An inquiry into the relationship between the languages and the arts of Asia

160 Pages·08.414 MB·English

by  Davisson, H. T

AN INQUIRY INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
THE IANOUAGES AND THE ARTS OF ASIA
A T hesis
P resented to
th e F acu lty of th e graduate School
The U n iv ersity of Southern C alifo rn ia
In P a rtia l F u lfillm en t
of th e Requirem ent fo r th e Degree
fe s te r of A rts
By
Helen Taylor D avisson
August 1942
UMI Number: EP54744
All rights reserved
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This thesis, written by
HELEN TAYLOR DAVISSON
Ir
under the direction of h&n. Faculty Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been
#
presented to and accepted by the Council on
Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfill­
ment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Secretary
Dafe~J-ANBA-rc£y-l-94'&
Faculty Committee
Cnairman
D.V-4to t.....
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PACE
I . THE PROBLEM . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Statem ent of th e p r o b le m ......................... 1
Im portance o f th e study . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O rganization of th e rem ainder o f th e th e s is . 3
I I . REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . . 5
L ite ra tu re on th e problem . . . . . . . . . . 5
L ite ra tu re on language . . ......................................... 5
L ite ra tu re on a rt 9
Review of p rev io u sly re la te d stu d ie s . . . . 14
I I I . DISCUSSION OF LANGUAGE ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . 17
D iscussion of F in c h 's a n aly sis of language . 17
Term inology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
A pplication to O rien tal languages . . . . . . 25
IT. APPLICATION OF ANALYSIS TO THE ART FIELD
IN GENERAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
P a ra lle l a p p lic a tio n s to languages and a r t. . 29
Courses of thought . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
C ontinuity o f th o u g h t................................... 34
Content of thought ......................... 36
iii
CHAPTER PAGE
Y. DISCUSSIONS OP APPLICATIONS TO THE
PHILOLOGY AND ART SPECIFICALLY . . . . . . . . . 40
China * 40
T ibet §4
Samoan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
A rabic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
In d ia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
TO. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................. 121
APPENDIX.................................................... 126
iv
TABLE OW FIGURES
FIGURE FAGS
1. W aterfall: Wang Wei (?) . „ ...................................* 46
2. Bronze B oddhisattva (W hite T ara) 60
3* Sacred H eart Symbol « • ............................................ 75
4* M ihrab of th e Mausoleum of B ibars
(1277) Damascus 86
5# Buddha of S arnath 98
6* The Wave: K orin (1660-1716) , » • • • • • • • 112
V
iPMRDXJC
CHART PAGE
I . The Three A spects o f Thought♦. . .................. . . . . . . . . . . 126
I I . Fundam ental Speech Types Based on
Inner Speech Form .*. *............... 12?
I l l . Types o f Temperament ................. 128
IT . C hinese L anguage.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
V. Chinese Language and A r t .........................................130
¥1. T ibetan L anguage.. . . . .............*....................*...............................132
Y II. 'Sketch of B uddhistic H ierarchy S im p lified # . . . . . . * 133
VTII. Tih etan Language and A rt *......................... 134
IX. P olynesian (Samoan} L anguage................ 137
X. P olynesian (Samoan) Language and (M aori) A r t ..... 138
X I. A rabic L anguage.. . . . . . . . . . . ............... 141
X II. A rabic Language and Ar t . . . . . . . . . . 4 * . 1 4 3
X III. Indian (S a n sk rit) Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ------- i . . 145
XHT. In d ian Language and A r t 147
vi
APPEMBIX (C ontinued)
CHART PAGE
XT. Japanese L an g u ag e.................... * 149
XVT. Japanese Language and A rt1. .............................. 151
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
Statem ent off th e problem * The purpose off th is
- th e s is was to show th a t th e re e x ists a re la tio n sh ip be­
tween language and a r t, and th a t th is re la tio n sh ip is based
on sim ila r im pulses. In other words, th e fo rce which
governs th e language and th o u g h t-p attern off a group a lso
govern th e a rt expression off th a t group. This is demon­
s tra te d w ith a c tu a l exam ples, and should th e evidences
prove co n clu siv ely th a t th e tem peram ent off a race^ operates
as w ell in a rt as in language, i t w ill then be p o ssib le to
c la s s ify a rt as language has been c la s s ifie d .
£
A ccording to Hotes on Com parative O rien tal P hilology ,
th e th o u g h t-p attern s off a people re s u lt from th e inherent
tem peram ent. To b rin g th is idea in to fu rth e r d iscu ssio n ,
th is tem peram ent op erates in such a way as to d istin g u ish
"R acial .group” and "Race" are term s not to be con­
fused w ith th e an th ro p o lo g ical m eaning of "b io lo g ic a l phen­
omenon." The author understands th ese term s (in accordance
w ith von E oerber) to mean th e In te llig e n c e embodied in and
rep resen ted by a l l th o se in d iv id u als of a ra c ia l group, or
people, who b a sic a lly and g e n erally liv e , th in k and create
in accordance w ith a c le a rly c ry s ta lliz e d p a tte rn off
thought which is underlying th e various c u ltu res and
c iv iliz a tIo n s •
2
H. H. von K oerber, N otes on Com parative O rien tal
P hilology (LoseA ngeles; The U n iv ersity of Southern C a li-
ffornia, n . d .), pp. 1-5•
z
th e c h a ra c te ristic s p e c u lia r to th a t group from th o se of
o th er groups* These c h a ra c te ris tic s can never be confused
w ith th o se of another because of th is in h eren t fo rce which
causes members o f th a t group to behave and express them­
selv es as they do* These fa c ts account fo r th e c u ltu re ,
language, and thought of a ra c ia l group being d is tin c t from
another*s even when borrowed*
Im portance of th e stu d y * In ju s tific a tio n of th e
proposed th e s is , i t seemed to th e author th a t th is approach
to th e a rts , I* e*, by way of understanding th e ra c ia l tem­
peram ents, was a v alu ab le p o s s ib ility of a more com plete
and accu rate ap p reciatio n of th e a rts and c u ltu re of th e
O rien t. In studying th e a r ts , i t was seen th a t th e v ar­
ious c iv iliz a tio n s e x h ib it tr a its p e c u lia r to them, t r a i ts
which in most cases p e rs is t to th e p resen t day* By th ese
t r a i ts I t Is p o ssib le to id e n tify th e a rt expression w ith
th e c iv iliz a tio n to which i t belongs. The question aro se,
ju st what was th is d iffe re n tia tin g fa c to r? The answer was
tem peram ent* On th e b a sis o f th is answer th e author f e lt
ju s tifie d In tak in g up th e in v estig atio n *
Temperament is som ething every man u n d erstan d s: he
sees I t in o p eratio n every day; he fe e ls i t w ithin him self*
T his being th e case, he may be able to make a more p erso n al,
and p o ssib ly a more a cc u ra te, estim ate of an a rt belonging