Abstract
Onomatology of things develops into a modern discipline through scholars such as Aoki Masaru and Yang Zhi Shui in the past decades. This new discipline is distinct from traditional onomatology in that it is guided by positivism and distances itself from the exegetical tradition of Confucian classics study, and its scope of study has expanded to cover such areas as everyday cuisine, clothing, and handicraft that had traditionally been considered as "trivial enquiries." Its methodological connection with the tradition lies in its philological and textual approaches with an emphasis on the study of "things." The discrepancy between traditional methodologies and modern focuses calls for a new approach to modern onomatological study of things, Aoki Masaru used novels and encyclopedia as raw material and Yang Zhi Shui probes into the relationship between onomatology and literary research, both of which reflect the call, while their focus on names points to the essential pursuit of onomatology. Furthermore, from the perspective of disciplinary autonomy, focusing on names while studying things helps establish the boundary of modern onomatology of things.
First Page
90
Last Page
98
Recommended Citation
Yan, Hong. 2020. "Regarding the Naming of Things: Another Approach to Onomatology." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 40, (1): pp.90-98. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol40/iss1/13
