Language as bodily practice in early China : a Chinese grammatology / Jane Geaney.

Author
Geaney, Jane [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, [2018]
  • ©2018
Description
xxxix, 309 pages ; 27 cm.

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
East Asian Library - Western Languages PL1035 .G43 2018 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Series
    SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture [More in this series]
    Summary note
    Jane Geaney argues that early Chinese conceptions of speech and naming cannot be properly understood if viewed through the dominant Western philosophical tradition in which language is framed through dualisms that are based on hierarchies of speech and writing, such as reality/appearance and one/many. Instead, early Chinese texts repeatedly create pairings of sounds and various visible things. This aural/visual polarity suggests that texts from early China treat speech as a bodily practice that is not detachable from its use in everyday experience. Firmly grounded in ideas about bodies from the early texts themselves, Geaney's interpretation offers new insights into three key themes in these texts: the notion of speakers' intentions (yi), the physical process of emulating exemplary people, and Confucius's proposal to rectify names (zhengming).
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-276) and index.
    Contents
    • Introduction
    • Part One: Discounting the language crisis in early China. The crisis of blockage: accessing and transmitting obscure things ; The crisis of blockage: why not "language and reality"? ; The prescriptive crisis: nomenclature, not system ; The prescriptive crisis: naming and distinguishing ; The prescriptive crisis: correcting names without "performing" rules
    • Part Two: Understanding early Chinese conceptions of speech and names. Successful "communication": getting the Yi and becoming Tong ; "Ritual" versus Li as the visible complement of sound ; Zhengming and Li as the visible complement of sound ; Embodied Zhengming: how we are influenced by seeing and hearing ; Separating Lunyu 12.11 from Zhengming
    • Epilogue --Glossary of terms with aural or visual associations.
    Other title(s)
    Chinese grammatology
    ISBN
    • 9781438468617 ((hardcover))
    • 143846861X ((hardcover))
    • 1438468601 ((pbk. ; : alk. paper))
    • 9781438468600 ((pbk. ; : alk. paper))
    LCCN
    2017015618
    OCLC
    1012637736
    Other standard number
    • 40027998540
    Statement on language in description
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