Readers 读者
The Min Translation of the Doctrina Christiana
“基督教义” 闽语译本
Anne O. Yue 余霭芹
Abstract 摘要
The vocabulary and the syntax of Doctrina Christiana en letra y lengua China of early seventeenth century are described in comparison with the same in two other texts written about the same time, the Jiajing edition of the Litchi Mirror Tale of 1566 and a Min Grammar Published in Spain in the early seventeenth century. The vocabulary discussed includes personal pronouns, interrogative forms, other pro-forms, demonstrative, negatives, function words (such as markers for comparison, for the benefactive/passive/causative, for the benefactive /comitative, and for the disposal form), modals, nominal suffix, as well as colloquial lexical items. The syntax part comprises affirmation and negation, the potential form, the resultative complement, measure expressions, the comparative, neutral question forms, as well as the attributive and the nominalizing construction. In terms of this study of vocabulary and syntax, three levels of style may be defined linguistically: a colloquial style identifiable as unique to the Min dialects, a literary vernacular (written) style approximating the standard spoken language of the time, and a classical style reflecting pre-Qin usage.