The available language research on inspection books in the history of the Chinese language focused on the aspect of vocabularies and did not probe into discourses. From the vocabularies to the discourses, this study intends to fill the gap in the lite...
The available language research on inspection books in the history of the Chinese language focused on the aspect of vocabularies and did not probe into discourses. From the vocabularies to the discourses, this study intends to fill the gap in the literature. The researcher analyzes the discourses of autopsy for Xiyuan Jilu, a representative work of the inspection book from the three aspects of sentence pattern, iconicity and foregrounding to establish the model.
First, the common sentence patterns in discourses of autopsy are topic sentences and declarative sentences. Topic sentences describe the phenomenon of a corpse or explain the difference between different causes of death, whereas declarative sentences emphasize attitudes and comments on causes and effects. Behavior sentences are less common and are used to tell a story. Second, the autopsy attaches importance to the order, and the discourses have two methods to show the iconicity of the order: autopsy inspection of the corpse is presented in the order of “hypotaxis,” while the inspection steps are handled as hypotaxis or parataxis. Third, discourses of autopsy use the parallel structure of vocabulary variation and juxtaposition to create the colloquialism of discourses of autopsy and the foregrounding effect of strengthened specialization.
Xiyuan Jilu provide a writing paradigm for later inspection books. After the analysis, this study helps clearly grasp the organizational structure of discourses of autopsy and shows another aspect of inspection books, which is beneficial for understanding the characteristics of the inspection language.