1 Introduction
In this chapter, I will discuss the different linguistic functions of xìn
According to Xu Shenâs
Schuessler5 gives a qùshÄng
In order to trace the linguistic origins of the different meanings xìn could assume within its history, I will lay particular focus in the ensuing discussion on the kinds of arguments, e.g., [+/â HUMAN], xìn selects. The features of xìnâs arguments are of particular interest when it comes to the range of beliefs xìn can express from Archaic Chinese up to Modern times. In the context of this volume, both everyday usages and usages in religious contexts are of interest. Accordingly, I have included a wide range of texts in the data research, including texts from early Buddhist literature. In Buddhist Chinese, xìn is employed to express Buddhist faith, andâin different coordinative structuresâterms such as âconfidence,â but also âstrength of faith.â The only texts chosen to represent the Early Archaic period are the Shijing
2 The Different Grammatical Functions of xìn 信 from Early Archaic to Early Middle Chinese
The nominal and verbal functions (transitive or intransitive) of xìn expressing belief are already attested in Early Archaic literature. The function as a stative verb in the meaning âtrustworthy, reliable,â which became the predominant meaning in Confucian ethics, is also attested with a small number of examples in the Shijing. In the early literature, xìn is not attested as an adverb; the earliest instances date from the Zuozhuan
2.1 Verbal xìn 信 from Early Archaic to Early Middle Chinese
The earliest instances of verbal xìn in the transmitted literature are attested in the Shijing, where it appears as an unaccusative intransitive and as a transitive mental attitude verb;9 these two functions are contrasted in Example (2).
âFew indeed are we brothers, there are only we two; do not believe peopleâs talk, people are truly not to be believed.â (translation TLS)
An unaccusative verb is characterized by a theme subject, i.e., the internal argument (direct object) appears in the subject position: âX is believed >> can be believed, is reliable, trustworthy.â A transitive mental attitude verb is generally characterized by a non-theme subject and a theme object: X believes Y. Mental attitude verbs are to a great extent similar to psych verbs, such as âfear.â The semantic role of the subject of these verbs is frequently classified as âexperiencer.â10 Cheung and Larson11 have proposed the term âcognitive agent,â âsomeone holding a certain stance or an attitude toward a proposition,â for psych and mental attitude verbs including the Modern Mandarin equivalent of xìn, xiÄngxìn
Another feature of these verbs is that they are intensional, meaning that the proposition is true even if the object is non-denoting. This would imply that the sentence âI believe in vampiresâ is true, although vampires do not exist in the real world. Additionally, these verbs do not allow passivization.15 They provide the following example for xiÄngxìn, in which passivization is infelicitous:
The mental attitude verb xìn in Archaic and Early Middle Chinese seems to belong to the same category as the modern Chinese xiÄngxìn, despite some obvious differences. The most conspicuous difference is that xìn, unlike xiÄngxìn, allows passivization. The features xìn shares with the verbs discussed as Experiencer Subject Psych verbs in Cheung and Larson are that it also seems to be intensional, and that the underlying structure of the complement of xìn may very well be clausal: âbelieve that NP predicate.â However, overt clausal complements first seem to occur to the end of the Late Archaic period.
In the following section, I will discuss some instances of xìn with particular regard to its argument structure. In Example (2), repeated as (5) from the Shijing, the internal argument of xìn appears in the object position in the first clause; in the second clause, it appears in the subject position in an intransitive unaccusative construction. Both subjects are [+HUMAN]; in the first instance the object is [âHUMAN], but related to humaneness. A [+HUMAN] experiencer or cognitive agent is the default case for mental attitude verbs. The unaccusative verb phrase is negated by bù
In the examples in (10), the complement of xìn is [âHUMAN]. Since zuì âguiltâ usually appears as the complement of the existential verbs yÇu
In the examples in (12), xìn is passivized; this distinguishes it from its Modern Chinese successor xiÄngxìn. In (12a) it appears in the jià n
In Ex. (14) xìn appears in connection with DAO and with zhÅng
At the end of the Late Archaic period and in Early Middle Chinese the range of complements of verbal xìn seems to increase from [+HUMAN], or from the utterances of a [+HUMAN], to more abstract and general theme subjects or objects, which can be believed in an informal and a formal manner. It can also select clausal complements, and we can certainly claim that clausal complements underlie the nominal complements of xìn on a regular basis. Example (9), partly repeated here as (17), may serve as an example: The underlying structure of âIf Qin believes my words isâ << âif Qin believes the words [I am saying are true].â
The verb xìn
2.2 Nominal xìn 信 from Early Archaic to Early Middle Chinese
Similar to the verbal usage, nominal xìn is already attested in EAC. It occurs relatively frequently as a complement of the existential verbs yÇu
The following examples provide more instances of xìn as the complement of yÇu
Xìn is also attested as the object of other verbs. In the two following instances it appears in its transitive nominal function as object of qÇ
In Liji, a text probably dating from the Early Middle Chinese period, a considerable number of nominal instances of xìn is attested, frequently in contexts determining proper behavior and the relevance of reliability in human relations. In these contexts, it is predominantly listed in combination with other nouns referring to related concepts of proper social behavior. In Example (28), all instances of xìn, including those following the function word yÇ
In Example (32), xìn appears as the complement of a prepositional phrase with the preposition yú
In the following instance xìn is attested as a nominal predicate marked by yÄ.
2.3 Xìn 信 as a Modifier from Late Archaic Chinese to Early Middle Chinese
Xìn can also function as a verbal or sentential modifier, i.e., an adverb, and as a nominal modifier, i.e., an attributive adjective. In the EAC literature this kind of employment of xìn is not attested, it is evidently a LAC development; first instances occur in the Zuozhuan. Wei24 argues that xìn belongs to the adverbs expressing realis (biÇo shÃ
In Example (38), xìn occurs as the modifier of a noun phrase, i.e., as an attributive adjective.
3 Xìn 信 in Early Middle Chinese Non-secular Texts (Mostly Buddhist Texts)26
According to the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/), xìnâs basic meaning is âfaith.â It appears in the sense of âconviction; trust; to believe inâ and is âone of the ten wholesome mental factors
Within the system of practice of MahÄyÄna works that take a âbuddha- natureâ
ä½æ§ or tathÄgatagarbhaå¦ä¾è approach to the explication of the process of salvation ⦠faith tends to become the most critical factor in the attainment of deep religious insight, or liberation, as a conviction that the basic composition of oneâs own mind is not different from the Buddha is the mainspring of practice. The importance of the realization of a deep, radical form of faith is the main focus of the Awakening of MahÄyÄna Faith大ä¹èµ·ä¿¡è« , which became one of the most influential texts in all of East Asian Buddhism.28
Example (25) demonstrates that the combination qÇ xìn
3.1 Verbal xìn 信 in Early Buddhist Chinese
I will provide only a few instances of xìn
In Example (41) from the Lotus Sutra (406 CE), xìn appears as an unaccusative intransitive verb in the complement of nán
In most instances, though, the verb appears in the transitive (intransitive) variant with a cognitive agent as its subject. In examples (42) and (43), the complements are nominalized relative clauses, the subjects of which are [+HUMAN]. In Example (43), the object of belief is [âHUMAN], i.e., an abstract clausal complement, which can probably also be qualified as [+SPIRITUAL].
In early Buddhist literature, xìn increasingly occurs in coordination or combination with other verbs of similar or cognitively related semantic contents. Some of these coordinations are already attested to a certain extent in the LAC literature, but most are innovations. They can appear as single words, but they can also still occur separately. In Example (44), xìn is coordinated with xià ng
Xìn occurs relatively frequently in combination with jiÄ
In Example (50), xìn appears in a passive construction in combination with the verb yòng. As already mentioned, according to Cheung and Larson,29 the Modern Mandarin equivalent xiÄngxìn is not permitted in passive constructions.
3.2 Nominal xìn 信 in Early Buddhist Chinese
Similar to LAC, xìn can also appear as a noun; it is frequently attested as a noun following the existential verb yÇu
In Example (54), xìn occurs as an adjective modifying the noun xīn
3.3 Xìn ä¿¡ in an Early Middle Chinese Daoist Text, the Xiangâer Commentary31
In comparison to the vast variety of occurrences of xìn in the early Buddhist literature, the Xiangâer
4 Conclusion
Linguistically speaking, xìn
a) As an unaccusative intransitive verb; unaccusative verbs are characterized by theme subjects: âbelievable >> reliable, trustworthyâ (âX is believed >> can be believed, is reliable, trustworthyâ)
b) As a transitive or intransitive mental attitude verb; mental attitude verbs characteristically have a cognitive agent (experiencer) subject; the transitive variant has a theme, or an underlying or overt clausal complement (âX believes [that] (Y)â) (to a certain extent comparable to psych verbs such as âfearâ).
c) As a noun: the nominal functions can be derived from both verbal functions.
In Late Archaic Chinese with first instances in the Zuozhuan, a function as a speaker-oriented adverb developed based on the unaccusative, adjectival use of xìn.
In Early Archaic and Late Archaic Chinese, the internal argument of xìn (subject of the unaccusative and object of the transitive variant of xìn) is predominantly [+HUMAN]; a few instances of [âHUMAN]/[+SUPERNATURAL / SPIRITUAL] complements such as tiÄn
In the Early Middle Chinese period, and particularly in the Buddhist literature in Early Middle Chinese, the frequency of [âHUMAN]/[+SUPERNATURAL / SPIRITUAL] complements increases considerably; in addition, the number of overt clausal complements also increases. However, this tendency is not confined to the Buddhist literature; an extension of usage to [âHUMAN], more abstract and conceptual complements can also be observed in the non-Buddhist EMC literature in informal and formal contexts. In these instances, xìn is predominantly employed with the basic verbal meaning âbelieve.â The basic nominal meaning is âfaith,â the derivation from the transitive variant of xìn âbelieve.â
The regular employment of xìn with a [âHUMAN] complementâthough usually connected to human conceptsâis an evident innovation in Early Middle Chinese. In the Buddhist literature, this frequently extends to complements, which have the feature [+SPIRITUAL]. This may imply that the usage of xìn extends from a more colloquial reference to trust and belief in human behaviors in different social (mostly Confucian) contexts to a reference to beliefs in abstract spiritual concepts, while the informal sense of believing still prevails. This development is supported by the fact that xìn belongs to what Cheung and Larson34 label Experiencer Subject Psych verbs, which are characterized by an intensional reading, meaning that the proposition is true even if the verbâs complement does not have a reference in the real world, i.e., it is non-denoting. The employment in contexts with spiritual content may then lead to its integration into the Buddhist religious terminology35 âfaith, belief.â The fact that xìn did not appear as a singular conceptual term36 predefined in the philosophical Confucian tradition, butâas a singular termârather occurs in a colloquial way in all its basic meanings, may have facilitated its usage as referring to all kinds of beliefs, including belief in spiritual concepts. Even in Archaic Chinese, it already occasionally appears with tiÄn âheavenâ as its complement. It is evidently the transitive meaning âbelieveâ and its derived nominal meaning âfaithâ that serve as basis for xìnâs usage in the Buddhist literature referring to Buddhist faith, rather than the unaccusative reading âtrustworthyâ and its derived nominal reading âtrustworthiness.â It is only the latter reading in which xìn appears in component terms in LAC, according to Gentz. This certainly needs more investigation, but as a first result, it can be proposed that the development of xìnâs usage in Buddhist contexts is related to the colloquial single term employment of xìn in LAC and not to its appearance in component terms. The fact that the verb xìn âbelieveâ as an Experiencer Subject Psych verb allows an intensional reading may also have supported its usage in religious contexts.
Another innovation, which I will briefly mention here, is xìnâs frequent occurrence in coordination with other verbs, usually psych verbs. This may be part of the general process of disyllabification observed in Early Middle Chinese, where the number of compounds in the language increases considerably due to different linguistic and sociological factors.
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For another reading of this passage, see Max Deegâs chapter in the present volume.
Bottéro 1996, 22.
Harbsmeier 2008.
However, this does not imply that the label ideogram (or ideograph) applies to Chinese characters in general. Boltz (1999) argues strongly against a classification of the Chinese writing system as ideographic, a classification based on the early conception of the Chinese writing system by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: â[A]n ideograph ought to mean a graph that writes an idea. But such a graph, whatever it may be, cannot be a kind of writing, Chinese or otherwise â¦â (Boltz 1999, 112). Bottéro and Harbsmeier support Boltzâs analysis in noting: âThe fact that the Chinese writing system was very far from being a conceptually based writing system in Leibnizâs sense comes out very clearly in Shuowen.â Bottéro and Harbsmeier 2008, 262.
Schuessler 2007, 539.
This was first proposed by Haudricourt (1954) on the basis of Chinese loanwords in Vietnamese.
Jin Lixin 2006.
Xìn is also attested as a loan writing for a different word, shÄn
This term is an adaption of the term âEmotional Attitude Verbâ proposed in Cheung and Larson (2015: 184) for verbs such as âthink,â âbelieve,â and âfear.â
Cheung and Larson (2015, 181f) distinguish between Experiencer Subject Psych verbs, such as âfear,â and Experiencer Object Psych verbs, such as âfrighten.â Xìn evidently belongs to the former class of Subject Experiencer Psych verbs.
Cheung and Larson 2015, 184,
Ibid.
Cheung and Larson 2015, 148.
Cf. Cheung and Larson 2015, 133.
Cheung and Larson 2015, 138.
I have changed the original citation because the names were confused in the translation.
Zhang Yujin 2002, 42f.
Djamouri 1991; Zhang Yujin 2002.
Traditional translations have been added when they reflect the meaning indicated by the glosses. All unmarked translations are mine.
Meisterernst 2015. There is one instance of jì xìn
YÇu xìn yields 43 hits in the Shanggu corpus of the AS database including those with attributive xìn; wú xìn yields 55 hits, most of them can be analyzed as VO. The total number of instances is slightly higher, because one hit may include more than one attested instance.
Translation by Legge 1879, 105.
This combination is further listed around 100 times in the corpus of Archaic Chinese in the AS corpus, always in direct coordination, never in coordination marked by yÇ
Wei 1999, 261.
Meisterernst 2016, 110f.
For a more content-oriented interpretation of xìn in early Buddhist scriptures, see Tamâs chapter in this volume.
For more on both these lists, see Tamâs chapter in this volume.
Charles Muller, ed., Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/, http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/search-ddb4.pl?Terms=%E4%BF%â(accessed 2 April 2018).
Cheung and Larson 2015, 159.
For a discussion of this usage, see Assandriâs chapter in this volume.
For a comprehensive discussion of xìn in Early Medieval Daoist literature, see Assandriâs chapter in this volume.
See Assandriâs chapter in this volume.
Translated by Bokenkamp 1997, 113.
Cheung and Larson 2015, 139.
See Assandriâs chapter in this volume.
See Gentzâs chapter in this volume.