Language in China: A chapter in the history of linguistics
汉语语言学发展的历史回顾
William S-Y.Wang 王士元

Abstract 摘要
The dawn of linguistics in China can be traced to the 4th century B.C. At the time Plato was discussing the nature of words in ancient Greece, Xunzi was writing on the same topic, coming to conclusions which are remarkably similar. The first major study of linguistic geography [by Yang Xiong] was published at the beginning of the Christian era. In contrast, comparable work in linguistic geography in Europe began in the 19th century. Yang’s study was closely followed by an extensive dictionary [by Xu Shen]. Phonological studies emerged as early as in the 3rd century. Impressive results were achieved in the reconstruction of ancient pronunciations, especially toward the end of the 16th century [by Chen Di]. This was some 200 years before comparable work began in the west, with the Indo-European hypothesis. Systematic work on grammar, however, emerged in China as a result of European influence only at the end of the 19th century [by Ma Jianzhong]. The fact that the various parts of linguistics have developed in China at such different rates is related to the three most distinctive characteristics of her primary language: it is tonal, it has no inflectional morphology, and it is written with morpho-syllabic graphs.

中国汉语语言学的起源可上溯到公元前四世纪。当古希腊的柏拉图在探讨词的性质的时候，苟子也在研究相同的问题并得出了相当一致的结论。扬雄的地理语言学的研究在公元初就问世了。而可与之相比的地理语言学研究直到十九世纪才在欧洲出现。在扬雄的研究之后又接着出现了许慎的大规模的字典。语音的研究早在三世纪就出现了，成就主要在古音研究方面，其中以十六世纪陈第的研究最为突出。这比西方以印欧语假设为标志的研究早了两百年左右。系统的语法研究直到十九世纪末才在西方的影响下出现，马建忠的研究是一个典型的例子。汉语的三大特征是：有声调，缺乏屈折变化和用汉字书写。可以说，汉语语言学发展中的不平衡性是与这些特征有密切关系的。

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