符指六要素视域下的五行灾异符号分析:以《汉书·五行志》为例

Semiotic study of the Five Phases from the perspective of Roman Jacobson’s model of the functions of language

五行灾异是中国古代符号学当中用来解释祥瑞异象的重要范式。作为天人感应中的重要媒介,五行灾异这套学说在长久的历史书写得以保留与发展,而其本源出自于《汉书·五行志》。过往关于《汉书·五行志》的研究往往着力于其文献学等方面的价值,而对其在符号学研究上的潜力尚未充分挖掘,而本文则试图在这个方面加以阐发。根据《汉书·五行志》其四重层叠文本结构的特点,本文选择借助雅柯布森的符指六要素为理论工具对其四层文本逐一讨论,并分别确认其在建构五行灾异符号中的不同功能,从而更好地理解五行灾异符号系统的机制与功用。

When we examine traditional semiotics in China, the Five Phases is a paradigm for the interpretation of disasters and portents. The paradigm that is believed to link Heaven and the human world has become a tradition in Chinese history writing. In retrospect, the Treatise of the Five Phases in Han Shu is the basic set of the paradigm. The text affords fruitful research space, but other studies focus mainly on examining its philological value and ignore its potential in semiotic study. Therefore,this study endeavours to fill this gap. Because the text features a quadruple textual layer with different functions, this study uses Roman Jacobson’s model of the functions of language, which consists of six elements, as the main method. In discerning all four layers of the text, the study refers to Jacobson’s model to identify the function of each layer. In doing so, this study better reveals the mechanism and functions of the system.