УРОК 32

GRAMMAR COMMENTARY

32.1. Parallelism as a Criterion for Text Division

The analysis of ancient Chinese texts from the classical period is greatly facilitated by one feature that is extremely characteristic of the language of that time. This is so-called parallelism.

Sentences that have the same grammatical structure but do not completely coincide are usually called parallel.

Parallel sentences may differ from each other: a) in that one is expressed in a positive form, the other in a negative: 與惡人言 yú è rén yán "talk with bad people"; 不與惡人言 bù yǔ è rén yán "do not talk with bad people";
b) by replacing one word (or several words) with another word (or other words) in the same sentence: 魚我所欲也 yú wǒ suǒ yù yĕ "Fish is what I love"; 熊掌亦我所欲也 xióng zhǎng yì wǒ suǒ yù yĕ "A bear's paw is also what I love."

Having discovered that a particular combination of words is repeated in a text, we can assume that we are dealing with parallel phrases. In this case, it is necessary to establish where the repeating periods begin and end, and, by superimposing them on top of each other, determine the beginning and end of the parallel phrases.

For example, in the first part of our text there are no final particles, no subordinating conjunctions, or any other indications of the end of a sentence. Nevertheless, we can accurately dissect the text by paying attention to parallel phrases. Here we see the repetition of combinations of several words, including ...非其...不... fēi qí... bù and others. By superimposing the repeated words on top of each other, we obtain the following division of the text:
伯夷非其君不事 bó yí fēi qí jūn bù shì 非其友不友 fēi qí yǒu bù yǒu 不立于惡人之朝 bù lì yú è rén zhī cháo 不與惡人言 bù yǔ è rén yán 立于惡人之朝 lì yú è rén zhī cháo 與惡人言 yǔ è rén yán

The text chunks isolated in this way are sentences. This type of analysis is often the only basis for dividing a text into sentences.

32.2. Exclamatory Final Particles

Exclamatory final particles, while indicating the end of a sentence, also impart emotional coloring to it.

We encounter the exclamatory final particles 哉 zāi, 矣 yǐ, and 夫 fū.

The first of these, when doubled by a question word, turns the sentence into a rhetorical question: 雖有台池鳥獸,豈能獨樂哉 suī yǒu tái chí niǎo shòu, qǐ néng dú lè zāi "Although he had palaces, ponds, birds, and beasts, could he enjoy them alone?" The particles 矣 yǐ and 夫 fū do not impart this nuance to the sentence, expressing only an exclamation: 上下交爭利而國危矣 shàng xià jiāo zhēng lì ér guó wēi yǐ "The upper and lower classes will compete for profit, and the state will decline!" 率天下之人而禍仁義者彼子之言夫 shuài tiān xià zhī rén ér huò rén yì zhĕ bǐ zǐ zhī yán fū "His words will cause everyone in the Celestial Empire to view humanity and justice as a disaster!"

It should be noted that finite particles of different types can combine with each other. In particular, exclamatory particles are attached to restrictive ones:
王亦曰仁義而已矣 wáng yì yuē rén yì ér yǐ yǐ "The ruler also speaks only of humanity and justice and nothing else!" 寡人之于國也,盡心焉耳矣 guǎ rén zhī yú guó yĕ, jìn xīn yān ĕr yǐ "I spend all my spiritual strength only for the good of the state!"

32.3. The restrictive phrase 非...不 fēi... bù

The construction 唯...是 wéi... shì, which was widely used in the late pre-classical language and in which the inverted object acquired a restrictive connotation, is almost never found in the classical language. Instead, a new construction 非...不 fēi... bù is becoming widespread.

The function word 非 fēi is used here in its basic meaning of a negative copula, and the entire phrase as a whole has the meaning "[if]... does not eat"

PHRASES

伯夷 bó yí "Bo Yi" (proper noun)
朝衣 cháo yī "formal clothing" 朝冠 cháo guàn "formal headdress" 塗炭 tú tàn "dirt" 諸侯 zhū hóu "Zhuhou, rulers of the kingdoms"
柳下惠 liǔ xià huì "Lucy Hui" (proper noun)
阨窮 è qióng "difficulty" 袒裼 tǎn xī "half-naked" 裸裎 luǒ chéng "naked"