Svět v sinogramech
The world in sinograms

Author(s): Tereza Slaměníková, David Uher
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Cultural history, Theoretical Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Semantics, Historical Linguistics, Comparative Linguistics, Other Language Literature, Philology
Published by: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
Keywords: chinese; sinology; linguistics; china; sign writing
Summary/Abstract: Languages using a pleremic writing system, from which Chinese is undoubtedly the most widespread, show a much deeper connection between language units and their graphic representations since it involves the semantic dimension. What makes the Chinese writing system a truly unique phenomenon is how its graphics capture the meaning of the represented linguistic unit. This semantic connection was primarily established through graphic components with their own meanings, so-called determinatives. Although their use was primarily associated with an effort to distinguish by graphic means the (often too many) different meanings of one sinogram, the entire system also undoubtedly provides unique insight into how ancient Chinese experienced reality. The semantic diversity of sinograms subordinated to one determinative forms a particular network of contexts with some relationship to the basic concept. This book provides a concise Czech translation of the oldest known study on Chinese grammatology Shuo Wen Jie Zi (Meaning Explanation of Primary Sinograms and Structure Analysis of Secondary Sinograms) which endeavors to reflect on the Chinese writing system as an essential bearer of Chinese culture. Based on the procedures of Chinese cultural linguistics, it adopts the author's determinative-based setting and analyses the so-called semantic profile of all the 540 determinatives by arranging sinograms into groups sharing certain semantic features

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