The old Chinese particles yan [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and an [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII].

• Author: Goldin, Paul R.

In a brilliant article published in this journal over sixty years ago, George A. Kennedy (1901-1960) laid out, for the first time in English, the sense and usage of the clause-final particle yan [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. (1) Briefly put, his conclusion was that the word represents a fusion of the preposition yu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and an unidentified pronoun an, with a variety of resulting meanings, such as "in it," "on it" "from him," etc. Kennedy called this pronoun an "hypothetical," implying that it was not otherwise attested in the ancient Chinese language (with the exception of another productive fusion, ran [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], made up of ru [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and the same an). This paper will show that the mysterious word is either an [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]--or yan itself.

In his search for the "hypothetical an" Kennedy erred at the outset of his study by electing to discriminate between clause-initial and clause-final yan. Had he considered the various functions of clause-initial yan, he might have observed that the clause-initial particle an can be used to the same effect and with virtually the same meaning, as in the chart below: (2)

Sense Examples in an Examples in yan "Who?" [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] IN ASCII] "To whom shall I entrust "On whom shall I confer the government?" (Guanzi the state of Lu?" [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE (Gongyang zhuan [TEXT NOT IN ASCII]) REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] "What?" [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]? IN ASCII]? With what is it accep- "What did Jie, Zhou, table to begin? (Guanzi) You, and Li pursue?" (Mozi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] "Where?" "Whit- [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE her?" "Whence?" IN ASCII])? IN ASCII]? (i.e., "In what "Where are they figh- "Sir, where are you place?" "To ting?" (Guliang zhuan going?" (Lushi chungui what place?" [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE "From what IN ASCII]) IN ASCII] place?" (3) "How?" (i.e., [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE "By what IN ASCII]? IN ASCII]? means?") "How would swallows and "How can you do it?" sparrows know the aspi- (Shiji) rations of a swan?" (Shiji [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] The last example in an is so elegant as to have become a proverb, and calls to mind the famous exchange between Zhuangzi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and Huizi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] on the bridge: "You are not a fish; how do you know that the fish are happy?" [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], asks Huizi. Zhuangzi then deliberately misunderstands Huizi's an as "where," not "how," and replies blithely that he knows it standing over the river. (4)

One would be hard-pressed to specify a consistent distinction between an and yan in the above examples. They appear to be simply two variants of the same word: an interrogative pronoun, generally serving as an object rather than a subject, with senses ranging from "what?" to "how?"

However, there are other contexts in which an and yan seem to stand for yu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], an and yu yan; in such constructions an and yan typically lose their interrogative force. Dictionaries generally define an and yan in this sense as "therefore," "thus," "for this reason," etc.:

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. (Xunzi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) Serenely they perfected their culture in order to display it to the world, and violent states, because of this, transformed themselves. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. (Mozi) One must know the origin of disorder; thereby one can rule [the world]. In these examples an and yan seem to function like the compound yushi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN...