A Second Look at the Tōwa Sanyō
Clues to the Nature of the Guanhuah Studied by Japanese in the Early Eighteenth Century
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3960730 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard Vanness Simmons (0000-0002-1552-403X, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 117 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 419 |
| Publication date | 1997-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Oriental Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0279 • E-ISSN: 2169-2289 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/605243 |
| OpenAlex | W2330354984 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
The vocabulary and usage of the Towa sanyo provide a framework for examining the characteristics of eighteenth-century Mandarin. This Edo-period Chinese primer, compiled by Okajima Kanzan, presents a language that is distinctively Mandarin, while also showing evidence of Wu dialect influence. The text contains examples of usage drawn from the literary language as well. Yet this primer has a true colloquial base and likely represents an idealized form of Guanhuah, the Mandarin koine that carried great prestige in the Jiangnan region frequented by Japanese merchants who studied the text. The colloquial of this text shows a striking similarity to the modern Harngjou dialect. But, with slight modifications, Okajima's later texts present a language more similar to the Nanjing dialect. It is thus possible to surmise that Ming-period Guanhuah may have once been strongly reminiscent of the Harngjou dialect in most of its key features
Ancient history · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture · Philippine History and Culture
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,08 |
| Citation span | 2000 - 2015 (16) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |