Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar

First off, the more I use this book the more I like it. Despite a few "flaws" it is a book full of useful and subtle knowledge on Classical Chinese grammar and anyone serious about Classical Chinese would do well to own a copy. Despite a few short comings (discussed below) it is the most complete Classical Chinese grammar book available in English. Its emphasis is on the high classical period from Confucius (551 - 479 BCE) to the founding of the Qin dynasty (221 BCE).This book assumes the reader already knows some Classical Chinese and has a very good grasp of grammatical and linguistic terminology. Examples: 1)...this is done by inserting a resumptive pronoun shi2... 2) Both the subject and a postverbal element may be topicalized in a locative phrase with yu4 nominalized by zhi1. 3) Other modal notions are expressed by adverbial or adnominal particles.(Those new to Classical Chinese should consider: Classical Chinese : A Basic Reader in Three Volumes, ISBN: 0691118310, which compliments Michael Fuller's: An Introduction to Literary Chinese, ISBN: 0674017269, as these two books have some readings in common. In appendix A of Fuller's book there is a very nice grammar summary and it discusses some of Pulleyblank's perspectives. The grammar summary in Fuller's book is much simplier than in Pulleyblank's, but is a bit more abstract in its approach compared to what is covered in the above three volume reader. Also, Fuller's appendix D contains a very useful glossary of the most important function words. Ideally one would eventually want all these books. Note, Fuller's book doesn't give the pinyin for the actual text being analyzed, he only supplies the pinyin in his vocabulary lists, which for some reason are not always complete. Also, unlike the above three volume reader, Fuller does not provide the reader with a complete translation of the text being analyzed. Fuller's book covers texts from beginning level to advanced level and is definitely recommended. [If one is going to invest the hundreds, if not thousands of hours, required to learn Classical Chinese then one should get all the books that can help.])Since this book is an outline organized by grammatical and linguistic concepts and written more for the scholar, it is not, in my opinion, organized in a way that is optimal for translating. Since almost everybody learns Classical Chinese by reading sections from the classics, it would be helpful, but likely contrary to the philosophy and aim of the book, if the most common grammatical patterns were summarized into one or two chapters and the full and varied usage of each individual grammatical particle were listed in one place. Sometimes when translating a difficult passage I have to look in three or four places to make sure I have covered all possible uses of one given grammatical particle. In time one remembers all the possible patterns, but it would be easier if the book was organized differently or at least had additional material, even at the expense of redundancy.The index is very complete, useful and well done. Almost all the characters discussed have both their grammatical usage and meaning given in the index.There are close to six hundred short examples eloquently translated. The examples are given in both modern pinyin (always with tone marks) and in Traditional (Complex) Characters in a very readable font. It is clear that Edward Pulleyblank is a gifted writer and translator with a fine aesthetic sense. Though the reader should be aware that on occasion his translations for reasons of context (usually not given) or for better idiomatic English slightly deviate from the original Chinese. (On occasion in his examples he adds in words that are not in the original Chinese and are not required for good English, but that none the less improve the translation; in these cases he really should put his additions in square brackets.) In my humble opinion he strikes a consummate balance between the need for literal faithfulness and the need to achieve good sounding and readable English. Most translators have difficulty achieving this balance; they either are too literal and thus sound horrid or are so idiomatic or loose as to be unfaithful to the individual characters and grammatical structure.Unfortunately, the meaning of most characters in the translated examples are not given, typically only the meaning of the grammatical character being discussed is given, which makes reconstructing the translation more time consuming. A glossary at the end would enhance this book even more: both a glossary of all the characters used in all the examples and a glossary of grammar terminology.Most of the examples are from Mencius (Mengzi) and some from other classics such as the Shiji. There are a few Daoist quotes from Zhuanzi. There are no examples from ancient medical texts such as the Nei jing, Mai jing, Shang han lun or Nan jing. Only a few minor examples of poetry usage (such as from the Shijing or Book of Odes). Neither are there any examples from the Dao de jing. This I think creates a bias, the statements of fact in this book don't always fully apply to the Dao de jing (too poetic), nor do they always fully apply to medical texts such as the Nei jing, Mai jing, Shang han lun or Nan jing as these books are too specialized.There are the occasional confusing usage rules and "omissions." Example omissions: the conjunction yin1=because; the locatives nei4=in[side] and wai4=out[side] and their usage with verbs. Though these omissions are likely due to the book's focus on philosophical and historical texts. Despite a few minor short comings it is a very useful book and is highly recommended. It is definitely far more a scholarly study than a grammar textbook, yet for tricky grammar questions it is the book I often consult first.Both the vocabulary and the grammar of Classical Chinese can differ in the ancient medical classics as compared to the more commonly studied historical texts---even if they were authored in the same historical time period. For understanding ancient medical texts see Appendix II in Shang Han Lun: On Cold Damage by Mitchell, Feng Ye and Wiseman. In addition, see Chinese Medical Characters by Wiseman, Yeuhauan, Zhang and Helme (editor), and Chinese Medical Chinese: Grammar and Vocabulary by Wiseman and Feng Ye. In addition, books by the German scholar Paul Unschuld should be considered. However, his native language is German, not English, and thus he has some unusual word choices, which, in my opinion, detract from his books. Also, his knowledge of Chinese Medicine is theoretical and academic, which limits his understanding.

As far as I'm aware, this is the only *reference book* on Classical Chinese grammar (as opposed to textbook). That means that only translated examples are shown, and one does not have to wade through exercises and reading comprehension passages to find a certain construction or vocabulary item.The text systematically and thoroughly explains the the basic vocabulary and sentence structure of Classical Chinese (mostly Confucius and Mencius, with a few earlier "preclassical" examples and late classical examples from the Han dynasty). At 598 examples, it covers all commonly encountered sentence structures, grammatical particles and other basic vocabulary item. You will probably not become competent at deciphering Classical Chinese just be reading the examples in this book alone without practicing doing translations of lengthy passages into English or Modern Chinese, but it is an excellent reference for when you've gotten stuck on a particular sentence -- at the very least, it will help you analyze the syntax and function words.As others have mentioned, this book is very scholarly, and to fully understand all of Pulleyblanks comments on syntax and phonology will probably require an undergraduate degree in linguistics. A typical reader will probably skim these detailed comments and only look for the most salient points. The English translations are excellent -- they are the author's and they tend to be clunky but comprehensible and faithful to the original word order, as much as feasible, instead of conventional translations that are more literary and would obscure the word-for-word correspondence.As a Chinese-American who lived in the US since age 5, I never formally learned Classical Chinese, or modern Chinese for that matter, through the Chinese educational system. (I have to thank my mom for teaching me the valuable skill of knowing how to use a Chinese dictionary!) I borrowed this book for a full semester from the Harvard-Yenching East Asian studies library when I was in college, in order to teach myself Classical Chinese, having only been exposed to a smattering from a formal writing course for fifth year foreign learners (and advanced native speakers), together with bits and pieces that I previously picked up in my previous attempts to teach myself Classical Chinese when I was still in high school. Before going through this book, I would get stuck on almost every other sentence of the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) and frequently had to resort to taking a peek at the modern Chinese translation to even get the gist of a passage. After going through Pulleyblank cover to cover several times, I had a much easier time understanding the Shiji in the original, sometimes getting through a full paragraph-long story with only the need to consult a Classical Chinese dictionary once or twice for more obscure vocab items. In particular, I hardly ever ran into the problem of not being able to parse a sentence after I studied Pulleyblank's book. Thus, I have fond memories of this outline. A decade and a half, I decided to buy a copy of Pulleyblank's concise summary of Classical Chinese grammar as a refresher and out of nostalgia.

Dieser Klassiker des Klassischen Chinesischen verliert auch nach Jahren noch nicht seine Daseinsberechtigung. Das Buch ist in Kapitel gegliedert, dient aber nicht als Lehrmittel um das Klassische Chinesisch von Null auf zu lernen, sondern hilft eher wenn man zu bestimmten Partikeln oder Wörtern Beispiele sucht.

Ristampa ottima di una grammatica di cinese classico ancora insuperata.Non ne esiste una traduzione in italiano, quindi il manuale è completamente in inglese (e cinese, ovviamente).