Abstract:

A language reflects the thinking mode of a nation who uses it. Different languages used by different nations must be branded with their different and special ways of thinking. Grounded on the idea that there exists a discrepancy between the temporal-thinking orientation of English and the spatial-thinking orientation of Chinese, this paper holds that the Chinese spatiality orientation originates from the Xiang and Yi modes of thinking in traditional Chinese philosophy, and that the deeply rooted imagery in this way of thinking gives Chinese strong imagery characteristics. Based on this view, the paper attempts to analyze Chinese characters in the following three ways: first, by making a classification of Xiang and clarifying its features; secondly, by further clarifying the characteristics of Yi which arise from Xiang; and thirdly, by analyzing Chinese characters’ structures through Liushu theory, finding that imagery thinking permeates every shu’s structures and that both such a thinking mode and Liushu’s structures are progressive and creative. This paper argues that it is the primary of imagery thinking in Chinese that determines the language’s preference for the spatial mode of thinking and the evident imagery characteristics of Chinese characters’ structures.

Keywords: Chinese characters; spatiality; imagery thinking; Xiang; Yi

摘要：

语言反映了使用者的思维模式,不同民族的语言必然带有其思维烙印,能反映特定民族的思维方式。本文立足于英汉的时空性思维差异,认为汉语的空间性思维特质来源于中国传统哲学中的象意思维,正是根植于汉民族的象意思维使汉字在表征上表现出强烈的象意化特征。基于此,本文首先通过“象”的分类明晰“象”的特征以及在“象”的基础上所形成的“意”的特征,进而通过对以六书为主的汉字构形方式进行分析,发现汉民族的象意思维渗透于汉字的各书构形,且两者层层递进、生生不息。因此,本文认为,汉民族原初的象意思维使汉语偏重于空间思维,这使得汉字在构形上具有明显的象意化特征。

关键词: 汉字, 空间性, 象意思维, 象, 意