Chin Poetry 2024
Welcome to our course website Chin_Poetry_2024!
Session 1: Organizational issues FRI Mar 1, 8:00-9:30 s. 400, WORD CLASSES
FRI (8:00-9:30 s. 400) 9:45-11:15 SIN III s. 424 中國文學-詩歌 Język chiński klasyczny – proza lub poezja Chin Poetry 2024 1.3.-7.6.2024 (S1 1.3., S2 8.3., S3 15.3., S4 22.3., S5 29.3., S6 5.4., S7 12.4., S8 19.4., S9 26.4., S10 3.5., S11 10.5., S12 17.5., S13 24.5., S14 31.5., S15 7.6.)
What we learn in this class
- We learn to differentiate between classical/premodern and modern Chinese.
- We learn to differentiate between traditional and simplified characters.
- We learn grammatical rules of classical/premodern Chinese including word classes, sentence structures etc.
- We learn classical/premodern vocabulary.
- We learn motifs and social-historical backgrounds in classical/premodern Chinese poems.
At the end of this semester, we will read, understand and translate some classical/premodern Chinese poems, especially the seemingly best ones in world literature, Tang and Song poems (premodern).
The course to learn to read classical Japanese for beginners is an example that we do not need to start from the quotation and explain grammar and vocabulary while we are working through the quotation, but instead we can first ignore the texts and start to learn the basics and get a basic understanding of wenyanwen.
So we are not going to start with the texts, but first will lay a foundation of understanding classical/premodern Chinese including grammar, vocabulary, images used in poems etc.
In order to plan a diverse semester with different sorts of explanations and exercises, we first will have a look at existing concepts for learning wenyanwen for beginners. This ensures to also incorporate the newest learning material and media forms.
Preliminary course schedule and topics for this semester
Praktyczna nauka języka chińskiego – kompozycja tekstu SIN II MGR
Sessions Fridays (if not otherwise indicated) in s. 400/424
- Sess1 Mar 1 8:00-9:30
- Sess2 Mar 1 9:45-11:15
- Sess3 Mar 22, 8:00-9:30
- Sess4 Mar 22, 9:45-11:15
- Sess5 Apr 5, 8:00-9:30
- Sess6 Apr 5, 9:45-11:15
- Sess7 Apr 26 8:00-9:30
- Sess8 Apr 26, 9:45-11:15
- Sess9 May 10, 8:00-9:30
- Sess10 May 10, 9:45-11:15
- Sess11 June 14, 8:00-9:30
- Sess12 June 14, 9:45-11:15
- Sess13 TUE Jun 18, 8:00-9:30
- Sess14 TUE Jun 18, 9:45-11:15
- Sess15 Jun 21, 8:00-9:30
- Final Exam Jun 21, 9:45-11:15
Suggested changes for this semester
Teacher provides explanation, systematic approach with tables to classical Chinese grammar and vocabulary. Students need to memorize the word classes in the tables and the usage of the word classes (pronouns, verbs etc.).
Session 1: Getting a first overview of classical Chinese grammar
Typological overview
Cf.: English, German and Chinese Introduction to classical Chinese grammar on Wikipedia.
Classical Chinese has long been noted for the absence of inflectional morphology: nouns and adjectives do not inflect for case, definiteness, gender, specificity or number; neither do verbs inflect for person, number, tense, aspect, telicity, valency, evidentiality or voice. However, in terms of derivational morphology, it makes use of compounding, reduplication and perhaps affixation, although not in a productive way. (See Peyraube 2008, p. 995; Schuessler 2007, p. 16). Most of the affixes in Old Chinese also have counterparts in Tibeto-Burman languages; they are therefore of Sino-Tibetan heritage. Most are unproductive in Old Chinese. There is also an extensive use of zero-derivation.
The basic constituent order of Classical Chinese is subject-verb-object (SVO) (Peyraube 2008, p. 997–998), but is not fully consistent: there are particular situations where the VS and OV word orders appear. Topic-and-comment constructions are often used. Neither a topic, nor the subject nor objects are mandatory, being often dropped when their meaning is understood (so called Pro-drop language (pragmatically inferable)), and copular sentences often do not have a verb.
Within a noun phrase, demonstratives, quantifying determiners, adjectives, possessors and relative clauses precede the head noun, while cardinal numbers can appear before or after the noun they modify. Within a verb phrase, adverbs usually appear before a verb. The language, as analyzed in this article, uses coverbs (in a serial verb construction) and postpositions. Classical Chinese makes heavy use of parataxis where English would use a dependent clause (Pulleyblank 1995, p. 148). However, there are means to form dependent clauses, some of which appear before the main clause while others appear after. There are also a number of sentence-final particles.
Two simple coordinated nouns can be joined with a conjunction, but this is not always the case. This, combined with the fact that two nouns in a possessor-possessed construction are not always marked for their functions either, can lead to ambiguity: 山林 shān lín (literally: "mountain forest") could mean either "mountains and forests" or "the forest of a mountain". (Barnes, Starr, Ormerod 2009, p. 9).
With the absence of inflectional morphology, Classical Chinese is largely a zero-marking language, except that possessors and relative clauses are usually dependent-marked with a grammatical particle.
Negation is achieved by placing a negative particle before the verb. Yes-no questions are marked with a sentence-final particle, while wh-questions are marked with in-situ interrogative pronouns. There are a number of passive constructions, but passives are sometimes not marked differently from active constructions, at least when written. (Aldridge 2013).
The lexicon of Classical Chinese has been traditionally divided into two large categories: content words (實字 shí zì, literally: "substantial words") and function words (虛字 xū zì, literally: "empty words"). (Peyraube 2008, p. 999). Scholars of Classical Chinese grammar notably disagree on how to further divide these two categories exactly, but a classification using word classes similar to those of Latin (noun, adjective, verb, pronoun, etc.) has been common. (Zádrapa 2011, p. 2). However, this remains debated, as many words can be used as multiple parts of speech. Examples shown below.
Word class flexibility
- adjective used as noun: 聖益聖 shèng yì shèng; lit: wise increase wise, actually means: a wise person becomes wiser
- adjective used as verb: 勝地不常 shèngdì bù cháng; lit: a good place not constant, actually means: a good place will not last forever
- adjective used as adverb: 白費 báifèi; lit vain cost, i.e. vainly cost (subject) ...
- noun used as verb: 順流而東也 shùnliú ér dōng yě; lit: along the river East, actually means: rowing down the river to the East
- noun used as adverbial: 犬坐於前 quǎn zuò yú qián; lit: (a wolf) dog sit in the front, actually means: (a wolf) is sitting in the front like a dog
- verb used as noun (rare case): 乘奔御風 chéng bēn yùfēng; lit: ride gallop or wind, actually means: ride a galloping horse or wind
- verb used as adverb (rare case): 爭割地 zhēng gēdì; lit: compete cede territory, actually means: "cede territory spontaneously and actively"
Session 2 FRI Mar 1, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III: PRONOUNS
Pronouns can be separated into the following groups:
- Personal, e.g. 汝 rǔ 'you'
- Demonstrative: 此 cǐ, 斯 sī, 兹 zī 'this, these'; 彼 bǐ, 夫 fú 'that, those'; 之 zhī, 是 shì (anaphoric) 'this, that'
- Reciprocal: 彼此 bǐcǐ 'each other'
- Reflexive: 己 jǐ, 身 shēn 'oneself, themselves'
- Interrogative, e.g. 誰 shéi 'who'
- Indefinite: 他 tuō 'another, others', 某 mǒu 'someone, so-and-so', 人 rén 'someone', 人人 rénrén 'everyone', 諸 zhū 'all'
| 1st person | 吾 wú, 我 wǒ, 余 yú, 予 yú, 朕 zhèn |
|---|---|
| 2nd person | 爾 ěr, 汝/女 rǔ, 而 ér, 若 ruò |
| 3rd person | 之 zhī (accusative), 其 qí (genitive) |
Classical Chinese did not distinguish number in some of its pronouns, for example, 我 wǒ could mean either 'I, me' or 'we, us'. There was no 3rd-person personal pronoun form that could be used in subject position, but the distal demonstrative 彼 bǐ 'that, those' and the anaphoric demonstrative 是 shì frequently take that role. (Dawson 1984, p. 36, n. 5).
The use of some nouns as pronoun-like terms is also attested. Common examples in texts are the humble 臣 chén 'servant' in the 1st person, and 子 zǐ 'son; master' in the 2nd person.
Classical Chinese interrogative pronouns and adverbs are notably polysemic, many of them bearing multiple meanings.
| Classical Chinese |
Translation |
|---|---|
| 誰 shéi | who |
| 孰 shú | which |
| 何 hé | what, why, how |
| 曷 hé | when, what |
| 奚 xī, 胡 hú | where, how, why |
| 安 ān, 焉 yān | where, how |
| 盍 hé | why not |
| 惡/烏 wū | where, in what |
An example where this polysemy is exploited is found in a tale in the Zhuangzi, chapter 17. Zhuangzi is asked "how do you know this?" (with the interrogative 安 ān), but being unable to answer the question, intentionally misinterprets it as "where did you (get to) know this?". (https://web.archive.org/web/20220724025954/https://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/LaoJuang/JoyOfFish.html)
Homework until Session 3
Please memorize the types of pronouns, the personal and interrogative pronouns in the two tables. We will later use them to create sentences according to classical Chinese grammar.
Past exam papers and feedback questionnaire
hand back exam papers from last semester, please read comments/corrections Clarify difficult points.
Teaching feedback questionnaire: classic 2023/24 SZ.
Session 2 FRI Mar 1, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III: VERBS
The next word class we need to learn in order to build sentences in classical Chinese is the (Latin) class of the verb. Here, we can differentiate different usages of the verbs.
While an English sentence can be divided into active voice or passive voice depending on the form of the verb within the sentence, the verbs in classical Chinese have several usages based on the relationship between the verb and the object. These are separated into yìdòng 意動 (original meaning), shǐdòng usage 使動, wèidòng usage 為動, and bèidòng 被動 "passive" usage. Moreover, a verb does not change its form at different situations, with the exception of the beidong usage of verbs. Within the examples shown below, the words located within parentheses do not appear in the original Chinese sentence.
Yidong usage (used in the original meaning)
In classical Chinese, it is common for nouns or adjectives to be used as verbs or adjectives, and most of these cases involve a yidong usage of verbs.
One peculiarity is that a word that is originally a verb does not share the same usage. In addition, there are slight differences in meaning between the noun and the adjective in the usage.
For a noun, it becomes an action done by the subject which indicates the subjects opinion about the object in the form "consider (object) as + (the noun)". 父利{其然也} fù lì {qí rán yě} [Zhongyong's] father profit {the thing} (that he be invited): The father considered the thing as profitable.
For an adjective, it becomes an observation in the form of "consider (object) (the adjective)". 漁人甚異之 yú rén shèn yì zhī, fish man very strange {the thing} (that there was a beautiful land): The fisherman considers the thing very strange.
Shidong usage
In this case, nouns, verbs and adjectives share usage, but with different meanings.
For a noun, it means "make ... + (the noun)". For instance:
- 先破秦入咸陽者王之
xiān pò qín rù Xiányáng zhě wàng zhī, first break Qin enter Xianyang (particle) king it: He who defeated Qin and entered Xianyang would be crowned.
- Literal translation: (Fulfilling the agreement that) the person who defeated the Qin dynasty and entered Xianyang first, [people] would king him. (Note: Such scenarios are rare, though historical cases exist in ancient China. The translation of the sentence is rather controversial; the interpretation provided above represents the most widespread consensus.) cf. 書、書者
For a verb, it could mean "make... + do/done/to do", depending on the sentence. For instance:
- 泣孤舟之嫠婦
- Literal translation: (The music was so sad that) cry the widow in a lonely boat; Semantic translation: (The music was so sad that it) made the widow in a lonely boat cry.
For an adjective, it means "make... + (the adjective)". For instance:
- 既來之，則安之
- Literal translation: Since you have been here, then calm yourself here; Semantic translation: Since you have been here, make yourself calm here.
Weidong usage
The following examples demonstrate weidong usage of verbs. Such usage may occur:
- to express a motion that is based on a purpose. For instance:
- 等死死國可乎？
- Literal translation: It's equally death (delay for work and protest the rule of the Qin dynasty), is die country an option?; Semantic translation: It's death in any case, is dying for the country an option?
- to express an action due to a particular reason. For instance:
- 便苦咳嗽
- Literal translation: He suffer (v.) cough; Semantic translation: He suffered from a cough.
- to help the object do something. For instance:
- 自序其詩
- Literal translation: Himself introduction his own poem; Semantic translation: He wrote the introduction to his own poem .
- to execute a motion to the object. For instance:
- 泣之三日
- Literal translation: Cry it for three days; Semantic translation: Mourn over it for three days.
Recommendations for further reading
As an introduction to Classical Chinese for beginners, please decide which of the following links you want to follow, to read and then to introduce to the fellow students:
(Please ignore the advertisement for their 16 session video course in Classical Chinese.)
(This is blog-like Reddit contents.)
This is an open text book for learning Chinese with a grammar part and a text part. We will use the grammar part for some basic understanding of
- Pronouns,
- Particles,
- Nouns,
- Adjectives,
- Adverbs,
- Verbs
Although we will need to correct some of its translations (子、君、...), since they are not fully accurate, it is helpful for learning.
- Video Introductions:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6x4l3LW3fU
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Nf4davZWo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlPUaKGu-Oc
这个有500多集，b站也不全。讲的也不错。都是古代的文学作品的讲解。有字幕
https://www.163.com/dy/article/IHUF2S3Q0552OQUI.html
https://www.xuboke.cn/p/301.html
https://www.thn21.com/wen/yufa/
Introductions
- Classical Chinese 2023 文言文，包括基本的概要 with a general introduction into classical Chinese
- Examples of classical Chinese poetry with modern Chinese translation Critical Overview of Chinese Literature 2023 例子：蘇東坡之賦
Tools
- Fulltext & English translation of Lunyu: http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/analects.html, of Liji: https://ctext.org/liji
- Wenyanwen Zidian: https://wyw.hwxnet.com/
Session 3 FRI Mar 22, 8:00-9:30 s. 400 SIN III
Session 4 FRI Mar 22, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III
C3 Mar 29
Mar 28 - Apr 2: Easter Holiday in Poland
Session 5 FRI Apr 5, 8:00-9:30 s. 400 SIN III
Session 6 FRI Apr 5, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III
Apr 4-6 is Qingming holiday in China, the Chinese students make up for the missed classes on Sun (!) Apr 7 and 28.
C4 Apr 12, C5 Apr 19
Session 7 FRI Apr 26, 8:00-9:30 s. 400 SIN III
Session 8 FRI Apr 26, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III
May 1-3 are Workers' and Constitution holidays in Poland. (May 8 is sports holiday.)
May 1-5 is an extended May 1st holiday in China, the Chinese students make up for missed classes on Sat May 11.
Session 9 FRI May 10, 8:00-9:30 s. 400 SIN III
Session 10 FRI May 10, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III
C6 May 17, C7 May 24, C8 May 31, C9 Jun 7
May 30-31 holiday Corpus Christi in Poland.
June 8-10 is Duanwu holiday in China.
Session 11 FRI June 14 8:00-9:30 s. 400 SIN III
Session 12 FRI June 14, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III
Mon Jun 17 (Thursday classes), Tue Jun 18 (Friday classes) in Poland.
Session 13 TUE Jun 18, 8:00-9:30 s. 400 SIN III
Session 14 TUE Jun 18, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III
Session 15 FRI Jun 21, 8:00-9:30 s. 400 SIN III
Final Exam FRI Jun 21, 9:45-11:15 s. 400 SIN III
Exam session: Jun 24-Jul 7. Retake session Sep 1-15.
Jul 20-22 Chinese Studies Conference.