Changing Concepts of Religion from Traditional to Modern Chinese, 1890-1949

本项目采用历史语义学的方法，研究汉语宗教相关术语的语义变化对宗教话语或宗教话语中当前用法的影响。它以语言话语的歧义性和层叠性为出发点，这些话语的意义因其使用而不断变化，而汉语现代宗教词汇一方面是与西方的接触和对西方语义学的适应而形成的，另一方面是中国多元宗教史的旧层次意义所形成的。这些子项目考察了宗教语义领域的关键术语，旨在了解(1)现代宗教相关词汇在多大程度上（取决于不同的使用语境）替代了旧术语，或者前现代词汇在多大程度上可能保留了上下文独立性（弹性）；(2)西方词汇的载体（话语共同体）、传递渠道和话语事件进入现代汉语词汇。因此，该项目一方面考察了中国宗教术语和话语领域的概念变化和语义分配过程。另一方面，它旨在了解宗教相关词汇在东亚现代化进程和话语相互作用中的作用和变化。因此，概念的语义分析将与语境化语篇分析相结合。

The project applies an approach of historical semantics and investigates the semantic change of Chinese religion-related terminologies that has effected the present usage in discourses on religion or zongjiao. It takes as its point of departure the linguistic ambiguities and multilayeredness of verbal utterances whose meanings are constantly shifting due to their usage and which in the case of Chinese modern vocabulary on religion are formed on the one hand by the encounter with the West and adaptation of Western semantics and on the other hand by older layers of meaning of the plural Chinese history of religions.The subprojects examine keyterms in the semantic field of religion and aim to understand (1) to which degree – dependent on diverse usage contexts – modern religion-related vocabulary substitutes older terminologies or how much premodern vocabularies might have preserved contextual independance (resilience); (2) by which carriers (discoursive communities), channels of transfer and discursive events Western-coined vocabulary has entered the modern Chinese lexicon. The project examines therefore on the one hand processes of conceptual change and semantic approriations in the field of Chinese religious terminology and discourses. On the other hand it aims at understanding the role and change of religion-related vocabulary in interplay with processes and discourses of modernization in East Asia. Semantic analysis of concepts will therefore be combined with contextualizing discourse analysis.