This article traces early Chinese-Western contexts in the field of linguistics. Three groups of sources are distinguished： （1） sources on Mandarin written in China after the late sixteenth century, （2） sources on...This article traces early Chinese-Western contexts in the field of linguistics. Three groups of sources are distinguished： （1） sources on Mandarin written in China after the late sixteenth century, （2） sources on Min dialects written in the Philippines after the early seventeenth century, and（3 ） sources on Southern dialects written by Protestant missionaries in China after the middle of the nineteenth century. The focus of the paper lies on the second group, which has thus far received the least attention in research. It is concluded that the significance of early linguistic sources goes beyond historical language research. The comparison of linguistic meta-language also allows for conclusions on the exchange of ideas and concepts between Asia and Europe in the seventeenth century.展开更多
文摘This article traces early Chinese-Western contexts in the field of linguistics. Three groups of sources are distinguished： （1） sources on Mandarin written in China after the late sixteenth century, （2） sources on Min dialects written in the Philippines after the early seventeenth century, and（3 ） sources on Southern dialects written by Protestant missionaries in China after the middle of the nineteenth century. The focus of the paper lies on the second group, which has thus far received the least attention in research. It is concluded that the significance of early linguistic sources goes beyond historical language research. The comparison of linguistic meta-language also allows for conclusions on the exchange of ideas and concepts between Asia and Europe in the seventeenth century.
