La sinologie : la langue chinoise créée par les sinologues ?

What place was assigned to the Chinese in the study of their own language, in 19th-century French sinology? To judge by Chinese Studies in Paris, which was fraught with rival conceptions of sinology, each of which appealed to a different definition of the Chinese language, no clearcut answer is poss...

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Main Author: Clément Fabre
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Éditions de la Sorbonne 2019-06-01
Series:Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/3109
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author Clément Fabre
author_facet Clément Fabre
author_sort Clément Fabre
collection DOAJ
description What place was assigned to the Chinese in the study of their own language, in 19th-century French sinology? To judge by Chinese Studies in Paris, which was fraught with rival conceptions of sinology, each of which appealed to a different definition of the Chinese language, no clearcut answer is possible. Although there was no wholesale rejection of the competence of the Chinese, there was no unanimous recognition of their value either. Instead, several antagonistic constructions of the Chinese language envisaged several different roles for the Chinese, depending on the situations and strategies involved. Whereas the “book-bound” sinologists described an ancient Chinese tongue which was no longer understood in China itself, and which remained accessible only in Paris, the “field” sinologists, ever keen to undermine their colleagues' prestige, affirmed that Chinese was a language unchanged since the dawn of time, and that the Chinese were authorities in it. The non-specialist Press, for its part, had difficulty grasping the idea that anyone could claim greater expertise in the Chinese language than a Chinese person.
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spelling doaj-art-02d1a75e36f74d9a8d3c83ea0597d13f2025-08-20T01:58:45ZengÉditions de la SorbonneRevue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines1963-10222019-06-01349712310.4000/rhsh.3109La sinologie : la langue chinoise créée par les sinologues ?Clément FabreWhat place was assigned to the Chinese in the study of their own language, in 19th-century French sinology? To judge by Chinese Studies in Paris, which was fraught with rival conceptions of sinology, each of which appealed to a different definition of the Chinese language, no clearcut answer is possible. Although there was no wholesale rejection of the competence of the Chinese, there was no unanimous recognition of their value either. Instead, several antagonistic constructions of the Chinese language envisaged several different roles for the Chinese, depending on the situations and strategies involved. Whereas the “book-bound” sinologists described an ancient Chinese tongue which was no longer understood in China itself, and which remained accessible only in Paris, the “field” sinologists, ever keen to undermine their colleagues' prestige, affirmed that Chinese was a language unchanged since the dawn of time, and that the Chinese were authorities in it. The non-specialist Press, for its part, had difficulty grasping the idea that anyone could claim greater expertise in the Chinese language than a Chinese person.http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/3109OrientalismSinologyParisChinaCaricature
spellingShingle Clément Fabre
La sinologie : la langue chinoise créée par les sinologues ?
Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines
Orientalism
Sinology
Paris
China
Caricature
title La sinologie : la langue chinoise créée par les sinologues ?
title_full La sinologie : la langue chinoise créée par les sinologues ?
title_fullStr La sinologie : la langue chinoise créée par les sinologues ?
title_full_unstemmed La sinologie : la langue chinoise créée par les sinologues ?
title_short La sinologie : la langue chinoise créée par les sinologues ?
title_sort la sinologie la langue chinoise creee par les sinologues
topic Orientalism
Sinology
Paris
China
Caricature
url http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/3109
work_keys_str_mv AT clementfabre lasinologielalanguechinoisecreeeparlessinologues