Ma Jianzhong and the Invention of Chinese Grammar
[译]: 马建忠与汉语语法发明
Victor H. Mair 梅维恒

Abstract 摘要

1. INTRODUCTION
The earliest grammars of Chinese, which started to appear in the first half of the 17th century, were all written by Westerners. It was not until Ma Jianzhong (1845-1900) wrote his Ma shi wentong 馬氏文通 (Ma’s Grammar) at the very end of the 19th century that the Chinese themselves started to write their own grammars. A complete translation and analysis of the second preface to Ma’s work reveals his motivations and methods, which were strikingly different from those of early Western sinologists. Whereas Ma was concerned entirely with the application of Greek and (mostly) Latin models to Classical Chinese, believing that this systematization would lead to prosperity for his ancient nation, the Westerners focused primarily on the vernaculars as the real, living languages of China and viewed Classical Chinese almost as an artificial construct that was nonetheless an important repository of the wisdom of the past.

2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND TRANSLATION
3. CONCLUSION