Chapter 13 Chapter 12 Vernacular and Spoken Language

12.1.1 Consistent possibility Consistency is a big problem.There are questions about whether they should be consistent, and there are questions about whether they should be consistent.At least since the Middle Ages, vernacular works have gained an independent status, and they will encounter such problems.But I didn't think about it. The reason is probably that the vernacular and classical Chinese coexist peacefully, so there is no need to argue, and I can't think of arguing.In the early days of Huaben, it was natural for the vernacular to be written according to the spoken language.The so-called script, the words are the stories, and the script is the script for the speaker to tell the story. Volume 1 of "Dong Jieyuan West Chamber" said: "This book is about a scholar in Tang Dynasty. His surname is Zhang and his name is Gong, his style name is Junrui, and he is from Xiluo."This scripture, or huaben, is a record of speaking to previous speakers, and a teaching material for speaking to future speakers.

In short, the words must be consistent with the words.The same is true for quotations.This is what "actually" should be consistent with. The "May 4th" Literary Revolution attacked classical Chinese as a dead language and advocated writing in vernacular instead.What is the relationship between vernacular and spoken language is not clearly stated.However, in Hu Shi's "Literary Improvement", there are such words: "Looking at it from the perspective of the present age, the Yuan Dynasty should be the most prosperous Chinese literature; the Yuan Dynasty should be the most immortal works: this is undoubtedly the case. At that time, China Chinese literature has recently combined language and writing." "After the prosperity of various literatures, the dead literature of Latin was replaced by 'living literature'; there was living literature, and then there was the national language that combined language and writing." Now it seems that there is some meaning. At that time, it probably Didn't think it through, or at least didn't make it clear.For example, against classical Chinese, the core of the problem is whether writing with pen should be separated from common spoken language.If not, then the vernacular should be used in everything from writing national history to writing notes; opening and closing is always "literature", which narrows down the problem or misses the point.Secondly, even if writing in spoken language is a condition for good works, it can only be "one" necessary condition, not a sufficient condition; the view that as long as it is written in vernacular, it must be superior is clearly a prejudice.Here we only talk about the consistency of language and writing. They have repeatedly praised the "unity of language and writing", which shows that the consistency in their minds should be consistent "in principle".

Consistency is the one-to-one relationship between spoken syllables and handwritten words, maybe impossible?Of course it is possible, not only possible, but in fact there are many examples.If the individual sentences in the whole article count, it should be said that there are also classical Chinese. For example, the most common "Shi Yun" and "Zi Yue" are probably written according to spoken language.Vernacular writing, written according to colloquial language, is of course more common.Among them, there are the most stringent ones, such as court confession records, which must be guaranteed verbatim.Secondly, like the dialogue in vernacular novels, try to imitate the speaker's voice and smile, which should also be consistent with the spoken language.Naturally, there will be a big problem here, how to prove that it is strictly one-to-one.Perhaps except for confession records, there is no guarantee that there is one-to-one everywhere, because literati's pens are always used to polishing.But we can infer through comparison, such as some quotations of monks and Song Confucians that include slang words and uncommon sayings, early scripts (especially the dialogues in them), and dialogues in dialect novels (such as ), we say that they are related to spoken language Consistent, probably no problem.

12.1.2 Difficulty Consistent But there is no problem with the vernacular, which is consistent with the colloquial language, and it is selected from a large number of vernacular works.The vast majority of them are memorizing characters, while the content of vernacular works is obviously only a small amount of memorizing characters; what's more, even the memorizing characters are not necessarily written in spoken language.For example, in "The Wonders of Modern and Ancient Times Du Shiniang Sinks the Treasure Box in Anger", there is a record of Mr. Li's words: "I have no such intentions. But the registration of the Jiaofang will cost a lot, and it must be a thousand dollars. I have nothing in my pocket, so what can I do! "It has quite a strong classical Chinese flavor, which can be seen that the author has reworked it.As for the narration of the reporter or the rapper, it is easier to break away from the spoken language. For example, in the passage of "Dong Jieyuan Xixiang" quoted in the previous section, the following is "Xiluo people": "From my father's official career in Chang'an, so I have a family. Father Pay homage to the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and die. During the five or seven years, the family business has been replaced. It is because the minister was clean and honest during his lifetime, and he had no other savings." The classical Chinese flavor is even more serious. The "May 4th" Literary Revolution inevitably overcorrected at the beginning, and hated classical Chinese. However, two important articles in Hu Shi's "Literary Improvement" began: "Today, there are many people who talk about literary improvement. How can you say that?" Chen Duxiu's "On Literary Revolution" begins with: "How did Europe come from today's solemn and splendid?" .At that time and later, those who responded no longer wrote in classical Chinese.But not using classical Chinese does not mean writing according to spoken language, because what comes out of the pen often becomes vernacular "text" instead of vernacular "language" (this trend will become more powerful the later it is, and will be discussed in the next section).Take the earlier one and the later one as examples.

(1) Mr. Bannong: I admired Mr. Tong Shizhi’s two great works on literary innovation published in the three volumes of this annals. Supplementary, one cannot be discarded.The cause of literary innovation, with the active promotion of you two gentlemen, will surely predict good results, and I am very happy. (Qian Xuantong's "New Literature and the Problem of Modern Rhyme", written in 1917, see "Chinese New Literature Series·Construction Theory Collection") (2) The kind Suirenshi should be forgotten.Even if the food is injured, this time it belongs to the domain of Shennong, so that Shennong is still remembered by people.As for the fire, although I don't know who the inventor is, there are always ancestors, so I have no choice but to call it the god of fire and show it in awe.Looking at his portrait, he has a red face and a red beard, but when offering sacrifices, all red things must be avoided and replaced by green. (Lu Xun's "Two or Three Things About China", written in 1934, see)

The first one is about trying to get closer to the vernacular, but the latter is about doing whatever you want, and there is no problem of wanting to get closer.In a word, what is written on paper is close or far from spoken language. 12.1.3 Reasons for Difficulty Consistent Of course there are reasons for advocating that the vernacular be consistent with the spoken language but not consistent.Reasons are subjective, such as not making an effort to do so, but they do not account for a large proportion.The main reasons are almost all objective. (1) Of course, there is a difference between mouth and pen.Obviously, if the words are loose, the words are rigorous, the words are verbose, the words are concise, the words are straightforward, and the words are reluctant, the content of the words is mostly homely, and the content of the pen is often special, etc., will make the written language self-contained. One set, at least not too far from colloquialism to overlap.It is easy to prove that, for example, the record of a speech, when sorted out, will never be exactly the same as the original speech, because when A talks about B, A has the freedom to speak, and B has the freedom to write, and it cannot be written without B's pen. There are minor changes.

(2) The incompatibility of what I just said is unintentional; in fact, the incompatibility of writing is often intentional, that is, revision or embellishment.From a theoretical point of view, it is possible that Xiurun can demand to move closer to the spoken language, but in fact, the more he pursues the better, the stronger the flavor of the writing.The most typical examples are those in recent years. One is essays and the like, which usually use long sentences; away from spoken language. (3) Writing a pen for writing is always a person who is proficient in prose. Those who are proficient in the old era have their minds full of Zhuang, Sao, History, and Han; those in the new era have their minds filled with Lu Xun and Ba Jin. When they pick up a pen, they will naturally Unknowingly, they even followed suit with their hearts and minds, including Zhuang, Sao, Shi, Han, or Lu Xun and Ba Jin.This is what you sell and what you learn to sing.When we look at the history of vernacular development, we often find that vernacular works do not change with the colloquial language. For example, there are some operas and operas, and the novels of the Qing Dynasty sometimes have early vernacular language. Some of the essays in recent years are not like "May Fourth "The simplicity of the times is the result of studying literature but not language.

(4) When writing the vernacular according to the spoken language, one has to encounter a big problem, which is the problem of the spoken language.As far as Chinese is concerned, many people used it in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and more now.But Chinese comes out of the mouth, and the form is "many", not "one".For example, if you go south, you can speak the spoken language of Cantonese, and if you go north, you can speak the spoken language of Heilongjiang people.Even if the area is narrowed down to Beijing, there are still differences in the spoken language of old banner people, the spoken language of elementary school students, the spoken language of intellectuals, and the spoken language of illiterates.There will be big differences in dialects in different regions, and there will be small differences in the number of dialects in different ages and classes.In what spoken language?Obviously, the method of everyone writing according to their own spoken language will not work.Everyone knows that when writing works in vernacular, you used to use Mandarin, but now you need to use Putonghua.There are some who speak Mandarin, such as radio broadcasters, and some primary and secondary school teachers, but there are not many of them.The vast majority of people have more or less dialects in their mouths, which makes writing according to the spoken language, the so-called vernacular, encounter serious obstacles, and even make it empty.what to do?Of course, the person who writes must learn.But to learn to write in Mandarin or Putonghua, many people can only pass the written word.This road, or this kind of distress, has long been felt by those who advocated the vernacular during the "May 4th Movement". For example, Hu Shi once said: "My hometown dialect is far away from the official dialect; the Shanghai dialect I learned in school is also far away from the official dialect." It is not in the Mandarin system. When I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I wrote a lot of vernacular in the Jingye Xunbao. At that time, I just learned Sichuan dialect. Almost all the vernacular I wrote came from reading novels. My experience Tell me: novels such as Water Margin and Red Chamber Journey to the West have given us many vernacular textbooks, and we can learn the skills of writing vernacular from these novels." ("Chinese New Literature Series·Construction Theory Collection·Introduction") It was more than half a century ago that we took the language of novels as our teacher, and of course we cannot use it mechanically.But as a road, many of us seem to be still walking, that is to say, those who pick up a pen and take it as a teacher are Lu Xun, Zhu Ziqing, etc. at the top, and popular words in books and periodicals at the bottom (the most typical example is the Many young journalists write reports, like writing novels), rather than speaking Mandarin.The vernacular written in this way can naturally only be a "text" that is quite far from the spoken language.

(5) Writing according to the spoken language, the medieval vernacular, as shown in the works of the Huaben system, there is no difficulty.Modern vernacular is not the case, but has difficulties.This refers to the Europeanized syntax introduced in a large number of translations, which is not seen in the spoken language, but it cannot be used.One way of thinking is to follow Yan Fu's path and translate "Tian Yan Lun" and "Yuan Fu" with the style of the pre-Qin philosophers.This can not be Europeanized, but it is farther away from spoken language.What is more serious is to be elegant but not believe it; to believe it, you have to absorb the organization and charm of the original text as appropriate.Over the decades, many excellent translators have done so, if not claiming literal translation.Although this Europeanized syntax is imported, it has to be squeezed into the local stockpile. That is to say, if you write a pen to express the new ideas of the new era, you will unconsciously become Europeanized, or you have to be Europeanized.Obviously, most of this does not come from spoken language; on the other hand, written according to spoken language, it is difficult to produce such a vernacular.

(6) The above situations in which the vernacular departed from the spoken language were all due to the current situation; there were others that exceeded the current situation, and it was obviously intentional to stay away.This refers to the kind of work that is often tried to whitewash and artificial in newspapers and periodicals in recent years.For ease of explanation, first look at the following example. (1) The actor who played the role of the Prime Minister recreated the Prime Minister’s demeanor of adhering to principles in the face of Jiang Qing’s threats with superb performances, revealing the Prime Minister’s confident and soul-stirring inner world in the difficult and serious days of the world, which is unforgettable.The actor playing Chairman Zhu has a good grasp of Mr. Zhu's character traits of honesty, honesty, loyalty to the party, and hatred of evil. image.

(2) Music is the magnificent and bright color of this painting.Yesterday's field, lightly painted, examines the ravages of young people's spirit and their longing, pursuit, and rise; today's field, with heavy ink and heavy color, renders their vigorous and colorful creative life. ... The music of the scene in front of Han Qiyue's grave is quite as powerful as a philosopher's wise words.People are silent, because there is no need for anyone to express their desolation and coldness here.Both examples were found in newspapers and periodicals. Example (1) was excerpted by Mr. Lv Shuxiang (see "Lv Shuxiang's Essays on Chinese Literature·Problems of Writing Style No. 1"), and example (2) was excerpted by myself.In the former case, Mr. Lu commented that using more formulas is an evil way to write articles; in the latter case, what kind of language is used more?I don't comment on the good or bad here, but just want to explain that there will never be a long sentence like in example (1) and a pile of difficult words like in example (2) in spoken language.Writing vernacular is so far away from spoken language. I think that although the skill of writing is one reason, the more important thing is probably in the aspect of cognition. That is to say, some people seem to firmly believe that since it is writing, it has to stay away from spoken language.The inconsistency of language and writing, or inability to approach, at least as far as some of the works in recent years is concerned, this view seems to be a very important reason. Due to the above reasons, almost all the vernacular we see is more or less far from the spoken language.Therefore, with regard to the vernacular, in seeking truth from facts, we should say that it is written "in reference to" the spoken language, rather than written "similar to" the spoken language. The same is the same, the different is inconsistent.There is a question of whether it is good or bad, and the above did not focus on it.Talking about whether it is good or not can't be ignored; if it can't be done in fact, then there is no question of the best agreement.In the first two sections of this chapter, we analyzed that the consistency of language and text is not impossible, but it is not easy to achieve.Here we can look at it from another angle, admit the inconsistency of the language first, and see if this way is feasible.There is no need to settle the accounts of the vernacular of the medieval system, but only since the "May Fourth Movement". A large number of excellent works prove that this road is not only feasible, but also seems to be imperative.These so-called excellent works, taking Mr. Lu Xun's essays as an example, have a relationship with spoken language that is "neither is not farewell".No, it is different from the charm of everyday conversation (richer, deeper, and more rigorous than ordinary spoken language); Buli means that it still belongs to the spoken language system in terms of structure.The so-called colloquial system means that there are many kinds of colloquial languages, such as Lu Xun's colloquial language, and the language of his essays belongs to his colloquial system.Is this kind of vernacular that is inseparable must be inferior to the so-called "writing" vernacular in recent years?I'm afraid it's hard to say that, because in addition to being difficult to measure the severity, there will also be problems of whether they can be consistent.So as things stand, we must at least admit that some form of inconsistency is equally possible, even desirable. 12.2 General situation of distance speaking Vernacular and colloquial language cannot be integrated, and there is a difference between distance and distance.It is too cumbersome and unnecessary to identify the distance between a vernacular work and the spoken language one by one.Here we only talk about the general situation, which can be seen from the following aspects. (1) As far as the works of the same system are concerned, the distance between the early works is generally short, and the distance between the late works is long.The storybook can serve as a notable example.Such as: (1) Why did the speaker say this Spring Return Ci?During the Shaoxing period, there was a man from Yan'an Prefecture, Yanzhou, Kansai. He was the Jiedu envoy of the three towns and the king of Xian'an County.Go home at night and come to Qiantang Gate, in front of the bridge.The sedan chair of Jun's family passed by, followed by the prince's sedan chair.I only heard a person in the mounting shop under the bridge shout: "My son came out to see the king of the county." At that time, the king of the county saw it in the sedan chair, and asked the chief assistant Yuhou to say: "I used to look for this person, but today I am here. It's only on you, and I want this person to come into the mansion tomorrow." At that time, Yu Hou Shengnuo came to look for him.Who is this man who looks at the county king?It's just... ("Jingben Popular Novels Nianyu Guanyin") (2) This poem was written by a gifted scholar during the Jiajing period of this dynasty.The talented man's surname is Lu, his first name is Nan, his character is Shaomu, and his character is Zichi. Born handsome and unrestrained, imposing, with a fluttering appearance.At the age of eight, he can write, and at the age of ten, he can write thousands of words, and he can wait on a horse.Everyone said that he was the reincarnation of Li Qinglian and the successor of Cao Zijian.A good wine and a hero all his life, he is unrestrained and uninhibited, with the ambition to be light on wealth and arrogant.It is really famous all over the world, and it is the crown of today.Those who interacted with him were all famous officials and officials.Moreover, the hairpin tassels from generation to generation, the family wealth is huge, and the daily worship is intended to be like a prince. ... ("Wonders of Modern and Ancient Times Lu Taixue's Poetry and Wine Proud Duke") Example (1) is a Song and Yuan script, and Example (2) is an imitation script of Ming Dynasty people. The former is written in spoken language, while the latter has a lot of classical Chinese elements.The same is true for the quotations. For example, Zhu Xi's "Zhu Zi Yu Lei" is compared with Wang Shouren. The latter inevitably has traces of imitating the old tunes of Song and Yuan people, which is far from the spoken language at that time.Everyone is familiar with the situation in recent decades. When writers picked up a pen in the 1920s and 1930s, most of them still thought about the situation of the spoken language, or deliberately wrote the vernacular. In recent years, except for a few people who value Chinese, almost No matter the spoken language.Because no matter what, the vernacular that is not like "words" can be seen everywhere. (2) The above example can also illustrate another situation, which is related to speaking, and the distance is close; but writing without speaking, the distance is far.The Song and Yuan dialects should be spoken, and the Ming people’s drafts are for people to read, so the former should be written as spoken, but the latter does not.The following example can also illustrate this situation. (3) This person is dressed differently from the girls, with brilliant color embroidery, like a concubine or fairy: on his head he wears a bun with eight treasures of gold thread, and with five phoenixes hanging from the sun in a bun; The skirt is tied with a pea green palace tapestry, double fish and rose shell; the body is wearing a gold hundred butterfly wearing a red satin narrow jacket with flowers, a multicolored silk engraved stone blue and silver mouse coat, and an emerald flower crepe skirt under it.A pair of red and phoenix triangular eyes, two curved willow leaf hanging eyebrows.She is slender, with a coquettish physique, her pink face contains spring power but does not reveal her red lips, and she hears it before she smiles. ... Daiyu hurriedly greeted with a smile, and called her sister-in-law.Holding Daiyu's hand, Xifeng took Daiyu's hand, looked him up and down carefully, and then sent him to sit down beside Jia Mu. He said with a smile: "There is such a beautiful person in the world, and I just met him today. Besides, This whole-body demeanor is not like the granddaughter of the ancestor, but a granddaughter of a direct relative. I can’t blame the ancestor for talking about it every day, and never forgetting it for a while. I only have pity for my sister who has such a hard life, why did my aunt pass away? " Said He wiped his tears with a handkerchief.Jia Mu laughed and said: "I'm on the mend, so you're here to recruit me. Your sister came from a long way away, and she's weak, so she persuaded her to stop. Hurry up and speak in advance." Hearing this, Xifeng quickly turned from grief to joy and said, "Just now That’s right, when I saw my younger sister, I put all my heart into him, I liked him at the same time, I was sad at the same time, and I forgot about my ancestors, who should be beaten.” (The third chapter of the eighty chapters of the school book) The author's narration can be compared to the text, such as "call it with my sister-in-law", remember the dialogue of the characters, such as "today" and "it's right" and other authentic Jingbai have appeared.Modern vernacular is also very obvious in this aspect, such as speech scripts, broadcast scripts, rap scripts, script dialogues, speech records, etc. Compared with general narratives and essays, the former is always closer to the spoken language, and the latter is mostly farther away from the spoken language. . (3) The works use dialects or interspersed with dialects. Compared with works in Mandarin or Putonghua, the dialect part is often closer to the spoken language than the latter.for example: (4) The Yang family stood aside and said to Hong Shanqing, "Young Master Zhao's mansion is here in Doluli?" Eldest Young Master Zhang, you have a good friend?" Xiao Cun smiled and shook his head.The Yang family said: "Master Zhang doesn't have a good match, so let's find one." Xiaocun said: "Ah, teach me how to match? I'll be a matchmaker, okay?" Everyone laughed.Yang Jiaxi laughed and said again: "Panzai is at the end of his relationship, let's take Master Zhao for a walk, so it's more lively?" Xiaocun sneered and didn't answer, and went to lie down on the couch to smoke. (First time) The dialogue part is written in Suzhou dialect, so naturally it can only be written in spoken language, because official Chinese and classical Chinese have an entangled relationship, and there are no dialects, so there will be no miscellaneous things when written in dialect. (4) Translations and works that are heavily influenced by foreign languages ​​are always farther away from the spoken language than works that are basically local in flavor, while the latter are closer to the spoken language.See the example below: (5) All these distant and extraordinary accidents were replaced by that quiet and secluded life, and that hypnotic and harmonious dream, which is as beautiful as when you sit on the wooden terrace facing the garden. The drizzle is making a lewd noise, knocking on the leaves, rolling out the stream of water, and at the same time drowsiness comes in your body, at the same time, behind the woods, a rainbow appears, in a half-broken arc , when the sky shines in the sky with its own gorgeous seven-colored light,--or when the carriage shakes you to sleep, into the middle of the green jungle, where the wild birds of the prairie are crying loudly, and the fragrant grass It's the same feeling it evokes when it flies into the car window, mixed with ears of wheat and wild flowers, and gently hits your hands and face. (Gogol's "Milgrad: The Old Landlord", translated by Meng Shihuan) (6) When we see red people doing weddings, we think of Jianbai. According to the same theory, there are not only associations but also associations, and most of the associations follow associations; Thinking of associations with clear similarities and differences does not have to be based on associations.The basis of this association is in the sense, and it may but need not be in the image.Although we admit here that there are associations in the sense that are not based on associations, most associations are based on associations. (Jin Yuelin's "On Knowledge", page 323) Example (5) is a translation, and Example (6) is an article with a more European flavor. Although both are in vernacular, it is quite far from spoken language. (5) In recent years, some people who value writing style have advocated "writing words", which means that what is written is the same as what is said.Whether this is possible, or not, is another question.The point here is only that, compared with the works of those who do not pay attention to such issues, the works of those who advocate this way are often closer to the spoken language, while the latter are farther away from the spoken language.See the example below: (7) In everyone's opinion, the captain is the most important person on board.When we hired wooden boats, we worried about whether the hull would be strong or not.The boat owner said: "It doesn't matter the boat, but the people. As long as the right people are hired, even a rotten boat can survive." Most of the "people" he refers to refer to the captain.When the boat sailed from the pier, the owner of the boat gave all his property to the captain. If he followed the boat, even his life was handed over to the captain.What about the passengers?I have time to chat with the driver, and treat him to a few glasses of Daqu in the evening. "I hope he will send us back in a good way, and send us back in a good way." (Ye Shengtao "Me and Sichuan · Driver") (8) Although Canglang's book is self-confessed as the real proof and enlightenment, and it was not obtained by others, in fact, no one can be immune to the influence of the times, let alone the restrictions of class, so in the commentary, special emphasis is placed on Various theories before Canglang are used to explain the origin of Canglang's poetry.As for the comments and introductions of "Canglang Shihua" by later generations, we will choose the differences rather than the same.All the words of refutation, even those that involve a little emotion and are close to insults, are often adopted; as for the words of exposition, special opinions are taken, and if they only express agreement without inventing anything, they will be discarded and not recorded. (Guo Shaoyu's Annotation of Canglang Poetry and Explanation of the Explanation of the Annotation) Mr. Ye Shengtao is the person who admires writing the most in recent years, so the writing in his pen is always simple and fluent.Mr. Guo Shaoyu studied classical literature and left his writing to be natural, so there are elements of classical Chinese mixed in, which are not so close to spoken Chinese.