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ELEMENTS

OF

CHINESE GRAMMAR.

HAVING prepared the way by tracing the written medium, or the characters, of the Chinese language to their origin, and examining the colloquial medium by which they are expressed, we proceed to inquire into the manner in which the characters combine with each other in order to form sentences and express ideas. This embraces the Grammar of the language.

This part of the subject is by no means without its difficulties, which arise, not merely from the peculiar nature of the language, but from the circumtances in which it is found. In other ancient languages, and particularly in the two which the Chinese rivals in point of antiquity, however much it differs from them in its nature, the Greek and the Sungskrit, treatises on grammar are by no means wanting. In the former, the grammatical works of Aristotle and others, are too well known to need mention; and in the latter, philology forms a considerable, and by no means contemptible, part of their ancient writings.

But nothing of this kind seems to have flowed from the pen of Confucius, the restorer of Chinese literature, although he did not think a treatise on music beneath his attention; nor from that of his scarcely less celebrated

grandson. Nor does it appear that the philosophic Mung, who lived two hundred years later than the great Chinese sage, and rendered himself almost equally famous by his writings, nor indeed any one of his contemporaries, left any work on the grammar of the language in which they wrote. It has indeed been affirmed by some, that the Chinese have treatises on the grammar of their language; and this may be the case, but the writer has never seen any thing of the kind, nor has he met with a hint in the preface to the Imperial Dictionary, alluding to any work of this nature; which leads him to suspect, either that no such works exist, or that they are held in little estimation as any respectable work on Chinese Grammar could not have been unknown to the compilers of that dictionary; nor, if known to them, is it probable that they would have passed it over in silence. If there be therefore any respectable treatise of this kind extant, it is probably quite modern.

But the chief difficulty with which we have to cope in this part of the work, arises from the nature of the language under consideration. It is a fact pretty generally understood that the Chinese language is destitute of all inflection. Now in a language where all those terminations and inflections are unknown which render so copious the grammars of the Greek and Sungskrit languages, there can be little room for grammatical disquisition. Of the two parts which form the basis of philology, it will appear evident to those who duly weigh the subject, that the inflections and terminations of any particular language, furnish the materials for its peculiar grammar; and that when these are wanting, there can be little left beside ideas that relate to general grammar, which from the sketch already given, it does not appear

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that the ancient Chinese philosophers ever made an object of study, although Mung, the last of the original Confucian school, was nearly contemporary with the Stagyrite, who has rendered himself so famous by his accurate disquisitions on philology.

While the knowledge of a language however is confined to those to whom it is indigenous, the want of a grammar is not severely felt, even in a language possessing inflections. This is evident, not only from the writings of Bacon and Milton in our own language, but even from those of Addison and Pope, who could derive little advantage from the grammatical labors of their own countrymen, as, prior to Lowth, scarcely any English grammar existed which deserved the name. The case was the same with the ancients : Cæsar and Cicero were certainly little indebted to grammatical studies for that excellence of style which commands admiration to this day; nor were Thucydides or Demosthenes more indebted to treatises on grammar for superior excellence, which the moderns have in vain attempted to rival.

But if treatises on grammar be little needed as long as the study of a language may be confined to the country wherein it is indigenous, when it is to be laid open to foreigners, a grammar seems absolutely necessary; and

in the present improved state of general knowledge, a grammar of the Chinese language seems desirable. Nor may a work of this kind prove wholly uninteresting; although it cannot interest from the variety of inflection which it applies, it may in some measure gratify by shewing in what manner a language destitute of all inflection, expresses the various niceties of speech, for the sake of which other nations employ a grammatical

apparatus so copious and exquisite. The importance of a grammar of this language will increase in our view, when we consider the wide extent of the philological system which it unfolds. Not only in China and Japan is the same language said to prevail, and of course nearly the same grammatical system; but it has been shewn that throughout Tibet and Bootan, the kingdoms of Tonquin, Cochin China, Laos, Siam, and the Burman empire ; in a word, from the western border of China to the eastern border of Bengal, the Chinese colloquial system is, in a certain degree, current to this day, even under the adoption of the Sungskrit alphabet. It is needless to add, what an influence this must necessarily have on the construction of those languages, since it is a fact well known in the annals of philology, that a colloquial medium will preserve its own form and construction with little variation, amidst the adoption of multitudes of words, and even of phrases, from other languages.

Nor as it relates to the Chinese language, is a work of this nature impracticable principles of grammar must necessarily be inherent in every language. The language of every country must possess words which denote things, and others which signify qualities. It must have words to express actions done; and these as done by one or many; already done, now doing, or intended to be done; they must also be described as done absolutely, or conditionally, as proper to be done, or peremptorily commanded. Further, the various circumstances of the doer, and of the subject of the action, must also be either plainly expressed or tacitly understood; hence the need of prepositions. Connecting words too, necessarily exist in every language, as well as those which express the emotions of the mind. Thus the principles of grammar must substantially exist in every language.

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