| Summary: | 碩士 === 臺北市立師範學院 === 應用語言文學研究所 === 91 === <Kuang Ya> was completed in State Wei during the Three Kingdoms by Dr. Chang Yi, compiling verses of the contemporary and the preceding periods as a supplement to <Er Ya>. <The Four Literary Archives> classifies elementary materials in the category of scriptures, divided into three subcategories of scholia, phonetics and text. <Kuang Ya> is allocated to scholia, and primarily of practical orientation; although intended to augment <Er Ya>, it turns out to be greater in volume than the original archive, covering prodigious annotations on ancient verses, panoply of living objects, domestic animals and wildlife, mountains and rivers, music, and social customs, etc., liberated from the shackles of moralising. It espouses the living language, and in the form of verse, documents the many facets of ancient society, mirroring the evolution of society, environment, and presenting the inter-inference between hieroglyphics, phonetics and, syntax.
Chapter one is introduction, delineating study motivation, purpose and scope of study.
Chapter two unfurls the course of development from <Er Ya> to <Kuang Ya>, and paints in the historical background of <Kuang Ya>, biography of the author and his repertoire, while concomitantly expounds the two theories whether <Kuang Ya> was completed in the Three Kingdoms or the South and North Dynasties.
Chapter three presents the various editions of <Kuang Ya>. <Kuang Ya> was initially completed some two millenniums ago when paper was already invented, yet no bamboo or stone carvings have been discovered. In the Tang Dynasty <Kuang Ya> was gradually being replaced by Tsao Xian’s < Pao Ya Yin>, and subsequently reprinted several times to survive till the present. Today many editions and versions of <Kuang Ya> have remained, but mostly published after the Ming Dynasty. There are no surviving prints from the Sung Dynasty except < Pao Ya Yin>. This study addresses <Kuang Ya> prints from the Ming and the Ching Dynasties, and compares the various editions’ content layout, heritage, and circulation causation, and additionally enclosed with photocopies of the prints.
Chapter four presents ancient and contemporary literature on <Kuang Ya>. Since < Pao Ya Yin> was published in Shu period, few scholars have expounded on ‘ over the thousand years, yet it remains an important tool book for those in pursuit of learning. It wasn’t until the Ching Dynasty did Wang Nien-shun and his son’s collaboration <Kuang Ya Shu Zhen> revives scholia; many literary masters of the time also undertook supplement work. Modern scholars have employed new editing concept in producing index for <Kuang Ya>, and aligned with the contemporary reading habit, published proofread edition that additionally incorporated many verses selected from the old prints, attempting to restore <Kuang Ya> to its former glory while enable convenient reading. This chapter closes on the note of two ancient books bearing the same title as <Kuang Ya> but of no relevance to prevent confusion.
Chapter five and the subsequent chapters introduce the content of <Kuang Ya>, examining the ambit of its verses, starting with scholia, followed by <classics>, <aphorisms>, and <moralisms>. Of which, <classics> pertains to synonyms; <aphorisms> is on phonemes, while <moralisms> is emphatic of syntax (heavy sound, dual sound, double rhyme and few non double-rhyme verses). This chapter also addresses the deficiency of <interpreting classics>, which is the prevailing breaking sentences by character, however, as it covers synonyms, the breaking should be by meaning. Following the content introduction are examples from the various chapters: today’s culture, science, language, and scholia are applied to elucidate the meaning of ancient verses, and from which to understand the social phenomena of those days underlined in the verses. Thereafter two issues are presented: the linguistic phenomena in <Kuang Ya>, and utilising <Kuang Ya> to aid the digitalisation of dictionaries. Investigation in five aspects including one meaning by multiple words, converting single-sound word into multi-sound, formation of word-meaning concept, improvement of word-meaning taxonomy, and key words is carried out.
Chapter six expounds the humanities ambit of <Kuang Ya>. From <relations> on till <livestock>, a total of sixteen chapters in <Kuang Ya> cover nature and humanities, which is drastically different from the first three chapters in style; they appear to be classification books in the old days, or today’s encyclopedias. This chapter introduces <relations>, <architecture>, <apparatuses>, and <music> respectively, and cites examples from the text. All four chapters involve objects and things in human living, and thus incorporated together in one chapter of this study, which focuses on discovering living in ancient society from the words and phases, i.e.: <apparatuses> presents the forming of ‘unit’ concept, and traces of its progress.
Chapter seven explicates the ambits of natural environment as presented in <Kuang Ya>, covering five chapters: <heaven>, <earth>, <hills>, <mountains>, and <water>. <Kuang Ya> compiles some names, related terminologies and information concerning natural environment, such as the allusions of ancient astronomy commingled with certain mystic thinking like auspicious energy, demonic energy, etc. Regarding geographic environment, it refers to bulging, protruding formations such as natural mountains, hills, and manmade tombs, etc., and some hydrology terms and a few related words such as boat. The ancient Chinese divided the earth into nine continents, the heaven as nine galaxies and twenty-eight constellations, hydrology comprising five lakes and four oceans, while geography yielding five mountain ranges. From which it is evident that the nomenclature for the various terrains was already established, and from bits of description in <Kuang Ya> such as mines, the ancient people’s technological development can be discerned.
Chapter eight covers the biological scope. The last seven chapters of <Kuang Ya> accrue verses and terms concerning animals and plants, of biological nature. Of which <grass> and <trees> cover botany; <insects> concerns entomology; <fish>, <birds>, and <animals> are self-explanatory. The chapter on <livestock> is separated from <animals> as animal husbandry has been in practice since the stone ages: humans kept wild beasts as food and tamed them for rendering service. Therefore, the name of these tamed wild beasts are called <animals>. The chapter is informative in projecting the model of categorisation our early ancestors adopted. When discussing <insects>, comparison of means of ancient and modern entomological categorisation reveal general conformity with minor differences: our forefathers’ familiarity with the plentiful common insects was less than the fewer numbered birds, which can be derived quantitatively from the contents of <birds> and <insects>. Given Chinese’s belief in the equal importance of medical treatment and proper diet, terminologies collected in <grass> are mostly food ingredients, which also serve as medicine ingredients. Chapter seven of this study sheds light on the relevant biological terms and our forefathers’ understanding of the science.
Chapter nine draws conclusions of this study, and proposes the value of <Kuang Ya> in ancient scholia, modern linguistics, and reflecting ancient culture. The various chapters are summated to parallel the era <Kuang Ya> was completed to today: one language diverged by political factions, yet must be unified for utilitarian, practical purpose. This situation is no different from a dictionary of rhymes having to accommodate, incorporate different ages and geographical differences. Thus the editing of <Kuang Ya> is endowed with the attributes of flexibility and tolerance, verses of different dialects, vernaculars of refinement and vulgarity are all collected in one book, grouped together by synonymous meaning systematically to yield the benefits of convenient index search and efficient learning.
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