On the Identification and Reading of Proper Nouns in Vietnamese Commentaries on the Analects

Abstract

This article discusses how proper nouns in literary Sinitic texts are identified and read in Vietnamese commentaries of the Analects. Using Luận ngữ ước giải 論語約解, a literary Sinitic/Nôm bilingual text of the Analects, as a source, it is shown that three types of name marks are used in the literary Sinitic portion of the text to mark proper nouns. Among these, name marks added to personal names show a difference in treatment that corresponds with the use of classifiers in the Nôm translation of the text. A comparison is made with other such Vietnamese commentaries, showing that there are commonalities in the use of name marks across sources. Following this, a comparison is made with name marks in literary Sinitic texts glossed in Japan, revealing that there are major differences in the practice of adding name marks to texts between the two cultures.