SINGLE- AND MULTI-PIECE MANUSCRIPTS IN EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA: ON THE BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE OF A TERMINOLOGICAL DISTINCTION

Early China ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 245-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thies Staack

AbstractReceived and excavated sources from early imperial China employ various terms for pieces of bamboo or wood that served as writing support. In many cases, neither the exact meanings nor diachronic differences in usage of these terms are sufficiently clear. What kinds of concrete objects the terms actually referred to in a certain period accordingly turns out to be quite an intricate question. This article focuses on the termsdu牘 anddie牒, which not only occur most frequently in the sources, but can also be considered as a complementary pair. Investigating differences in form and function that can be gathered from the way the terms are employed in both administrative documents and legal prescriptions of the Qin and Han period (including a newly published Qin ordinance) it argues thatduanddiewere connected to two conceptually different types of manuscripts, namely single- and multi-piece manuscripts. It shows that these two types also entailed differences in how the manuscripts were kept for storage and transport, which were likewise reflected by special terminology. Finally, it proposes that the increasing use of multi-piece manuscripts instead of single-piece ones, especially since the time of Emperor Wu of Han 漢武帝 (r. 141–87b.c.e.), probably had both pragmatic and economic reasons, which fit well into the setting of a gradually consolidating empire with an ever-growing volume of bureaucratic record keeping.

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (104) ◽  
pp. 148-165
Author(s):  
Frederik Tygstrup ◽  
Isak Winkel Holm

Literature and PoliticsLiterature is political by representing the world. The production of literature is a contribution to a general cultural poetics where images of reality are constructed and circulated. At the same time, the practice of literature is institutionalized in such a way that the form and function of the images of reality it produces are conceived and used in a distinctive way. In this article, we suggest distinguishing between a general cultural poetics and a specific literary poetics by using Ernst Cassirer’s neo-Kantian concept of »symbolic forms«. We argue that according to this view, the political significance of literary representational practices resides in the way they activate a common cultural repertoire of historical symbolic forms while at the same time deviating from the common ways of treating these forms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiera Lindsey

This article discusses a recent art project created by the Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi artist Jonathon Jones, which was commissioned to commemorate the opening of the revitalized Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney in early 2020. Jones’ work involves a dramatic installation of red and white crushed stones laid throughout the grounds of the barracks, merging the image of the emu footprint with that of the English broad convict arrow to ‘consider Australia’s layered history and contemporary cultural relations’. This work was accompanied by a ‘specially-curated programme’ of performances, workshops, storytelling and Artist Talks. Together, these elements were designed to unpack how certain ‘stories determine the ways we came together as a nation’. As one of the speakers of the Artist Talk’s programme, I had a unique opportunity to experiment with what colleagues and I have been calling ‘Creative histories’ in reference to the way some artists and historians are choosing to communicate their research about the past in ways that experiment with form and function and push disciplinary or generic boundaries. This article reflects upon how these two distinct creative history projects – one visual art, the other performative – renegotiate the complex and contested pasts of the Hyde Park Barracks. I suggest that both examples speak to the role of memory and creativity in shaping cultural responses to Australia’s colonial past, while Jones' programme illustrates how Indigenous artists and academics are making a profound intervention into contemporary understandings of how history is ‘done’ in Australia.


1975 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Welch

Recent works have compared political participation in a variety of democratic polities. One major finding of some of this research is that to classify individuals as highly active or inactive politically is to oversimplify the notion of participation. Political participation is multidimensional: active participants in one kind of political behaviour may be inactive in another. Preoccupation with one form of participation, such as voting, may obscure the extent and nature of participation taking place. This finding was summarized neatly in a recent work: “Citizens differ not only in the overall amounts of participation they perform but also as to the types of acts in which they choose to engage. Furthermore, these different types of acts are quite distinctive in form and function and can almost be thought of as alternative participatory systems: – systems that are used for different purposes, that are able to provide types of benefits, and that relate the participant to his government and to his fellow citizens in fundamentally different ways.” Surprisingly, perhaps, these types of participation have been found to be similar across several democratic polities. Four distinct activities have been located in the several nations: (1) voting; (2) active participation in political campaigns; (3) cooperative activity such as joining with others formally or informally to pursue political goals; and (4) contacting government officials about some public problem. There has been little analysis of the forms of participation of Canadians.


2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (01) ◽  
pp. 25-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
JILL A. E. HARRIMAN ◽  
BRAM F. NOBLE

Advancing cumulative effects assessments (CEA) to the regional scale, spatially and strategically, has been well argued but slow to evolve. Part of the problem is that "regional" CEA is a flexible concept, varying considerably in form and function from the project to the more strategic levels. This paper steps back from current discussions of assessment frameworks and methodologies to present a typology of regional approaches to CEA based on its multiple characteristics, functions, and expectations. Drawing upon current literature and interviews with international practitioners, we conceptualize regional CEA from two broad perspectives: EIA-driven approaches and SEA-driven approaches, illustrated with Canadian case examples. Each approach to CEA has its own merits that make it suitable to address particular types of cumulative problems at different tiers of assessment, and each of which can be expected to deliver different types of assessment results. The failure to fully recognize this "one concept–multiple form" characteristic is, in part, why the EA community has struggled in developing supportive methodological and institutional frameworks for regional CEA. We demonstrate that many of the disappointments with CEA are not the result of EIA-driven applications per se, but rather the result of mismatched CEA frameworks and expectations.


Hand ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 155894472199078
Author(s):  
G. Balakrishnan ◽  
S. Vijayaragavan ◽  
Somesh Balakrishnan

Various surgical techniques have been described for the release of syndactylized fingers. In our experience, the omega flap technique, which includes a dorsal truncated flap and an anchor incision on the volar side, stands out as a good technique to release syndactyly. Incidentally, in symbrachydactyly also, the fused digits can be released using this technique. Despite this, we could find no reference in the recent years. We would like to stress the ease and importance of this technique, hoping many practicing hand surgeons will benefit from this. Our purpose was to revisit this technique and expose it to the younger generation of hand surgeons. We have operated on 20 cases of syndactyly of different types—simple, compound, and complex—and 5 cases of symbrachydactyly. In all cases, the omega flap on the dorsum and anchor incision on the volar aspect of the finger forming 2 lateral palmar flaps were used. The release of syndactyly was satisfactory in all patients. There was no flap necrosis. None of these cases have required secondary surgery because the primary releases were adequate. Release of syndactyly had been a problem for centuries. Awareness of the disability was insufficient in earlier days; currently, they seek early medical care. The release should be complete. These children must be able to achieve the form and function of the hand, and additionally precision to work. We believe that the use of omega flap and anchor flap is a good procedure for syndactyly release.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürg Fleischer

This paper establishes a cross-dialectal typology of relative clauses in various German dialects and Yiddish according to their form and function. A great variety of different types of relativizers and relative clauses can be observed, including various pronouns, particles, and zero relatives. Combinations of these types occur, one of the most typical involving a resumptive element in a clause introduced by a particle. The Accessibility Hierarchy, a concept developed in typology, is used with great profit for this study. It turns out that for the German relativization system, a basic opposition between subject and direct object as opposed to oblique holds in virtually every variety, whereas the indirect object is much less stable. In the varieties observed, significantly more relative particles and resumptive elements occur as compared to Standard German, which turns out to be quite atypical.


1986 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marietta Elliott

Abstract During the first 6 months of the school year of 1985, at Brunswick Language Centre, I observed Nasr as he was learning to write in his second language. The most significant change which occurred is that Nasr gained an appreciation of the way in which English written anguage is different from spoken language. That is, rather than merely recording his spoken language, Nasr became a writer in English. The changes manifested themselves not only in the product, namely the texts themselves, but also in the processes by which they were produced. These processes can be both directly observed, as recorded on videotape or in the observational diary, which was kept once weekly, or inferred from the product. The major ways in which the last piece is more “developed” is that Nasr has chosen a more “advanced” genre, and the piece conforms more strictly to one genre, rather than also containing elements of other genres. Nevertheless, the earlier pieces mark important, transitional stages and I have therefore chosen to call these intermediate forms “intertext”. Nasr gains mastery over linking mechanisms more characteristic of written than of spoken language he moves from co-ordination to subordination, and through the use of reference and ellipsis, he gradually eliminates the various forms of redundancy. Acquisition of form and function of the past tense Is regarded as essential for the production of sustained narrative and, as such, can also be viewed as a form of cohesion. In Nasr’s case the changes in the writing behaviour include an increase in pause length and a reduction in the number of pauses, changes in the number and type of revisions made, and differences in the way in which input from the teacher is generated.


1987 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 258-262
Author(s):  
Magdalena Tatár

The topic of this paper is a Saami superstitious belief, namely the smørkatt "buttercat", which is without doubt a Nordic loan in Saami tradition. In olden days there were people who sold themselves or half of their souls to the devil for a considerable sum of money. They made a "butter cat" in order to get more milk. The "butter cat" looked like a ball of yarn. It stole cream and butter from the neighbour. The neighbour could not understand what had become of his butter. But he soon discovered that people who had only a few cows had a lot of butter. He chased after the "butter cat" and if he could capture it, the person who had sold his soul to the devil would die. This tradition existed among both the mountain Saamis and the Saamis who had settled down in the villages, but it was unknown among Norwegian people. The form and function of the "smørkatt" together with the way in which it could be disabled is in line with the Nordic tradition. This milk-stealing creature, which might be a hare or any other animal, is often a cat, particularly in northern Norway. It is a common Nordic tradition, too, that the animal is identical with its master, and because of that the master must die when the animal is killed. This link between the master and the animal is closer in northern Norway than anywhere else. Woman, animal and devil are linked to each other in the Nordic tradition, too, but the tradition that the master sells his soul to the devil is found only in Karasjok. It is clear, however, that people must pay for the devil's assistance. This theme is well-known in Europe in other connections.


Author(s):  
Berthold Crysmann

The chapter outlines a formal theory of inferential-realizational morphology that eliminates (ordered) rule blocks. I show that rule blocks not only stand in the way of a more general treatment of variable morphotactics, but that they also artificially restrict the scope of Pāṇinian competition, effectively ruling out operation at a distance. Instead, it argues for a purely information-based model of global competition that reconciles competition with extended exponence by means of a distinction between realization and allomorphic conditioning. It shows, in particular, that arbitrary decisions with respect to this distinction can be eliminated, once Carstairs’s (1987) notion of Pure Sensitivity has been turned into a formal principle of our theory. Finally, the chapter shows how Information-based Morphology can account for symmetric cases of extended exponence by simultaneous introduction of exponents since the theory is able to capture many-to-many relations between form and function at the level of individual rules.


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