Research on the Chinese language, as opposed to practically-oriented language study, constituted an essential aspect of academic sinology as it developed in Europe in the nineteenth century. In 1814, Joshua Marshman published a book on the Chinese language with the intention to systematically describe the prestige pronunciation of the Chinese language of his time. The book appeared at a time of increased interest in the Chinese language, with Robert Morrison's Chinese-English dictionary following soon after. Another aspect of Marshman's book, however, was contrary to current trends. At this time of increased trade and contact with China, Morrison claimed to record current pronunciation; Marshman, rather, chose to appropriate the gains of a Chinese scholarly discipline. His source was the phonological tables included in the imperial dictionary Kangxi zidian, published in Beijing in 1716, which had sought to circumvent the inconvenience of Chinese characters through a system that was difficult even for Chinese scholars to master.
Marshman's choice was met with incomprehension by Jean-Pierre Abel Rémusat, the rising star of French academic sinology: If the European researcher was already armed with the Roman alphabet, a fine tool for phonetic description, why would he choose to rely on the arcane tools that a non-alphabetic civilization had developed merely to mimic what was literally at the fingertips of every educated European? This paper will use the case of Marshman to consider the role of Chinese scholarly knowledge in European research on linguistics in the nineteenth century.
