Thesaurus Linguae Sericae
Encyclopedia
The Thesaurus Linguae Sericae (TLS; ) is an international collaborative project designed to explore the conceptual schemes of the Chinese language
. The project was conceived by Christoph Harbsmeier, its chief editor, and receives input by a large number of academic contributors worldwide. The content of TLS is preserved and presented in the form of a relational database
hosted by the Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Heidelberg.
According to the editors, TLS is designed throughout to make the classical Chinese evidence strictly comparable to that of other cultures, and to make possible meaningful analytic primary-evidence-based disagreement among non-sinologists on classical Chinese concepts and words. The editors hope that careful philosophical reflection on Chinese texts might serve to broaden the empirical
basis for philosophical theories and generalisations on conceptual schemes. They intend to improve the clarity and bite of declarations of difference between conceptual schemes by enlarging the basis of literally translated and analysed texts from widely (though never radically) different intellectual cultures, and to make precise criteria of translation for classical Chinese
, mainly through a detailed description in English of systematic recurrent semantic relations between Chinese words, especially distinctive semantic features
.
Key features of TLS are:
(Text adapted from http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/database/tls/index.htm, with kind permission.)
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
. The project was conceived by Christoph Harbsmeier, its chief editor, and receives input by a large number of academic contributors worldwide. The content of TLS is preserved and presented in the form of a relational database
Relational database
A relational database is a database that conforms to relational model theory. The software used in a relational database is called a relational database management system . Colloquial use of the term "relational database" may refer to the RDBMS software, or the relational database itself...
hosted by the Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Heidelberg.
According to the editors, TLS is designed throughout to make the classical Chinese evidence strictly comparable to that of other cultures, and to make possible meaningful analytic primary-evidence-based disagreement among non-sinologists on classical Chinese concepts and words. The editors hope that careful philosophical reflection on Chinese texts might serve to broaden the empirical
Empirical
The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation or experimentation. Empirical data are data produced by an experiment or observation....
basis for philosophical theories and generalisations on conceptual schemes. They intend to improve the clarity and bite of declarations of difference between conceptual schemes by enlarging the basis of literally translated and analysed texts from widely (though never radically) different intellectual cultures, and to make precise criteria of translation for classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
, mainly through a detailed description in English of systematic recurrent semantic relations between Chinese words, especially distinctive semantic features
Feature (linguistics)
A feature is a concept applied to several fields of linguistics, typically involving the assignment of binary or unary conditions which act as constraints.-In phonology:...
.
Key features of TLS are:
- Focusing on distinctive semantic nuances, it serves as a synonymSynonymSynonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
dictionary of classical Chinese. - It systematically organises the Chinese vocabulary in taxonomic and mereonomic hierarchies, thus showing up whole conceptual schemes or cognitive systems; these are taken to circumscribe the changing topologyTopologyTopology is a major area of mathematics concerned with properties that are preserved under continuous deformations of objects, such as deformations that involve stretching, but no tearing or gluing...
of Chinese mental spaceMental spaceThe Mental space is a theoretic construct proposed by Gilles Fauconnier and Armen Khederlarian corresponding to possible worlds in Philosophy. The main difference between a mental space and a possible world is that a mental space does not contain a faithful representation of reality, but an...
. - It systematically registers a range of lexical relations like antonymAntonymIn lexical semantics, opposites are words that lie in an inherently incompatible binary relationship as in the opposite pairs male : female, long : short, up : down, and precede : follow. The notion of incompatibility here refers to the fact that one word in an opposite pair entails that it is not...
, converseConverseConverse is an American shoe company that has been making shoes, lifestyle fashion and athletic apparel since the early 20th century. Converse is one of the earliest pioneers in the sneaker and sporting good industry founded in 1908.- 1908–1941: Early days :...
, epithetEpithetAn epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
etc.; TLS thus aims to define conceptual space as a relational spaceRelational spaceThe relational theory of space is a metaphysical theory according to which space is composed of relations between objects, with the implication that it cannot exist in the absence of matter. Its opposite is the container theory...
. - It incorporates detailed syntactic analysis of (over 600 distinct kinds of) syntactic usage; TLS thus enables users to make a systematic study of such basic phenomena as the natural history of abstract nouns in China.
- It is a corpusText corpusIn linguistics, a corpus or text corpus is a large and structured set of texts...
-based dictionary which will record the history of rhetorical devices in texts and thus enables the study of such things as the natural history of ironyIronyIrony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
in China. - All analytic categories and procedures of analysis in TLS are flexible in the sense that they are continuously being revised and improved in the light of new observation and analysis.
(Text adapted from http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/database/tls/index.htm, with kind permission.)