PART III. ON SYNTAX. (continued 2)

Obs. iv. In 讀起來看 read, and tók ’k’í lé k’ön‘, read it and try, the accent is on the first and last words of both these sentences, the middle words being enclitic.

426. The three-word foot may be called, if it consists of two unaccented, and one accented syllable, an anapaest; e.g. 壁立直 pih lih dzuh, exactly straight; 敲敲鼓 k’au k’au ’kú, to beat a drum; 梁惠王 liáng wé‘ wong, a king in Mencius. If the accent is on the first word of three, the foot might be called a dactyl; e.g. 做末者 tsú‘ meh ’tsé, do it. Instances of such dactyls are rare and are chiefly confined to sentences containing enclitics, which reject the accent. In some cases, the accent is on the middle word as in 放颻子 fong‘ yau‘ ’tsz, to fly a kite; 子 ’tsz as an enclitic throws back the accent on the preceding word.

427. The number two occurs in innumerable combination, which may be called iambs; i.e. 上山 ’zong san, ascend a hill.

428. Common recognized groups numbering more than four coordinate words are not very numerous. They may be readily resolved into smaller feet of two, three, or four words, by attending to the cæsura, which will be always found in them; e.g. 喜怒哀懼愛惡欲 ’h’í nú‘ é gü‘ é‘ ú‘ yóh, joy, anger, grief, fear, love, hatred, desire. That mark of division occurs after the fourth word for groups of seven, and after the second for groups of five; others may be divided into groups of two or three words each.

Obs. i. The cæsura of seven word and five word versification in good poetry, and in street ballads, is generally after the fourth and second words, but variations occur according to the taste of the writer, and the exigencies of composition.

Obs. ii. By marking the cæsura, groups of four words may be divided into smaller divisions of two, and those of three words into parts of one and two words. Thus the secondary accent heard in the first part of the group, and referred to in the sections on tones may be accounted for, as properly belonging to the smaller groups, or single word, to which it is affixed.

Obs. iii. The accent here spoken of is, that which is understood by the word in English and French, viz. that emphasis which is predominantly on the penultimate or antepenultimate in the former, and on the last syllable in the latter language. It is one simply of position, and is so far independent of tones on the one hand, and of the quantity of vowels as long or short, on the other. English versification is entirely regulated by the accent of position, and not by the consideration of vowels and syllables being long and short. Thus in the line “our voices keep tune, and our oars keep time,” the quantity of “keep,” and “our” is long, yet they stand as short syllables. Chinese poetry is like that of England in possessing rhymes, and instead of a rhythmus of long and short vowel quantities, such as formed the framework of Greek and Latin versification, it has one of even and uneven tones.

Obs. iv. In some groups of four, the accent is on the first and fourth words; e.g. 鄕下百姓 h’iáng ’au pák sing‘, country people. But it is most frequently on the 2nd and 4th, e.g. 富貴貧賤 fú‘ kwé‘ bing dzíen‘, rich and poor; 去邪歸正 k’í‘ ziá kwé tsung‘, to abandon vice and reform. When it passes to the first or third, it is because the word on which it should be is an enclitic or has a weak tone. Cf. Part 1. section 3. for remarks on the accent of three-word groups.

429. From this analysis it may be concluded, that much of Chinese prose falls spontaneously into groups of two, three and four words, with an accent of position to mark them; enclitics do not usually take the accent and are very often not to be counted as independent members of the groups to which they are attached.

Obs. i. It has been already shown that the tones of a dialect are affected by the rhythmus. This happens for example, in the Amoy dialect particularly in the penultimate, where the second and seventh tones change into the high quick rising, and high quick falling respectively. In Chinese prose compositions, it is usual to end sentences with a word in the first tone, and one of the three other tones alternately. In their versification, words that rhyme have their alphabetical sound, and their tones in harmony. For an account of the use of tones in poetry, see Remusat’s grammar.

Obs. ii. The tendency of words as thus illustrated, to agglutinate into groups numerically conditioned, is made the basis of all new sentences, and insensibly regulates the composition of the native speaker. He would be quite as likely to transgress the laws of intergovernment among the parts of speech, as to overlook the rhythmus of his words.