语言的堂吉诃德:吴宓的文言执拗及白话书写

Don Quixote of Language: Wu Mi’s Persistence in Classical Language and Writing in Vernacular

吴宓反对用白话取代文言,长期坚持文言文书写及教学,对文言情有独钟,有着近乎执拗的文言情结。他将语言文字等同于文化符号,与文化意义并存,主张白话与文言各有短长,应各司其职。吴宓并非不能书写白话文,他的文言坚守其实是对传统文化的一种维护与崇奉。但是,由于处在一个白话文世界,特别是1949年以后,汉字简化及拼音化已成为社会变化之大趋势,具有国家意识形态特征,吴宓的文言坚守也就不无喜剧性和荒诞意味。

Wu Mi opposed the replacement of classical Chinese by vernacular,persisted in writing and teaching classical Chinese for a long time,and cherished a special love for and a nearly persistent attitude towards classical Chinese.To him,Chinese characters equated to cultural symbols and coexisted with cultural significance.Both vernacular and classical Chinese had their own strengths and weaknesses and should perform their respective duties.Of course,Wu Mi was not unable to write vernacular,and his adherence to classical Chinese was actually his defense and worship of the traditional culture.However,he lived in a vernacular world.Especially after 1949,the simplification and phoneticization of Chinese characters became a major trend of social change with the characteristics of national ideology,and his laments were not without a sense of comedy and absurdity.