『論語』의 言語認識과 話法敎育的意味

Abstract

Language has been traditionally judged in a negative or passive way in the East Asian culture. The Confucian ideas including the 『analects of Confucius』 also have been known for its passive view on language. However, we actually could find unexpected facts from the 『analects of Confucius』, studying it thoroughly. Even though its ideas clearly reveal an unfriendly view on language, it also cannot be ignored that the 『analects of Confucius』actively acknowledges the value of language, and furthermore it shows interest in acquisition of highly advanced skills in language use. Thus, even it can be said that the understanding of language in the 『analects of Confucius』 is so distinguished that it can be comparable to the modern academic areas of ‘the studies in communicative skills’ and ‘the principles of speaking-listening education’. Since this fact reflects very different aspects from the bias that we have held, we need to pay attention to it. Based on this fact, we could change the passive evaluation on our language culture, which has been customarily accepted as true. With this progress, we could overcome the obscure admiration for the western linguistics or theories on language education and a sense of inferiority as well. Since this kind of initiative could be taken from the studies of other classical writings as well as the 『analects of Confucius』, we need to pay more attention to this field in the future.