoriesoftextualanalysistakenfromdiscourseanalysis

(NormanFairclough)andapplythemtothecontemporaryChineselanguageinorderto

identifyandgrasptherhetoricaluseoffeaturesofClassicalChineseincurrentdiscourse.

Topicsthatthecoursewillcoverare:

• Discourseanalysisandlanguage(Fairclough)

• ClassicalChineselanguageasgenre/styleindiscourse(analysisofe.g.XiJinpingtext)

• ThehistoryoftheClassicalChineselanguage,WesternandJapaneseinfluences,and

thebaihualanguagereform(PingChen,JerryNorman,ChristophHarbsmeier,Shen

Guowei)

• ThegrammaticalstructureofClassicalChinese(Barnesetal.2009)

• TheformsofClassicalChineseinthemodernlanguage(Eifringatel.2016)

• ReadingsinClassicalChinesetexts(Barnesetal.2009)

Thecourseisplannedasaone-weekintensivecourseforScandinavianMAstudentsinChina

Studies,andcountsasatotalof5ECTS(135hours).ItwilltakeplaceataChineseuniversity

campusandwillbeco-taughtbyoneteacherfromtheChineseuniversityandoneteacher

fromaScandinavianuniversity.ThelanguagesofinstructionwillbeChineseandEnglish.

PrerequisitesItisassumedthatstudents:

• ReadandspeakModernStandardChinese(Putonghua)atalevelcorrespondingtothe

requirementsforaBAdegreeinChinaStudiesataScandinavianuniversity

• HavecomprehensiveknowledgeofChinesecultureandsociety

• Areabletohandlebothsimplified(jiantizi)andtraditional(fantizi)formsofChinese

characters.

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AimsofthecourseThemainaimsofthecourseareto:

• Understandthemaintheoreticalfeaturesoftextualdiscourseanalysis

• DevelopfamiliaritywithhowdiscourseanalysiscanbeusedonChinesetext–in

particularontherhetoricalfunctionsofClassicalChineseinthemodernwritten

language

• DevelopanunderstandingofthemainclassicalfeaturesinthemodernChinese

language

• Improvethestudents’abilitytoreadandunderstandclassicalelementsinthemodern

language

• HelpstudentsbecomeabletoreadsimpletextswritteninClassicalChinese

Courseoutline

Time Theme/Title Material

DayOneMorningsession

WelcomeandPresentationTopic:Discourseanalysis,genreandstyleThisfirstsessionwillintroducethetheoreticalframeworktobeappliedinthiscoursewithaparticularfocusonhowthiscanbeappliedtoanalysesofClassicalChineseinthemodernChineselanguage.Inaddition,thisfirstsessionwillgiveanoverviewofthemainfeaturesofClassicalChineseandhowthesecanbedistinguishedfromstandardmodernusage.Note:StudentsarerequiredtobringclassicalandmodernChinesedictionariestoallfurtherclasses.

Fairclough2003orlaterBarnesetal.2009Eifringetal.2016

Lunchbreak

Afternoonsession

Topic:AnalysisofChinesetext(speech/textbyPresidentXiJinping)Studentswillbereadingaspeech/textbyPresidentXiJinpingingroups,asanexampleofpoliticalrhetoric,andwillanalysethetextbyapplyingtheoriesandtoolsfromdiscourseanalysisinordertorecogniserhetoricaluseoffeaturesfromClassicalChinese.

Speech/textbyPresidentXiJinping.Eifringetal.2016

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DayTwoMorningsession

Topics:

- HistoryoftheClassicalChineselanguage- Mainclassicalformsofliterature- Oneexampleofaclassical(rhetorical)text(e.g.公孫龍子·白馬論)

ThehistoryoftheChineseclassicallanguageandthemaingenresandtypesofclassicalliteratureinChinawillbeintroducedintheformofalecture.Thiswillbefollowedbythereadingofashortandwell-knownClassicalChineserhetoricaltext(e.g.公孫龍子·白馬論).

Norman1988,pp.83-110HandoutofClassicalChinesetextwithcommentaries.

Lunchbreak

Afternoonsession

Topics:

- TransmissionfromclassicaltomodernlanguageinChina- Readingofafewtextsfromthetransitionperiodanalysed

byuseofdiscourseanalysis

ThefirstpartofthissessionwillfocusuponthetransitionfromclassicaltomodernlanguageinChina.Themainhistoricalfeatureswillbeintroducedthroughalecture.Then,inthesecondpartofthissessionstudentswillworkwithaselectionoftextsfromthetransitionalperiodtorecogniseandgetfamiliarwiththechangesthattookplaceduringthistransitionalperiod.

Chen1999,pp.67-90Harbsmeier2001,pp.373-410Shen2012,pp.265-281Handoutofexcerptsfromtextsbye.g.LiangQichao,ChenDuxiu,HuShiandothers.

DayThree

Morningsession

Topics:

- GrammaticalfeaturesofClassicalChinese1- Examplesfrommodernusage

Inthissession5studentswillworkcloselywithanumberofgrammaticalfeaturesinClassicalChineseandwillidentifyrhetoricalusageofthesefeaturesincontemporarytexts.

Studentswillidentifytheirownselectionofcontemporarytexts.

Eifringetal.2016Barnesetal.2009

Lunchbreak

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Learningactivities

Thecoursecombineslectures,seminarsandgroupdiscussionsheldinEnglishandChinese

withafieldtrip.Studentswillbegivenassignmentstopreparebeforeeachrespectiveclass

session.Basedonthecourseandthefieldtrip,thestudentsarerequiredtopresentideasfor

afinalposterpresentationonthelastdayofthecourse.Attendanceiscompulsoryaccording

totheregulationsoftheChineseuniversityandstudentsareexpectedtocometoclasseswell

prepared.Studentswillreceivethelistofreadingsaboutonemonthbeforethecoursestarts

Afternoonsession

Topics:

- GrammaticalfeaturesofClassicalChinese2- Examplesfrommodernusage

Inthissession6studentswillworkcloselywithanumberofgrammaticalfeaturesinClassicalChineseandwillidentifyrhetoricalusageofthesefeaturesincontemporarytexts.

Eifringetal.2016Barnesetal.2009

DayFourMorningsession

SeminarTopic:

- Readingof2-4textsfromclassicalliterature

Barnesetal.2009

Lunchbreak

Afternoonsession

Preparationsforfieldworkandposterpresentation.

DayFiveMorningsession

Posterpresentations.

Lunchbreak

Afternoonsession

Posterpresentations.Wrapupandevaluationofthecourse.

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andareexpectedtohavereadatleastthemandatorytextsbeforethebeginningofthe

course.

Courserequirements/examination

The students’ performance during the course, including active class attendance, written

assignments, and a final poster presentationwill count towards completion of the course.

Seminaractivitiesincludestudents’presentationswherestudentswillworkinsmallgroupsof

twoorthree,andwillbeaskedtohandinassignmentsbeforeclass.Studentsshouldcollect

theirownempiricalmaterialandpreparemainideasandresearchquestionsanalysedthrough

themethodsandtheoriesdescribedindiscourseanalysis.Eachstudentwillpresentthefindings

andanalysesoftheirindividualprojectsthroughaposterpresentationinthelasttwosessions.

The presentation should last for 10-15 minutes followed by comments and questions,

altogetherupto30minutesperstudent.Thecoursewillbegradedpassed/notpassed.

CourseMaterial

Barnes,Archie,DonStarr,GrahamOrmerod(2009).Du’sHandbookofClassicalChineseGrammar–AnIntroductiontoClassicalChineseGrammar,AlcuinAcademics.Chen,Ping(1999).ModernChinese.HistoryandSociolinguistics.CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.67-90.Eifring,Halvor,IvoSpiraandRuneSvarverud(2016).Handoutdevelopedforthiscourse.Fairclough,Norman(2003orlater).AnalysingDiscourse.Textualanalysisforsocialresearch,Routledge.Harbsmeier,Christoph(2001).“MayFourthLinguisticOrthodoxyandRhetoric:MoreInformalComparativeNotes”.In:NewTermsforNewIdeas:WesternKnowledge&LexicalChangeinLateImperialChina,Brill,pp.373-410.Norman,Jerry(1988).Chinese.CambridgeLanguageUniversityPress,pp.83-110.ShenGuowei沈國威(2012).”Ciyuantanqiuyujindaiguanjianciyanjiu”詞源探求與近代關鍵詞研究.In:Dongyaguannianshijikan東亞觀念史集刊,Vol.2(June2012),pp.265-281.Inaddition,dictionariesofmodernandClassicalChinese(digitalorpaperdictionaryboughtinaChinesebookstore).