Philology and Presence

Various scholars have argued that the rise of modern information technology over the past century has coincided with a steady decline of traditional methods of learning and interpretation, and has contributed to the general sense of “worldlessness” or anomie. In the words of Paul Ricoeur, “we are overwhelmed by a flood of words, by polemics, by the assault of the virtual, which today create a kind of opaque zone.” Philology, the ancient discipline that grew in the past two centuries to encompass literary study, linguistics, and intellectual history, was originally conceived as a return to the past with the aim of retrieving the knowledge of bygone times. While the recent revival of interest in philology recognizes its importance to the humanities, it remains unnamed as such. The aim of my exploration of the history and practices of philology is to suggest how it can reinstate the presence of the past. With its attentiveness to language—undertaken in the silent spaces of private study, archive, and library—philology not only confirms the presence of the dead but also enacts a more fundamental return to “world.”     

The Figure of Yan Zhuoju 顏涿聚 in Ancient Chinese Literature

Contributing to the surging interest in rhetorical uses of anecdotal narratives in ancient China, the present article investigates sources about a purported follower of Confucius going by the name of Yan Zhuoju, or variants thereof. The main advantage of focusing on such an obscure figure is that extant sources can be exhaustively analysed – an approach intractable for more fully documented personalities – in order to gauge the mechanisms which created the textual record historians utilise to reconstruct events of the ancient past. The article demonstrates how the same figure can be appropriated across different discourses, to wit, in attacks on Confucius's alleged improprieties; in attempts to counter such attacks; and in arguments for the increasingly meritocratic social order of the Warring States period. Rarely adding up to a complete story, such appropriations are constituted by fragmentary narratives, summary statements, and intertextual references.     

侨批研究刍议——兼谈闽南侨批实物文献的征集

闽南侨批研讨已经不仅仅局限在侨批的历史回顾与实物侨批的文本释读之上,而是在更为广阔的视角下,对侨批历史上的人、事、物等方面展开更为广泛且细致的探究,这应该就是侨批历史研究与文化阐扬的新视线和新领域.本文着重从侨批文献的整理、研究,从文献学专业的视角切入论题,力主侨批文献资源共享,阐释了历史文献学之于侨批研究的方式、方法,对侨批文献的系统研究和实物文献的征集整理,作了有益的探究.     

浅论莫友芝的目录学成就

莫友芝是晚清著名的学者,研究范围涉及目录学、文学、书画等领域。他品行卓越,心系国家,有着强烈的忧国爱民之情。他才华横溢,著述颇多,极大地丰富了中国学术文化宝库。他生活于晚清社会转型期,为贵州文化的开风气者,今天对他进行研究仍有重大的现实意义。本文主要探讨莫友芝在文献学,特别是目录版本学领域的成就。从文献学的角度对莫友芝编撰的《郢亭知见传本书目》、《宋元旧本书经眼录》、《持静斋藏书记要》、《耶亭书画经眼录》等四部目录学代表作的研究,站在清代学术视野下讨论莫友芝目录学的实践,并总结其学术思想与成就。     

《读书志》的文献学成就

读书志作为一种特殊的私家目录体裁发轫于宋代,至清代才真正的成熟起来,它实质上是中国古代学术与中国古代私家目录双重发展的必然结果。《开有益斋读书志》是清代学者朱绪曾的一部目录学专著,也是清代私家运用"读书志"体例撰修的典型著作之一,在一定程度上代表了清代私家修目的最高水平。本文着重考察该志在目录学、校勘学方面的成就,揭示其所反映的学术思想。     

词义训释与文意训释的学理及其应用

本文阐述词义训释与文意训释的学理及其对古籍整理和辞书编纂等应用实践的指导意义。     

周亮工《书影》的语言文字学史料价值

[摘要]周亮工的《书影》论述了研究语言文字学的意义和方法,讨论了相关语文学著作及其版本问题,提供了与汉语汉字相关的史料,分析了有关语言文字问题,反映了明季清初的小学风尚。     

中大语言历史学研究所与现代中国西南民族研究

本文以中山大学语言历史学研究所的运作理念和学术实践为考察视角,试图将其放入新思潮的背景之下,由个人扩大到群体,对研究所同仁在"科学方法论"指导下开创的西南民族研究及其学术影响作出了讨论。语史所同仁利用其所倡导的田野调查实践和多学科交叉融合等方法对西南民族的调查研究,不仅开启了中国现代西南民族研究之先声,还直接催生了历史学与人类学、民俗学、民族学等诸多交叉学科的形成和新的学术流派的诞生。但是,我们也应该看到,其早期的研究实践也存在着明显的不足:一是由于民族学田野调查缺乏必要的理论指导和学科训练,致使对调查方法和研究分析工具的掌握有欠成熟;二是受研究经费的不足和战乱的影响,导致调查时间的不足,一定程度上影响了调查结论的深度和准确性。     

阿道夫·埃尔曼的埃及学研究

德国埃及学家阿道夫·埃尔曼是国际埃及学界一位大师级学者,他著述宏富、门生众多,在国际埃及学研究领域享有极高的声誉和地位。埃尔曼最早对古埃及语的不同阶段进行了细致的划分,确立了一些重要的古埃及语语法规则,最终构建了对古埃及语文学研究的历史语言学方法,从而将埃及学研究推进到一个新的高度。正是由于埃尔曼的努力,使得埃及学发展成为一门科学,同时也奠定了德国学者在国际埃及学研究领域中的领导地位。     

James Cowles Prichard and the Linguistic Foundations of Ethnology**

This article examines the English scholar James Cowles Prichard's attention to language and comparative philology within his wider project on the natural history of man. It reveals that linguistic evidence was among the most important elements for Prichard in his overarching scientific aim of investigating human physical diversity, and served as the evidential foundation for his ethnology. His work on Celtic comparative philology made him not only one of the earliest British adopters of German comparative grammar, but a comparative philologist of European stature in his own right. More generally, linguistic evidence helped Prichard to keep his magnum opus, Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, as logically ordered as possible, and therefore to turn ethnology into a discipline with analytical aspirations on a global scale.