Found on sci.lang, about 17th-century Chinese

[Jacques Guy <jguy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Alas, tantalizing only, it does not tell much, but here it is
nevertheless (and too damn expensive, too):


Perhaps some folks may be interested in this work. It appeared on the kenyon
Chinese list today.
Cheers,
Dyl.


Subject: Book: 17th century grammar of Mandarin


:Francisco Varo's Grammar of the Mandarin Language (1703).
:An English translation of 'Arte de la lengua Mandarina'
:With an Introduction by Sandra Breitenbach.
:W. South COBLIN and Joseph A. LEVI (University of Iowa)
:Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 93
:US & Canada:   1 55619 606 7 / USD 95.00  (Hardcover)
:Rest of world: 90 272 4581 9 / NLG 190.00 (Hardcover)
:
:
:Francisco Varo's Arte de la Lengua Mandarina, completed ca. 1680, is
:the earliest published grammar of any spoken form of Chinese and the
:fullest known description of the standard language of the seventeenth
:century.  It establishes beyond doubt that this 'Language of the
:Mandarins' was not Pekingese or Peking-based but had instead a
:Jiang-Huai or Nankingese-like phonology. It also provides important
:information about the nature and formation of pre-modern standard
:forms of Chinese and will lead to revisions of currently held views on
:Chinese koines and their relationship with regional speech forms and
:the received vernacular literature.  Finally, it provides a wealth ot
:information on stylistic speech levels, honorific usage, and social
:customs of the elite during the early Qing period.
:
:The book provides a full translation of the 1703 text of the Arte, an
:extensive introduction to the life and work of Varo, an index of
:Chinese characters inserted into the translation, and an index of
:linguistic terms and concepts. It should be of interest to a diverse
:readership of Chinese historical, comparative, and descriptive
:linguists, students of Qing history and literature, historiographers
:of linguistics, and specialists in early Western religious and
:cultural contact with China.
:
:
:
:                       John Benjamins Publishing Co.
:Offices:        Philadelphia                    Amsterdam:
:Websites:       http://www.benjamins.com        http://www.benjamins.nl
:E-mail:         service@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
:customer.services@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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: