A Review Of Study On Fang Yan In Recent Six Decades

The Fangyan (Dialect), edited by Yang Xiong of Han Dynasty, is the first Chinese dictionary of dialectal notes. It keeps a good record of Chinese language and dialects in Han times, which is an important diachronic stage between Old Chinese and Middle Chinese. These dialectal notes will be of great significance to the research of Chinese history as well as the dialectal history. Meanwhile, the scientific research methods used in this book is also an important legacy of the history of Chinese linguistics. Those stated above make Fangyan considered to be one of the most important scholarly works and has attracted scholars' enormous attention. The research results on it, according to their respective characteristics in different stages, can be divided into three periods:traditional study in ancient times, transitional study in modern times, comprehensive study in recent six decades.The present paper selects the third stage of which, and reviews the relevant study on Fangyan by Yang Xiong in the past 60 years. Our efforts in this thesis are expected to make some contribution to the study on the history of Chinese and Chinese dialects.Apart from the inheritance of the traditional literature research,what is touched on in recent 60 years' study includes:the authors, the version and edition, the classification of Chinese dialects in Han Dynasty,the diction in Fangyan,the quotation of Fangyan by other classics, the comparison between Fangyan and Erya, Fangyan and Shuowen,as well as Fangyan and modern dialects. The thesis is divided into four chapters to summarize these researches.The first chapter is the introduction to the knowledge associated with Fangyan,and the values of the researches we are doing. The following three chapters constitute the main part of the thesis,in which the achievements in recent 60 years'study on Fangyan are stated. It is divided into three aspects:from the perspective of literature, from the perspective of lexicology,and from the perspective of dialect.According to the analysis of the achievements presented above,we can come to the conclusion that much is achieved on the Fangyan study in recent six decades, the most notable subjects are about the research of Chinese dialects in Han Dynasty,and the relationship between Fangyan and Erya,while the vocabulary and characters in Fangyan are relatively new issues. However, It is undeniable that further study is proposed in several aspects, for example, The phonological value of Fangyan have yet to be expounded.