On immanent time in characters
2003
TANAKA Akio
Sekinan Library
This paper attempts to examine the origin and function of Chinese characters, the characters used in Chinese language, which have been classified as isolating words in linguistic typology.
The early forms of Chinese characters can be confirmed by the oracle bone inscriptions discovered at sites such as the Yin Ruins. However, the first period of oracle bone inscriptions, which are usually divided into five periods, already shows a preliminary completion, making it difficult to infer the original form of the Chinese characters themselves. The vocabulary and syntax of the combined oracle bone inscriptions also show a near-prepared completion. Here, preliminary completion means that they can be understood or inferred using modern Chinese. Therefore, the creation and function of the Chinese characters discussed here are secondary to the development after the oracle bone inscriptions. Much research has already been accumulated on the formation of individual oracle bone character shapes, i.e., character-explanatory explanations. Here, I will proceed with my discussion, drawing on some of this research, primarily from the 1990s onward.
1. The Creation of Kanji
When one looks at the oracle bone inscription of the Chinese character "育" (iku), there is no doubt that this character depicts the situation of a woman giving birth. In this oracle bone inscription, the situation of childbirth is indicated by three elements. First, it is the posture of a woman giving birth, with both arms crossed in front of her chest. The woman is leaning forward, with her buttocks thrust out and her knees gently bent. Second, the situation of the water breaking during childbirth is indicated by a dotted line-like symbol. Third, a newborn baby is shown with its head facing downwards in the center or bottom of the water breaking. The three elements illustrated in this oracle bone inscription make it clear that the character "育" depicts the situation of a woman giving birth and the situation immediately afterwards.
When examining the oracle bone inscription of the Chinese character "言," we can see that its form had already undergone considerable simplification or transformation during its early period. Various interpretations have been developed to date, but here we present one recent interpretation, incorporating the findings of Chinese archaeology. The character "言" can be viewed as consisting of three parts: the upper, middle, and lower parts. According to the findings of Chinese archaeology, the upper part represents the bell-like tongue that hung inside a bronze bell, which was used during the Shang dynasty to signal the holding of a conference or other event. The middle part of the character "言" represents the bell-like tongue itself. The lower part of the character "言" is believed to represent the exterior of the bell. During the Shang dynasty, a bronze bell-like bell was struck to notify the relevant parties, and when the conference began, the bell was placed upside down on the table. In other words, the bell itself was placed downwards and the bell-like tongue was placed upwards. This is believed to have become the character shape of the character "言" in the oracle bone inscription. According to this interpretation, the oracle bone inscription of "言" (language) can be said to show the situation after the bell announces the holding of a meeting. Meetings are conducted through words. Therefore, the pictograph of an upside-down bell became the oracle bone inscription of "言."
When one examines the oracle bone inscription of the Chinese character "guang" (transport), one can see an arched pattern within two horizontal lines. Wang Guowei long ago identified this oracle bone inscription with the Chinese character "heng" (constant). I now follow this view. The two lines above and below represent the two banks of a river, and the central arch represents a boat traveling between the two banks. According to this interpretation, "guang" or "heng" represents the constant recurring ferry service in the same space.
The following can be inferred or derived from the oracle bone inscriptions of the three Chinese characters "iku," "gen," and "watari."
First, the oracle bone script, which is the original form of Chinese characters, can contain the passage of time. For example, in "育" (nurturing), it is from the start to the end of childbirth, in "言" (language), it is from the announcement of a meeting to its holding, and in "渡" (crossing), it is the continuation of ferry work.
Secondly, the oracle bone inscriptions, the original form of Chinese characters, can depict or allude to multiple aspects of various events that occur over time. For example, in the character for "nurturing," the mother, the water breaking, and the newborn baby are depicted. In the character for "speaking," the upside-down bell suggests the ringing of a bell announcing the meeting that took place the previous hour, and the subsequent placing of a bell on a table or other surface when the meeting begins. In the character for "crossing," the presence of both banks and a ferry boat indicates the ferrying process.
Thirdly, oracle bone inscriptions, the original form of Chinese characters, can convey multiple pieces of information by incorporating multiple aspects of an event. "育" (nurturing) simultaneously conveys information such as the mother giving birth, the state of the birth process, and the birth of a newborn baby. "言" (language) conveys information such as the announcement of a meeting, the start of the meeting, and the contents of the discussion at the meeting, while "渡" (crossing) conveys information such as the ferry work, reaching the other side, and the repetition of work, i.e., constancy.
Therefore, from the above-mentioned induction and inference regarding the generation of kanji, the following functions of kanji can be derived.
2. Functions of Kanji
First, the temporal aspects inherent in each Chinese character tend to convey the most characteristic information about that aspect. In the case of the character "育" (nurturing), the most characteristic aspect of the birth situation is the mother's birthing action itself, but after birth, the presence of the newborn becomes characteristic. The diversity of grammatical functions of a single Chinese character stems from the range of temporality and the content of the characteristic events inherent in these oracle bone inscriptions.
In the case of "nurturing," the verb aspect of "umu" is emphasized during the birth phase, but after birth the noun aspect of "newborn baby" is emphasized. In the case of "speech," the aspect of "announcing" is emphasized before the meeting, but during and after the meeting the aspect of "what will be said" at the meeting will be emphasized. The "announcing" aspect is largely verbal, while the "what will be said" aspect will largely take precedence over the noun function.
Second, when two or more kanji are combined, each kanji attempts to relate to the other kanji by emphasizing one particular time phase within its own inherent time framework. Attempting to convey more than two phases impairs the clarity of the message. Looking at the character "育", in "育女" it means "to give birth to a baby girl", while in "育嬰" it means "to raise a child that has already been born". In "育女", the character "育" will be more concerned with the "conditions of birth from the mother's womb", while in "育嬰" it will be more concerned with information about the "newborn baby that has already been born".
Third, while individual kanji often contain multiple temporal aspects, when they are combined, the individual kanji have the option of selecting a single aspect, allowing two or more kanji to form a more complex aspect by prioritizing each other's aspects, thereby maintaining the clarity of the information conveyed by that complex aspect. For example, in the combination of the two characters "恒言" (constant), "恒" selects the aspect of "constancy," and "言" selects the aspect of "to speak."
So, what kind of internal function is at work when each kanji character selects its position? Also, what kind of function is presented to the outside of the kanji character when prioritized positions are combined?
3. Self-selection of Kanji Functions
I will examine the situation in which two or more Chinese characters are combined to form a new, complex aspect in the case of "恒言." However, in the combination of "言恒," it is generally seen that no new aspect is formed, but rather two aspects possessed by each Chinese character are connected. Why does this difference occur? I believe that the temporality inherent in Chinese characters is also involved here.
The time periods inherent in Chinese characters vary from relatively short periods to long periods. When two periods of time are consecutive, if the first character has a long duration and the second character has a short duration, the two characters are closely linked and tend to form a new compound phase. However, in the opposite case, if the first character has a short duration and the second character has a long duration, the two characters are less likely to form a new compound phase, and each phase tends to continue independently.
In "恒言," "恒" implies a "long, permanent time," while "言" implies a short, transitory time. In this way, a long-term internal kanji followed by a short-term internal kanji forms a new compound phase, but a short-term internal kanji followed by a long-term internal kanji does not easily form a compound phase. Therefore, "恒言" is one word, and "言恒" is one sentence made up of two words.
In other words, Chinese characters, which are considered to be isolating words in typology, do not possess any inflectional phenomena, and therefore their grammatical structure, and in particular the breaks between words and their grammatical function, have often become an issue. However, if the temporality inherent in Chinese characters and the selectivity of aspects when they are combined can be used to distinguish between the formation of a new complex aspect or a succession of individual aspects, then new prospects will open up for vocabulary formation and syntactic structure in Chinese characters.
The self-selectivity inherent in kanji means that if the time inherent in the following kanji is shorter than the kanji's own time, it will try to combine, but if it is longer than the kanji's own time, it will not combine or will have difficulty combining.
Regarding the length of time, it is necessary to verify the classification of abstractness, concreteness, integration, individuality, etc., shown by the Chinese characters, especially the semi-early forms in the oracle bone inscriptions. Therefore, the self-selection of the temporality inherent in Chinese characters is one hypothesis.
4. The inherent meaning of kanji
Despite their importance, the identification of words in language, or the meaning of words, has generally been criticized for its difficulty. Leaving aside for the moment the question of whether individual Chinese characters can be recognized as words, the possibility of analytically examining the meaning inherent in each individual Chinese character, particularly by tracing it back to the oracle bone script, becomes clear. While progress has been made in elucidating those characters that can be identified with the setwen jiezi (literally, "setwen jiezi") in oracle bone script, the elucidation of proper nouns that appear only in the Shang dynasty is likely to remain challenging. However, by examining the oracle bone script as linguistic symbols and examining the content of those symbols and the time they represent, a path to analyzing the grammatical function inherent in characters at a level beyond comparison with currently used Chinese characters may be opened up. One of the most promising methods for doing so appears to be the principle of temporality.
March 28, 2003
at Hakuba Nagano
Japan
