A comparative study on personal pronouns evolution in the Hejian prefecture during the Qing Dynasty through Leon Wieger’s Popular Narrations

Jīn gǔ qíguān 今古奇观 (New and Old Tales of the Marvelous), a collection of novels from the Ming Dynasty, served as a critical educational resource for foreigners learning Chinese during the Ming and Qing eras. In the late Qing Dynasty, French missionary Léon Wieger selected and adapted nine short stories from New and Old Tales of the Marvelous, incorporating them into his educational compilation Mínjiān gùshì 民间故事 (Popular Narrations). This adaptation transformed these tales into a unique form that reflected the dialectical characteristics of Xian County. Particularly, the expressions of personal pronouns experienced significant changes in these eras and regions. This study aims to contrast the personal pronouns in Wieger’s Qing Dynasty adaptation with those in the original Ming Dynasty version. This comparison extends to the contrasting usage in Běijīng guān huà 北京官话 (Peking Mandarin) from the end of the Qing Dynasty and investigates the transformed personal pronoun system of Xian County after the adaptation. It delves into the regional traits of pronouns within the Xian County area at the end of the Qing Dynasty in the context of linguistic contact. The findings from this research contribute valuable historical evidence to the study of the pronoun system’s historical evolution in the Xian County region.

明代小说集《今古奇观》是明清时期外国人学习汉语直接使用的教材之一。清末法国人戴遂良在直隶河间府献县编写教材《民间故事》中，改编了其中的9个小说，成为具有献县地区口语特征的阅读文本《民间故事．今古奇观》。人称代词的表达变化很大。因此，本文将《今古奇观》改编本中的人称代词与明代小说中的人称代词进行比较，并结合比较清末《北京官话．今古奇观》中的人称代词用法，考察改编后北方河间府献县人称代词系统，进而探讨语言接触背景下的清末直隶献县地区代词地域特点。本研究可为研究献县地区代词系统历史演变提供历史证据。