中国自身的古白话(vernacular)是何时开始转化为欧化的白话?这要归结为近代来华的西方传教士(missionary),是他们创作了最早的欧化白话文。西方近代来华传教士最初所用的汉语,大都是文言。但是他们运用汉语的目的既然是传教,而传教又是“在上帝面前

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问题     中国自身的古白话(vernacular)是何时开始转化为欧化的白话?这要归结为近代来华的西方传教士(missionary),是他们创作了最早的欧化白话文。西方近代来华传教士最初所用的汉语,大都是文言。但是他们运用汉语的目的既然是传教,而传教又是“在上帝面前人人平等”的,他们就必须照顾到文化水平较低,无法阅读文言的读者。中国的士大夫(literati)由于具有儒家信仰,对于基督教的传教,往往持抵制态度。这就促使西方传教士必须更加注意发展文化水平较低的信徒,用白话传教正是在这种状态下进入他们的视野。初期教会所译《圣经》,都注重于文言。但后来因为教友日益众多,文言《圣经》只能供少数人阅读,故由高深文言而变为浅近文言,再由浅近文言而变为官话土白。  

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答案 When did the Chinese old vernacular in traditional writing turn into a Western-styled vernacular? We attribute its beginning to the early writings of Christian missionaries who came to China during the modern times (usually known as from 1840 till 1949) . Those missionaries were the first to write in a European-styled vernacular Chinese. When they had first set foot on the Chinese soil, they also learned to use literary language for writing. However, the missionaries wrote for the purpose of spreading the gospel of Christ, and with the conviction that everyone is equal before God, they had to write for readers who were not well trained in Chinese classical language. Furthermore, as the literati class were staunch advocates of Confucius’ teachings, they were quite hostile to an alien religion. The missionaries, therefore, had to find receptors in the masses of not well trained in Chinese classical language. They saw the necessity of preaching in vernacular—the spoken language used by the rustic Chinese. The early Chinese versions of Bible translated by the church were most in the classical style. As the number of disciples grew larger, the wenyan version was only comprehensible to an elite few, so that new translations were made in simple wenyan, which was then replaced by vernacular Mandarin.

解析     本文选自袁进的论文《重新审视欧化白话文的起源——试论现代西方传教士对中国文学的影响》。论文中介绍了近代西方传教士在传教的过程中是如何对中国的文言文产生影响的。袁进,江苏镇江人,毕业于华东师范大学中文系,现为复旦大学中文系教授,博士生导师,中国近代文学学会副会长兼秘书长,中国现代文学学会理事,主要著作有《中国文学的近代变革》《上海近代文学史》《中国文学观念的近代变革》《中国小说的近代变革》《小说奇才——张恨水传》等。
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