Welcome to class!

Formalities

• Please check your course fact sheet

  ...and contact me for any questions

• Teaching philosophy 

  • Set-up & purpose

  • Cooperation, rhythm and timing

  • Assignments and preparation

References

• Handbooks

• Toolboxes

   

Text

 

• Chao (1980)

  趙元任 Yuen Ren Chao, 序 "Xù" [Preface]

  In: 趙元任 Yuen Ren Chao, 中國話的文法 Zhōngguóhuà de wénfǎ [A grammar of spoken Chinese].

  香港 Hong Kong: 中文大學出版社 Chinese University Press, 1980, frontispiece.

  Translation of Yuen Ren Chao, A grammar of spoken Chinese.

  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968. Translated by 丁邦新 Pang-Hsin Ting.

  Chao's 序 will be handed out and introduced in class. For this text, no preparation is needed.
  

 

Background

• Wiedenhof (2015)

  "The Chinese script"

  = Chapter 12 of Jeroen Wiedenhof, A grammar of Mandarin,

  Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015

  Availability at Leiden:

  • from the Asian Library, on the linguistics handbooks shelves;
  • as an e-book, through the University Library catalogue

Assignments

1.  As indicated in the course description, please prepare for the coming two weeks by reading "The Chinese script" = Chapter 12 of Jeroen Wiedenhof, A grammar of Mandarin, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015.

 

Texts

• Dougherty e.a. (1963)

  "Introduction" = Volume 1, pp. v-xxxi.

  In: Ching-yi Dougherty, Sydney M. Lamb & Samuel Martin, Chinese character indexes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963

• Wiedenhof (2018)

Jeroen Wiedenhof, "An introduction to linguistic transcription"

LIAS/LUCL, Universiteit Leiden, 2018

 

Assignments

Please make sure to prepare all your answers in writing, in English!

We did not have time to cover the rationale for this requirement yesterday; it will be addressed in today's session.

 

2.  Group efforts:

By way of a heads-up: next Wednesday (in session 3), we will be reading a text in Chinese.

For now, if you cannot read modern written Chinese — or if you expect you might benefit from a native command of Mandarin:

• Prepare to buddy up!
• Make sure to contact classmates now, and to set a date & time to prepare Wednesday's text together.
• As agreed within this group, I have shared a list of email addresses.

Image source:
Cliparts PUB

As discussed, this buddy-up request is more general. In preparing future sessions, please try to share and join forces in the spirit of this multidisciplinary seminar.

On Wiedenhof (2018):

3.  Read the Introduction to linguistic transcription. Note down any questions or remarks and bring them to class.

On Dougherty e.a. (1963):

• n/L = left column on page n
• n/R = right column on page n

4.  Read the text, note down any difficulties you may have in reading the text, and bring your notes to class.

We will be start with your individual questions and comments, going through the assigned text page by page.

5.  In the Preface, check which personal names ring familiar.

6.  On p. ix/L,

a.  What is meant by "the standard pronunciation(s)"?

b.  What is the difference between transcription, "transliterations systems" and "romanization"?

7.  On p. x/R, in Figure 2, check and see if you are missing any details.

8.  On p. xi/L, character #5536 is shown twice in Figure 3.

Now compare character #1788.1 复 in Figure 2.

What is the reason that this character is not shown twice?

9.  Make sure you are familiar with the calligraphic terminology on pp. xi/R-xii/L.

In one sentence, describe the relevance of these terms are in this context.

10.  Check the Rules on pp. xix-xxi and the Concordance on pp. xxii-xxix. And/or look up any online resource on the Gwoyeu Romatzyh transcription.

On the basis of this information, see if you can read (i.e. pronounce & translate) the Chinese book titles listed on p. xxx.

Be prepared to cite these titles by reading them out aloud in class.

11.  On the basis of your reading of this Introduction, can you formulate a technical definition for the term Chinese character as implied here?

 

Related materials

Mechanization & Chinese script A Chinese telegram (detail)    – Click for full image    Source: Sohu / 搜狐    – 電報 ~ 电报 diànbào 'telegram' – 電傳 ~ 电传 diànchuán 'telex' – 中文電報碼 ~ 中文电报码 Zhōngwén diànbàomǎ 'Chinese telegraph code' – Mechanization of Chinese characters, backgrounds & overview: Thomas S. Mullaney, The Chinese typewriter: A history, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2017 (available at Leiden University Library) Digitization & Chinese script – Binary counter (百聞不如一見) – the Baudot-Murray code – the ASCII code – the 国标 Guóbiāo code – Five-hole paper tape: writing and reading digital data – Digitization of Chinese characters, backgrounds & overview: Jeroen Wiedenhof, "The digital revolution" = § 12.5.2 of A grammar of Mandarin (online at Leiden University Library)

...and an encore

In the news: The Vesuvius challenge

Image source:   
Campfire scroll   

Tomorrow, we will turn our attention to the earliest known ancestor of the Chinese script.

Note the careful wording here: "earliest known" implies that we may yet discover evidence of even earlier forms. And yes: we will be discussing the likelihood of such discoveries for the Chinese case.

Speaking of discoveries, one exciting instance of written materials recovered from a distant past was publicized earlier this year:

Margherita Bassi: "Three students just deciphered the first passages of a 2,000-year-old scroll burned in Vesuvius' eruption". Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Feb 24.

The project's webpage is here: Vesuvius Challenge.

Texts & materials

• Cambridge University Library (2015)

Oracle Bone CUL.52

Interactive scans by Sketchfab, 2015

High resolution / Low resolution

 

• Keightley (1985)

"Preamble"

In: David N. Keightley, Sources of Shang history: The oracle-bone inscriptions of bronze age China.

First edition 1978; paperback edition, with corrections, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985, pp. 1-2 (Preamble)

Leiden Asian Library: S-UB DS744.K44 1985.

• Lǐ (1989)

"月㞢食"

In: 李圃 Lí Pǔ, selection and commentary, 甲骨文選注 Jiágǔwén xuǎn zhù [Oracle bone writing: An annotated anthology].

上海 Shanghai: 古籍出版社 Gǔjí Chūbǎnshè, 1989, section 1, pp. 1-8.

 

Background

• NASA (2011)

"Lunar eclipse essentials"

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Uploaded to Youtube on 8 June 2011.

 

• Djamouri (1992)

Redouane Djamouri, "Un emploi particulier de you (有) en chinois archaïque"

Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale, January 1992, Volume 21(2), pp. 231-289.

A PDF of this article is also available online at Persée.

 

• Keightley (1985)

  • Chapter 1, "Shang divination procedures"

  • Chapter 2, "The divination inscriptions"

  David N. Keightley, Sources of Shang history: The oracle-bone inscriptions of bronze age China.

  First edition 1978; paperback edition, with corrections, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985, pp. 3-27 (Chapter 1), 28-56 (Chapter 2).

  Available in the Leiden Asian Library: S-UB DS744.K44 1985.

   

• Takashima (2019)

Ken-ichi Takashima, A little primer of Chinese oracle-bone inscriptions: With some exercises.

Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, second revised edition, 2019. First published 2015.

 

• Thurston (1994)

  Hugh Thurston, "The Chinese"

  In: Hugh Thurston, Early astronomy. New York: Springer, 1994, pp. 84-109.

  Leiden University Library code: GORLAE ASTRON QB016 203.

   

Reading notes

12.  In case you need help with the Wade-Giles spelling:

– For systematic guidelines & conversion, see Appendix D in A grammar of Mandarin (online at Leiden University Library); or

– For ad-hoc conversion, see e.g. the Chinese Text Project's transcription-conversion tool.

– And while you are at it, check out the same tool for the Gwoyeu Romatzyh spelling (cf. assignment #10 above)

13.  Sexagesimal means 'based on 60' just as decimal means 'based on ten'. The sexagesimal system is the basis of (not just) the Chinese calendar.

Graphs representing this cycle are well-known from even the oldest specimens of oracle bones.

In case you need help with the sexagesimal cycle:

• A short explanation of the system is given in Tables 9.3 & 9.4 in A grammar of Mandarin;
• For ad-hoc conversion, see e.g. Wikipedia's Stem, Branch and Stem-Branch tables.

14.  "Wu Ting's reign" (Keightley 1985: 1):

Wikipedia has a list of Shang Kings.

Assignments

On Keightley's (1985) "Preamble":

15.  With the help of the Reading notes, read the "Preamble" to David Keightley's Sources.

In preparing this text, please check that you are familiar with

• the TIME: names and dates for dynasties, historical periods and historical figures

  – e.g. "Wu Ting";

• the PLACE: please check all geographical designations

  – e.g. "the powerful Ho".

• technical terms in English and in Mandarin, including the corresponding Chinese characters,

– e.g. "hsin-wei, eighth day";

Note down any difficulties you may have in reading the text, and bring your notes to class.

16.  In the interactive scan above, please identify the "series of hollows" (Keightley 1985: 18) and "the characteristic pu 卜-shaped crack" (ibid.).

17.  Consider the character卜:

a.  Which pronunciation(s) and which meaning(s) can you find for modern Chinese languages?

b.  Can you find a phonological reconstruction for the pronunciation of this character? (the earlier, the better)

18.  On p. 50, it is explained that "[a]s a rule, the inscriptions appear to have been carved above, or to the side of, the pu cracks and on the side of the crack which lacked the transverse branch".

Can you confirm this general rule for our "月㞢食" text?

On Lǐ's (1989) "月㞢食":

19.  On the basis of 李圃 Lí Pǔ's helpful notes, read and prepare an English translation of the original oracle-bone text.

In other words: please translate the short (nineteen-character) text shown on p. 1.

In preparing this translation, please take notes about any difficulties encountered in reading Lǐ's commentary.

We will discuss Lǐ's text in class, page by page if necessary.

20.  Oracular text, line 4, character 2:

In your own words, define the relationship between the character 㞢 and the character 有.

You should minimally formulate what you know on the basis of Pǔ's comments, combined with your own experience.

In this connection, also compare the comments on character adaptations from our first session.

For more background, you may consult Djamouri (1992).

21.  Do you know if there are any oracle bones to be seen at Leiden? (or if not: in Leiden? ;-)

Texts

• Galambos (2006)

Chapter Two, "The Qin and Han creation of the standard"

In: Imre Galambos, Orthography of early Chinese writing: Evidence from newly excavated manuscripts, pp. 31-63.

Budapest: Eötvös Loránd University, Department of East Asian Studies, 2006.

A PDF of this book is available online.


 

• "Shuowen Jiezi"

From Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia

Image source: Archive.org

• 許 Xǔ (100)

許慎 Xǔ Shèn, 說文解字 Shuō wén jiě zì

说文解字: 附检字 Shuō wén jiě zì: Fù jiǎn zì [Discussion of simple characters and analysis of complex characters: With a character index], 北京 Peking: 中華書局 Zhōnghuá Shūjú, 1963. East Asian Library number: SINOL. 5093

• Online edition: 《說文解字》 at the website of 北京师范大学 / Beijing Normal University

• Paper edition: East Asian Library number: SINOL. 5093. Available in the Leiden Asian Library: see the dedicated Course Shelf for this course.

Two challenges from last session:

22.  See if you can memorize the ten Stems (S) and the twelve Branches (B).

23.  For the mathematically minded (Alex?):

Can you create a formula converting any legitimate set (S, B) into the corresponding numeral, from 1 to 60?

— by "legitimate set", I mean any of the sixty traditional two-member sets, matching either an impair S with an impair B, or a pair S with a pair B.

Today's centerpiece:

24.  Read the first two texts:

• Galambos' Chapter Two, "The Qin and Han creation of the standard" and
• the Wikipedia article "Shuowen Jiezi".

Note down any difficulties you may encounter in these two texts, and bring your notes to class.

As explained in class, we will start by discussing your questions and remarks on a page-by-page basis .

25.  The third title is a modern reprint of the 說文解字 Shuō wén jiě zì.

(a) Have a good look at this book, either online or on the course reserve shelves in the Leiden Asian Library.

(b) Check that you understand how the work is organised.

(c) Find the characters , , and in this dictionary.

If you use the online resource for this assignment: please
make sure to view the scanned pages by hitting the button.

For each of these four characters, write down

• the page number for the entry in this modern edition
• the Shuō wén jiě zì radical
• the dictionary's definition of the characters, and
• your own English translation of this definition