The Analects: A Western Han Text? 1
Linguistic approaches to the dating of the Lúnyŭ: methodological notes and future prospects
Wolfgang Behr (University of Zurich)
Princeton, 4-5.XI.2011
0. Basic bibliography:
Zhāng Zhōngtáng 張忠堂, “Jìn bǎinián lái «Lúnyù» yŭyán yánjiū shùpíng” 近百年 來《論語》研究述評, Shānxī Shīdà Xuébào 山西師大學報 36 (5), 2009, 137-140.
• lists 225 titles (lexicon: 149, word formation: 11, syntax: 38, others: 27) • but: none primarily interested in dating the text!
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1. A set of innovations characterizing late CQ / early WS language, best reflected by Eastern Zhōu BI, the Wēnxiàn 溫縣 (497 B.C.) and Hóumǎ 侯馬 (either 497-389) co- venant texts méngshū 盟書 (Chén Yǒngzhèng, GWZYJ 21.2000)
• 而 (*nə) used as a conjunction between VPs, linking complex clauses (repla- cing BI 則 (*tsˤək), 眔 (*m-rˤəp)), including conditionals, hypotheticals, ad- versatives etc.; 而 sometimes in disyllabic conjunction collocations (而況) • 者 (*ta-ʔ) appears as nominalizer, sometimes after very complex VPs (> 40 characters) • 所 (*s-qʰra-ʔ) appears as pronominalization of object NPs • 所 (*s-qʰra-ʔ) used as sentence-initial hypothetical conjunction ! (esp. in oaths; type: 「所不與舅氏同心者，有如白水」“If I fail to be of one heart with you, uncle, may it be as [in the case of] White Water!”; Zuo, Xi 24) • 與 (*C.ɢaʔ) appears as a conjunction between coordinated NPs, and as a co- mitative preposition • 焉 (*-(ʔ)an) marks reduplicated ADJ/ADV
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2. The rise of reduplication in BI (66 exx., cf. Shěn Băochūn 2003, Wáng Xiùlì 2009)
CHAR PINYIN MC OC PERIOD
子子 zĭ= < tsiX= < *tsə-q EWZ 孫孫 sūn= < swon= < *sˁun= EWZ 顯顯 xiăn= < xenQ= < *qˁʰen-q= EWZ 刺刺 cì= < tshjeH= < *tshek-s= MWZ 劈劈 bó < phak= < *p-hˁlak= MWZ 桽桽 p[péng=] < [phjuwng=] < *phr[u,o]ŋ= MWZ 龵龵 huán= < hwan = < *ɢʷˁa[r]= MWZ 倉倉 cāng= < tshang= < *s-hrˁaŋ= LWZ
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它它 tuō= < da= < *lˁaj= LWZ 憲憲 xiàn= < xjonH= < *hŋar-s= LWZ 摣摣 cè= < tsrhεk= < *tsʰˁek= LWZ 洍洍 yí= < yi= < *lə LWZ 異異 yì= < yiH= < *lək-s LWZ 穆穆 mù= < mjuwk= < *mˁ(r)iʷk= LWZ 鏓鏓 cōng= < tshuwng= < *s-hlˁoŋ LWZ 阤阤 tuó= < da= < *lˁaj= LWZ 雍雍 yōng= < 'jowng= < *ʔoŋ LWZ 龮龮 chēng= < tsrhæng < *s-hˁraŋ= LWZ
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龯龯 yōng= < 'jowng= < *ʔoŋ LWZ 龲龲 pdū= < tu= < *tˁa= LWZ 哀哀 āi= < ‘oj= < *ʔˁəj= ECQ 喬喬 qiāo= < gjew < *N-k(r)aw ECQ 妒妒 sū= < swat= < *s-kot ECQ 机机 pkŏu = < khuwQ= < *kʰˁ(r)o-ʔ= ECQ 沱沱 tuō= < da= < *lˁaj= ECQ 滂滂 pāng= < phang= < *pʰˁaŋ= ECQ 熙熙 xī= < xi= < *q-hlə= ECQ 甬甬 yŏng= < yowngQ= < *loŋ-q ECQ
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皇皇 huáng= < hwang= < *ɢʷˁaŋ= ECQ 肅肅 sù= < sjuwk= < *siʷk= ECQ 芶芶 gōu= < kuw= < *kˁ(r)o= ECQ 虩虩 xì= < srrεk < *s-C-rˁek= ECQ 趩趩 chì= < trhik= < *hrək= ECQ 遊遊 yóu= < yuw= < *lˁu ECQ 闌闌 lán= < lan= < *(Cə.)rˁan= ECQ 龳龳 pdū= < tu= < *tˁa= ECQ 妔妔 yuān= < 'wen < *ʔʷˁin MCQ 油油 yóu= < yuw= < *lˁu MCQ
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漾漾 yàng= < yangH= < *laŋ-s MCQ 祗祗 zhī= < tsyij= < *təj MCQ 隺隺 hè= < hawk= < *gˁaʷk= MCQ 央央 yāng= < 'jang= < *q-laŋ LCQ 雝雝 yōng= < 'jowng= < *ʔoŋ LCQ 乢乢 phuáng= < hwang= < *ɢʷˁaŋ= CQ 亹亹 wěi= < mjijQ= < *məj-q= CQ 咀咀 dié= < det= < *dˁit= CQ 日日 rì= < nyit= < *nit= CQ 曎曎 yōu= < yuw= < *lˁu CQ
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永永 yŏng= < hjwængX= < *wraŋ-q CQ 赢赢 yíng= < yeng= < *leŋ CQ 龢龢 hé= < hwa= < *gˁoj= CQ 龱龱 pyīn= < 'im= < *ʔrəm CQ 龴龴 huì= < hwejH < *ɢʷˁet-s= CQ 酓酓 yĭn= < ʔimX= < *q-ləm-ʔ EZG 屖屖 xī= < sej= < *sˁəj= MZG 柬柬 jiăn < kænQ < *kˁran-q MZG 獸獸 shòu= < syuwH= < *hlu[k]-s= MZG 龶龶 shì= < syejH= < *hlap-s MZG
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庸 [yōng] < yowng < *loŋ MZG 惮惮 dàn= < tanH= < *tˁar-s= MZG 汸汸 pāng= < phang= < *pʰˁaŋ= MZG 濟濟 jì= < tsejH= < *tsəj-s= MZG 翼翼 yì= < yik= < *lək= MZG 霖霖 lín= < lim= < *(Cə.)ləm= MZG 龰龰 yè= < ngjæp= < *ŋ(r)ap MZG 昷昷 wēn= < 'won= < *ʔˁon= LZG
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2.1 Distribution of reduplicatives across vessel types and inscription periods
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2.2.1 Reduplication in the Lúnyŭ (cf. Lǐ Dān 2007, Liáo Guódòng 2008)
• 34 reduplicated words, 6 reduplicated phrases, 6 reduplicated sentences (cf. Shījīng 647 in 196 stanzas; 359 adjectival function) • already great versatility of forms: AA, AA+ 4 suffixes (如 *na, 然 *na-n，乎 *ɢˁa; DZ: 若 *na-k), AABB, BAA • occuring in 4 different syntactic slots
→ system much more mature than that of late CQ-BI: later!
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2.2.2 move towards suffixed version between Dìngzhōu and transmitted version(s)?:
DZ 188 「君子靼蕩，小人長戚。」 7.37 「君子坦蕩蕩，小人長戚戚。」 “The Master said: "The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress."”
DZ244 「 顏色，怠若也。歿趨， 若也。復其位， 若也。」 10.3 「出降一等，逞顏色，怡怡如也。沒階趨進，翼如也；复其位，踧踖如也。」 “When he came out, having descended one step, he wore a more relaxed expression and seemed relieved. When he reached the bottom of the steps he hastened forward and seemed to glide as if on wings, and when he returned to his position he looked respectful.”
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3. Prosody: the rise of tetrasyllabicity in poetry:
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3.1 Line length preference in the Lúnyŭ (Wàn Jǐufù 2001) 4 syllables: 27 %, 3 syllables: 12%
→ moraic foot structure in Old Chinese also existed in ritual and argumentative prose (cf. Feng Shengli 2011)
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3.2 Rhyme: Jiāng Yǒugào 江有誥, Qúnjīng yùndòu 群經韻讀 (Jiāngshì yīnxué shí shū 江氏音學十書, II: 67a-b=146-7).
7 passages
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2.18 子張學干祿。子曰： “zi-Zhāng studied [in search for] official emolument. The master said:
多聞闕疑 *t-lˤaj mun kʷʰ at ŋə A 慎言其餘 *Cə.lin-s ŋan gə la B 則寡尤 *tsˤ ək C.kʷˤ ra- ʔ ɢʷə A 多見闕殆 *t-lˤaj kˤ en-s kʷʰ at lˤə-ʔ a 慎行其餘 *Cə.lin-s Cə.gˤ raŋ gə la B 則寡悔 *tsˤ ək m̥ˤə-ʔ a 言寡尤 *ŋan C.kʷˤ ra- ʔ ɢʷə A 行寡悔 *Cə.gˤ raŋ C.kʷˤ ra- ʔ m̥ˤə-ʔ a 祿在其中矣 *rˤok *dzˤə-ʔ gə truŋ qə-ʔ A
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‘Learn much and leave out what is doubtful, speak cautiously about what remains (without doubt), then you will diminish mistakes. Observe much and leave out what is precarious, practice cautiously what remains (without precariousness), then you will diminish remorse. Diminishing mistakes in speaking and diminishing remorse in acting – in this [behavior] emolument will surely be found.’
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3.8 子夏問曰： Zǐxià asked:
巧笑倩兮 *kʰˤru-ʔ s-law-s tsʰˁren-s gˤe A 美目盼兮 *mrəj-ʔ C.muk pʰˁrən-s gˤe a 素以為絢兮 *sˤak-s lə-ʔ ɢʷaj sqʰʷˁ[e,i]n-s gˤe a
The artful smile, so lovely, the beautiful eyes: so hopeful, [=《碩人》, Maoshi 57] unadorned to be adorned. 何謂也？” What does this mean?" 子曰：“繪事後素。 The Master said: "The work of drawing comes after the plain surface."
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3.13 王孫賈問曰：
Wángsūn Jiǎ asked, saying:
與其媚於奧 *C.ɢa-ʔ gə mrəjʔ-s ʔa ʔuk A 寧媚於竈 *nˤeŋ mrəjʔ-s ʔa *tsˤuk-s A
‘Rather then compete for the favor of the household shrine, it is better to compete for the favor of the kitchen god.’
“何謂也？”子曰：“不然，獲罪於天，無所禱也。” What does that mean?’ The master said: ‘That is not the case, if one falls foul of Heaven, there is nowhere one can turn to in a prayer.’
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9.31
唐棣之華 *r̥ˤaŋ N.rˤəp-s tə qʷʰˤra X 偏其反而 *pʰen gə bˤran-ʔ nə BA 豈不爾思 *C.qʰˤəj-ʔ pə nˁe-ʔ sə A 室是遠而 *s.tit de-ʔ C.ɢʷan-ʔ nə BA
The flowers of the wild cherry tree / they swing to one side, and then they swing back. How could I fail to think about you? / It is your home that is so far away. 子曰：“未之思也，夫何遠之有？” The Master said: "He was not really yearning for the her. Otherwise: what considering her distant could there be?!
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• but cf. Shījīng (24.1)
何彼襛矣 *gˤaj paj-ʔ noŋ qəʔ A 唐棣之華 *r̥ˤaŋ N.rˤəp-s tə qʷʰˤra B 曷不肅雝 *gˤat pə siʷk qoŋ A 王姬之車 *waŋ kə tə t.qʰ(r)A B
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18.11 周有八士： 伯達、伯適、仲突、仲忽、叔夜、叔夏、季隨、季騧。 *pˤrak Cə.lˤat, pˤrak s-tek, N-truŋ-s m-tʰˤut, N-truŋ-s m̥ˤut, s-tiwk N.rak-s, s-tiwk *gˤraʔ, kʷit-s sə.loj, kʷit-s *kˤroj.
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3.3 What qualifies as a rhyme in a prose text? Lóng Yŭchún’s (1962-63) three criteria:
(1) Congruity of textual meaning 文意的斷連, inner coherence of sentential meaning ( 句子文意是否一氣) (2) similarity of phrase structure and parallel correspondances of sentence sturcture (語句結構的相同或文句的平行相當) (3) intra- and intertextual comparison of analogous sentence construction (上下文或 他篇類似文句的比較)
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3.4 some examples:
1.11 三年無改於父之道，可謂孝矣。 *srum niŋ ma C.qˤə-ʔ ʔa pa-ʔ tə lu-ʔ, kʰˤajʔ ɢʷət-s qʰˤ-r-u-s qə-ʔ. “If for three years he does not alter from the way of the father, he may be called filial."
13.20 子曰：「行己有恥，使於四方，不辱君命，可謂士矣。」
“tse-ʔ ɢʷat: ‘ Cə.gˤraŋ kə-ʔ ɢʷə-ʔ n̥rə-ʔ, s-rə-ʔ ʔa C.paŋ, pə nok kur mə-riŋ-s, kʰˤaj-ʔ ɢʷət-s m-s-rə-ʔ qə-ʔ。 “The master said: ‘Who conducts with a sense of shame, and when sent to the four lateral regions, does not disgrace the orders of his lord, may be called an officer.”
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4. Lexicon: Dialect
顧炎武《日知錄· 方音》 “《公羊》多齊言, 《准南》多楚語, 若《〈易〉傳》、《論語》, 何嘗有一字哉”. “There is a lot of Qí expressions in the Gōngyáng, a lot of Chŭ expressions in the Huáinán, but in the Yì commentaries or the Lúnyŭ, there is hardly one [dialectal] cha- racter!”
but: Kāi Hóngchāng (QLXK 6.1988) collected 19 items identified as Qí-Lŭ (QL) dialect by Hàn & Early Medieval commentaries, 13 as non-southern (-S) items
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4.1 Some examples:
4.1.1 evidence direct: 文莫 (*mən=mˁak)
7.33 子曰：「文莫吾猶人也。躬行君子，則吾未之有得。」 “The master said: ‘In exerting myself I am one who is like others. But as to myself practicing to gentlemeanly behaviour, I have never yet managed to achieve that.”
a. 陽慎《丹鉛錄》引晉欒肇《論語駁》：「燕，齊謂勉強為『文莫』」。 b. 《方言》 7.9：「『侔莫』 (*mu=mak)，強也。北燕之外郊，凡勞而相勉若言努 力者謂之『侔莫』。」 c. 《說文》 6750：「『忞 (*mrən)』：彊也。从心文聲。《周書》曰：『在受德忞。』讀 若旻」。6751:「『慔 (*mˁak-s)』：勉也。从心莫聲。」
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b. including particle usage
1.10 子貢曰：「夫子溫、良、恭、儉、讓以得之。夫子之求之也，其諸異乎人之求之 与？」 “zǐ Gòng said: ‘Now the master is warm, good-natured, courteous, temperate and deferential, and through this he obtains [the information about a foreign state’s go- vernment]. The master’s method of seeking it – ain’t it diffferent from that of others?!’
黄家岱 《嬹藝軒雜著》：「或者也」。黄家岱《方言術》：「『其諸』之文，亦不概見 於他書，惟《公羊傳》六見之，其亦齊魯間之別語，可知矣。」
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10.21 色斯舉矣，翔而後集。 “*srək-se (‘at the appearance’?, ‘in a rush’?, ‘flitter-flutter’?), they rise up, hover about and then gather.” a. 王引之《經傳釋詞》：「『色斯』者狀鳥之疾也，『色斯』猶『色然』，驚飛貌。」 b. 黄家岱《方言術》：「『色斯』猶『率然』，《公羊﹒哀六年傳》有‘色然而駭’之 文，當是齊語。」.
➢ 斯 *se probably writes the old *-s adverbial suffix, cf. its usage to write the causative *s-prefix in Máoshī 223.4:
「民之無良、相怨一方。受爵不讓、至于已斯亡。」 “People, if loosing their goodness, resent one another unfairly, receiving high status, they do not cede to each other, and when it comes to the end, they are (made perish → ) destroyed.”
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➢ borrowability scales (cf. CURNOW 2001 for a summary): preferences, not universals
a. lexical hierarchy (HAUGEN 1950 etc.) NOUNS >> VERBS >> ADJECTIVES >> ADVERBS >> PREPOSITIONS >> AFFIXES
b. grammatical hierarchy (ROSS 2001) OPEN CLASS WORDS >> CLOSED CLASS WORDS >> SYNTAX >> NON-BOUND FUNCTION WORDS >> BOUND DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES >> BOUND INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES >> SUPRASEGMENTALS >> PHONEMES
➢ function words: used unconsciously, topic independent, context-free: most useful to discriminate statistically between authors (but costly in computation because of high frequency)
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c. evidence ex silentio:
11.14 魯人為長府。 “Men of Lŭ were working on the ‘Long Treasury’”. cf. 《昭公二十五年》:「公居於長府。」 • term not seen in any of the 禮-texts, or any other text, not quoting the LY. 陽伯峻：“長府，鲁國庫之名。”
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P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 QL 10 15 7, 22, 26 9 32 14, 20 -S 24 10 4 11 23, 26
P 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 QL 14, 26 17 29 14 7, 3, 15, 24 29 -S 13 19 35, 43 4, 13 2
• aside: Kimura’s Qí chapters (Cameron, this conference:) 8, 10, 12, 14
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4.2 Lexical retention?
Q: What is the retention rate of lexicon from presumably earlier texts?
7.11 子路曰：「子行三軍，則誰与？」 子曰：「暴虎馮河，死而不悔者，吾不与也。必也臨事而懼，好謀而成者也。」 zǐ Lù said: ‘If you, master, were leading the three armies, who would you be with?’ The master said: ‘I would not be with anyone who would not regret if he died tack- ling a tiger [barechested] or crossing the Yellow River without a boat.’
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cf. a. 《詩經：小旻》不敢暴虎、不敢馮河。 “They do not dare to tackle a tiger [barechested], they do not dare to cross a river [without a boat]. b. 《詩經:大叔于田》 襢裼暴虎、獻于公所。 “Barechested [Shu] tackled the tiger, / presenting it to the duke.”
c. 《爾雅：釋訓》：暴虎，徒搏也，馮河，徒涉也。
d. 《易經:䷊泰》 ：九二：包荒，用馮河，不遐遺，朋亡，得尚于中行。 “Tai: The second nine: Embrace the uncultivated, use it to cross the Yellow River, without distancing yourself from those left behind and fellowmen getting lost. Reach what is above in accordance with the middle track.”
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5. Phonology: cluster simplification between DZ and TV?
5.1 Mǎ Yùméng (2010) a. orthographic interchanges (in originals?, in DZ hand tracing?)
曰:由，君:居，頂:頃，末:未，銹:鑽 (4) �:怨 ，聞:見 (2)
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• 9 (7.1%) initial identical / rhyme similar: 靼 *tˁat : 坦 *tʰˁan, 曰 *ɢʷa-t : 謂 *ɢʷət- s … • 7 (5.5%) deviating rhyme and initial: 儆 *kreŋ-ʔ : 幾 *kəj, 居 *ka : 屢 *C.roʔ -s ...
→ strong oral/aural moment
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DZ simpler than TV
居 *ka : 屢 *C.roʔ-s 梁 *raŋ : 掠 *Cə.raŋ-s 鄰 *rən : 吝 *mə.rən-s 迷 *mˤij : 彌 *m-nˤij 幾 *kəj-ʔ : 豈 *C.qʰˤəjʔ 黑 *m̥ˤək : 默 *C.mˤək 佴 *nˁə-s : 耻 *n̥rə-ʔ 是 *de-ʔ : 氏 *k.de-ʔ
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TV simpler than DZ 絞 *k-rˤiwʔ : 徼 *kˤew 窖 *k-ˁruk-s : 奥 *ʔˤuk-s 儆 *kreŋ-ʔ: : 幾 *kəj 泡 *pʰˁru : 桴 *pʰu 彧 *ʔruk : 鬱 *qut 随 *sə-loj : 惰 *lˁoj-ʔ 唯 *ɢʷij : 雖 *s-qʷij 辨 *bren-ʔ : 便 *ben-s
→ no directionality to be established
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d. A/B distinction
DZ TV
絞 *k-rˤiwʔ : 徼 *kˤew A : A 窖 *k-ˁruk-s : 奥 *ʔˤuk-s A : A 獨 *dˁok : 櫝 *lˁok A : A 靼 *tˁa-t : 坦 *tʰˁa-n A : A 黑 *m̥ˤək : 默 *C.mˤək A : A 迷 *mˤij : 彌 *m-nˤij A : A 耐 *nˤə-s : 能 *nˤə A : A 年 *C.nˤi[ŋ]: 佞 *nˁ[e,i]ŋ A : A
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儆 *kreŋ-ʔ: : 幾 *kəj B : B 居 *ka : 屢 *C.roʔ-s B : B 梁 *raŋ : 掠 *Cə.raŋ-s B : B 鄰 *rən : 吝 *mə.rən-s B : B 曰 *ɢʷa-t : 謂 *ɢʷət-s B : B 輿 *m-q(r)a ： 車 *[t.qʰ](r)A B : B 牖 *lu-ʔ : 誘 *lu-ʔ B : B 彧 *ʔruk : 鬱 *qut ! B : B 唯 *ɢʷij : 雖 *s-qʷij B : B 謂 *ɢʷət-s : 未 *mət-s ?? B : B
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佴 *nˁə-s : 耻 *n̥rə-ʔ A : B 泡 *pʰˁru : 桴 *pʰu A : B 黽 *mˤrəŋʔ : 閔 *mrənʔ A : B 末 *mˁa-t : 亡 *ma-ŋ A : B
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幾 *kəj-ʔ : 豈 *C.qʰˤəjʔ B : A 若 *na-k : 諾 *nˁa-k B : A 山 *s-ŋra[r] : 訕 *s-ŋˁra[r] B : A 食 *mə-lək : 祿 *Cə.rˁok B : A 游 *N-ru : 蹈 *lˁu-s B : A 俑 *loŋ : 侗 *lˁoŋ B : A 随 *sə-loj : 惰 *lˁoj-ʔ B : A 賁 *bur : 奔 *pˁ ur B : A
→ no directionality to be established e. hardening of laterals 獨 *dˁok : 櫝 *lˁok (→ but just one example)
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6. Authorship attribution techniques in Computational / Corpus Linguistics
6.1 most methods presuppose (Holmes 1994, Stammatos, Fakotakis & Kokkinakis 2001, Malyutov 2005):
a) a limited number of candidate authors b) high text length c) stylistic text sampling, supervised learning
(not applicable to our problem, except – maybe? – c)
Princeton, 4-5.XI.2011
6.2 most methods are based upon:
d) lexical measures: vocabulary richness, occurrence frequencies of function/context free words, histograms of word-length distributions e) character features (measures blind to wordhood); popular “Conditional Comple- xity” of compression (CCC, largely based on repetition of characters), n-grams f) syntactic annotation: frequency of use of syntactic rewrite rules; of immediate constituent sequence; of syntactic errors g) semantic annotation: synonym/hyperonym density; functional features (syntax- semantic interface) h) Monte-Carlo feature finding procedures (more effective than raw letter or word frequencies) of low-level measures (=d/e, sentence length, punctuation mark count etc.) and of syntax-based counts (=f/g, NP count, VP count etc.) i) these can be further refined/trained using neural networks, trained not on small corpora of known authors, but large numbers of unknown authors (Graham, Hirst & Marthi 2005).
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X.3 most promising/feasible approach:
Koppel, Akiva, Dershowitz & Dershowitz 2011, “Unsupervised decomposition of a document into authorial components” (Proc. 49th. Ann, Meeting Ass. Comp. Lx., Portland, 1356-1364)
• method: exploitation of differences in synonym choice by different authors, look for optimal clustering of a composite document • basic insight from biblical scholars: different authorial components of a text are like- ly to differ in the proportions with which alternative words from a set of synonyms are used (first practiced in 1753, using divine names)
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• procedure: a. represent each text unit (章，篇，卷 etc.) as a bag-of-words (using all words that appear more than one time in the corpus, words: lexical roots) b. compute the similarity of every pair of units c. use a clustering algorithm to cluster the chapters into n clusters d. identify synsets (for instance via translation, or, preferrably: manually!) e. eliminate synsets which do not appear in the n clusters f. apply ncut clustering measuring the similarity of synsets across clusters g. use iterative method too find cluster cores h. represent units in cluster cores in terms of generic words i. apply supervised learning, based on the definition of a core of the cluster and proximity to it j. classify all units according to the learned SVM classifier
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→ could work on the Lúnyŭ, because
• synonym classifications are readily available (cf. Wàn Ruǐ 萬蕊 , «Lúnyŭ» tóngyìcí kǎobiàn 《論語》同意詞考辨, M.A. thesis, Liáoníng Shīfàn Dàxué 2006) • text length is comparable to problems in biblical study • databases of characters exist • databases of underlying words/lexical roots could be established with some effort
→ worth a try by a mathematically less challenged person than yours truly!
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