摘要
1917年开始的白话文运动影响深远,也留下许多值得深思的问题。白话文运动取得的成绩,是白话文正式进入学校常规教育课程,在社会生活的许多方面加速取代文言文,成为书面汉语的主流文体。从当时直至现在对该运动的历史叙事,一般都将白话文取代文言文比作欧洲各国自文艺复兴起民族语言文学取代拉丁语文学,同时将之比作一场文学上的革命。这种观点在两个重要方面比附失伦。首先,从语言文字的形式方面看,20世纪初白话文传承的是中国上千年的语言文化传统,相比而言,欧洲文艺复兴时期各民族新兴书面语历史短暂,语言资源贫乏;欧洲民族语言文字取代拉丁文以后,后者基本被摒弃,而文言文始终是中国语言教育和社会生活不可或缺的部分。其次,欧洲各国民族语言取代拉丁文成为主流文体,是个渐变的历史过程而不是狂飙突进式的革命。白话文的情况与此相仿。白话文作品在元、明、清时期广为传播,自19世纪下半叶起白话文使用更为普遍。白话文运动与其说是一场革命,不如说是顺应历史潮流的变革,是数百年乃至上千年中国语言应用传统的传承和发展。19世纪下半叶中国步入现代化进程以后,该发展开始加速,直至20世纪20年代初取得阶段性的成果。白话文运动的真正意义,是提出了"国语的文学,文学的国语"十字方针,为此后汉语标准口语和标准书面语的成型和发展奠定了理论基础,为汉语拼音化给出了前提条件。19世纪以来在语言文字改革问题上提出的重要主张如何落实,此方针为之提供了指引。
The Vernacular Written Chinese Movement started in 1917 led to the introduction of baihuawen into school classroom as a regular subject, and replacement of wenyanwen by baihuawen for the overwhelming majority of functions of written Chinese in the Chinese community. I propose in this article that what happened to wenyanwen and baihuawen in the early 1920s is better characterized as the culmination of a historical trend rather than the outcome of a drastic revolution as generally held in the mainstream literature on the subject. Moreover, I propose that the real significance of the movement lies in the theory of Guoyu de wenxue, wenxue de Guoyu ‘literature in Guoyu and a literary Guoyu' advanced by Hu Shi in 1918. The theory has laid the foundation for the formation and development of standard spoken and written Chinese in the next century, and specified pre-conditions for the success of phonetic writing of Chinese. The theory has been put into practice since 1910s. In the process a clearer understanding has been gained about the differences and similarities between China and early modern Europe in language reform.
出处
《语言战略研究》
2017年第4期61-70,共10页
Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning
关键词
白话文运动
传承
摒弃
新文化运动
文言
白话
Vernacular Written Chinese Movement
inherit
abandon
May 4^(th) New Culture Movement
classic Chinese(wenyan)
vernacular(baihua)
