Analyse use of chengyu and comparing synonyms in text

[Wippen (inactive)]

Anyone fancy joining in to analyse the use of  chenguys in a text. We would also compare synonyms of other words plus look at the choice of words.

 

I am thinking about picking the closing speech of Xi Jin Ping which has nearly as many characters as China's history years. It is about 5-6 pages long. It is also full of chenguys. The language has been carefully picked also (obviously)

[somethingfunny]

How will this work?  When are you going to do it?  How long will it take?

 

Yes, I am potentially interested.

[Wippen (inactive)]

2 minutes ago, somethingfunny said:

How will this work?  When are you going to do it?  How long will it take?

Once I establish if people are interested I will put forward my study suggestion (to be critiqued)

[Xiao Kui]

On 3/22/2018 at 3:46 PM, Tøsen said:

joining in to analyse the use of  chenguys

 

My analysis: The Chen guys are fun guys, let's not use or take advantage of them!

[Wippen (inactive)]

This is what I had in mind, but I don't think other people are interested in such minute details and analysis (my husband just rolled his eyes when he saw this). I am a lit graduate and it probably shows.

 

The first paragraphs sets the scene. There is an interplay between past and future and this will also be played upon in the rest of the speech.

The chengyu 一如既往 (=as in the past/as alwayy) uses the past 往 to  compare that to the present, meaning "as always". This chengyu also denotes consistency/stability= something that is always the same and stays constant, exactly like a stable situation in a country. Then this idiom 一如既往 is immediately predeeced by 将 which has a future meaning, again highlighting the interplay past/future that will be an important part of the full speech.

The rhetorical device of repeating (anaphora) is employed in the speech for example using the character 忠 three times, meaning loyal and of course has a sympbolic meaning here, containing "heart" and "China"

The use of 忠实 to describe responsibility only and subesequent consecutive use of 忠于 juxtaposes both motherland and people. The loyalty for both the latter is thus emphasised.

 

The literal meaning of 始终 in the next paragraph again emphasises "past and present" and stability over time. The fact that it is used three times in a row has a repetitive rhetorical effect, emphasising the importance of the people (who are also repeated three times)

始终 xx  始终 xx 始终 xx

 

Interestingly 心中 is used as in 始终要把人民放在心中, We just had 忠 used three times in the previous paragraph, which is a character made up of these two characters: Heart and China. Moreover we have the chengyu 全心全意 mentioned immediately after 心中 which again emphasises the emotional content matter. The choice of this 全心全意 chengyu is deliberate: The 全 used twice in the chengyu reinforces the repetitive rhetorical effect from before. The 全 of course has a completeness/all-consuming meaning that echoes the 竭尽全力 from the previous paragraph, meaning "do the utmost" and is a virtual synonym of 全心全意, also echoes meaning of "勤勉"。

 

 

 

 

[陳德聰]

That sounds more like a close reading than any sort of statistical analysis. Both of which are of interest to me.

 

But seeing as I only ever took one class on modern lit, I don’t know whether your note about the use of 心中 (which definitely is not heart and “China”) and the implication that it may have something of a connection to the use of 忠 follows from typical convention. My gut tells me no.

 

Also 竭盡全力 and 全心全意 are not virtual synonyms. The former is about effort, the latter is about mindset, and evoke very different senses.

 

I might be interested in looking at the use of 全 as hyperbole.

[Wippen (inactive)]

19 minutes ago, 陳德聰 said:

statistical analysis

 

I did not mention statistical analysis. I meant "analyse" a text (or a poem). My idea was to discuss as above and how to use certain chengyus.

19 minutes ago, 陳德聰 said:

But seeing as I only ever took one class on modern lit, I don’t know whether your note about the use of 心中 (which definitely is not heart and “China”) and the implication that it may have something of a connection to the use of 忠 follows from typical convention. My gut tells me no.

That is probably over-analysis on my part and your comment is indeed the kind of Input that is useful.

 

19 minutes ago, 陳德聰 said:

Also 竭盡全力 and 全心全意 are not virtual synonyms. The former is about effort, the latter is about mindset, and evoke very different senses.

Again useful Input. This subtlety is useful to know also. With these speeches, we know that every word has been carefully chosen. So I really appreciate you pointing this out. So it is about effort and mindset. That could well be also played upon in the rest of the text.

 

19 minutes ago, 陳德聰 said:

I might be interested in looking at the use of 全 as hyperbole.

I like it.

 

By the way you don't have to be a litetaure grad. I was a really bad one at that. Luckily I did a joint honours and was able to use and enjoy the other half of my degree a lot more. (I did not enjoy the "arty farty" stuff and I was never a fast reader)

 

Shall we continue to "analyse" the speech?