A Diagram of the Great Supreme (太極圖, 태극도) in Yi Hwang’s (李滉, 이황, 1501-1570) Ten Diagrams for Attaining Sagehood (聖學十圖, 성학십도).
Parts of Speech
The parts of speech, or Pumsa (品詞, 품사), can be largely divided into two categories: (1) substantive words, or Shilsa (實詞, 실사); and (2) functional or “empty” words, or Heosa (虛詞, 허사). Substantive words are words that relay some sort of concept or volition. Hence, they are alternatively called “concept words” or Gae’nyeomeo (槪念語, 개념어):
- Nouns (名詞, 명사)
- Pronouns and demonstratives (代名詞, 대명사)
- Verbs (動詞, 동사)
- Adjectives (形容詞, 형용사)
- Adverbs (副詞, 부사)
- Interjections (感歎詞, 감탄사)
In contrast, functional words do not relay concept or volition and play only a grammatical role — a very important grammatical role.
- Conjunctions (接續詞, 접속사)
- Prepositions (前置詞, 전치사)
- Postpositions (後置詞, 후치사)
- Terminations (終結詞, 종결사 or 語尾, 어미)
The primary difficulty in distinguishing among these parts of speech is that Classical Chinese is said to be an isolating language (孤立語, 고립어). That is, words are composed of a single character and do not morph based on which part of speech it is. Unlike English, there are no declensions for nouns and conjugations for verbs in Classical Chinese. For instance, the character 東(동) without any morphing could be a noun, meaning “the east,” or a verb, meaning “to go east”: 聲東擊西(성동격서) means “to make noise in the east and strike the west”; and 東奔西走(동분서주) means “to run east and run west.”
Nota Bene: Some sources have different classifications on which parts of speech are substantive and which are functional. This is apparently a reflection of the fact that the concept of parts of speech in the study of Classical Chinese grammar is a relatively recent development. These distinctions between categories should not be of interest to the hobbyist.
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