ERIC Number: EJ874046
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Sep
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0388-0001
EISSN: N/A
Between Knowledge and "Plagiarism," or, How the Chinese Language Was Studied in the West
Tong, Q. S.
Language Sciences, v30 n5 p499-511 Sep 2008
This article looks at descriptions of the Chinese language in Western intellectual writings as indicative of a particular process of knowledge formation and reproduction. Beginning with the first systematic account produced by Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), it charts views offered by John Wilkins (1614-1672), James Beattie (1735-1803), Friedrich von Schlegel (1772-1829) and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) among others. Drawing on the theoretical ideas of Edward Said and Michel Foucault, it shows how views about the Chinese language repeated and quoted one another, how they complimented and validated one another, how they collectively constituted themselves as a system of knowledge, and how this system of knowledge distorted, modified and redefined itself in a historical process until it acquired in the end a life of its own.
Descriptors: Mandarin Chinese, Plagiarism, Western Civilization, Language Attitudes, Second Language Learning, Linguistic Theory
Elsevier. 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32887-4800. Tel: 877-839-7126; Tel: 407-345-4020; Fax: 407-363-1354; e-mail: usjcs@elsevier.com; Web site: http://www.elsevier.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A