Проблемы китайского и общего языкознания. К 90-летию С. Е. Яхонтова

 587  Analysis of “full” words in Classical Chinese based on the Book of Laozi   or a meaning which cannot be found anywhere else: only our limited knowl- edge of OC vocabulary does not allow us to draw more general conclusions on these specific meanings. In any case, such specific meaning must not be in any diametral contradiction to the general lexicological rules. It seems that a frequent added semantic feature in these cases is “state”, “manner”, “aspect”, “factor”, “principle” etc. E. g.: 以正治國。以奇用兵。 “With correct means one governs the state, with deviant means one employs the arms.” (LVII) The words 正 zhèng and 奇 qí are antonyms here. They are adjectives “be correct” and “be deviant”. In nominal function these adjectives would according to the rules obtain the meaning “something correct” or “correct- ness”, respectively “something deviant” or “deviation”. But here it is very clear from the context that we are dealing with a specific meaning “correct manner” respectively “deviant manner”. These meanings do not contradict to the regular “something correct” or “something deviant”, they just further specify the exact sense. 4. Positive vs. negative connotation of the word: The same word can in different contexts be used for neutral, but also for positive or negative evalu- ation of the described reality. E. g. the above mentioned word 正 zhèng is positive in every context: “be correct”, “be right”, “be regular” etc. Its an- tonym 奇 qí , on the other hand, may be used in a positive meaning “be ex- ceptional”, “be elite”, “be unusual”, but also pejoratively “be deviant”, “be strange” etc. In the case above the discourse is about warfare which for Laozi is always negative. That is why I understand and translate the word 奇 qí in this context explicitly with the pejorative equivalent “be deviant”. The adjective 智 zhì “be intelligent” may have a neutral connotation “pos- sess intelligence as biological feature”, but it can be used positively “possess intelligence of a higher type” and also negatively “possess too much undesirable intelligence” i. e. “be shrewd”. It is evident that if we define the basic meaning correctly as the neutral “be intelligent”, we can easily derive both connotations. But if we define the basic meaning as “be wise”, we can hardly explain the meaning “be shrewd”, if we are able to detect it in the text at all. How the meaning in an CC text is generated? What do we have at hand in reality when trying to understand a dead isolating language like Classical Chinese? a) Probably the most important factor is the continuity of the Chinese lan- guage. Modern Chinese is the direct descendant of Old Chinese and appar-