Obs. i. Chinese colloquial syntax might be divided into two heads, treating of grammatical (or syntactical), and prosodial (or rhythmical) relations respectively. Under the former might be placed, government, propositions, and a part of the system of groups. Under the latter would be properly found repetition, antithesis, and the remainder of the system of grouping. The latter might be called prosody, but that word is more properly applied to the laws of poetry. In the present work it has been thought more convenient to mix these divisions under a common heading.
Obs. ii. Words in the fourth tone are just as important in the groups as other words, unless they happen to be enclitics; e.g. 大關節目 tá‘ kwan tsih móh, the general object. The last two words have no less emphasis of voice than the former, and 目 móh is distinctly accented.
Obs. iii. In dialects where the accent is on the penultimate syllable, the four-word measure might be called a Double Trochee. These classical names of feet are not strictly applicable, descriptive as they are of the long and short syllables of poetry. They are here used for want of better terms, just as is done by writers on English versification, to express the pronunciation of words as accented or not accented. At Súng-kiáng the fú city to which Shánghái belongs, the accent changes to the penultimate.
Obs. iv. In 讀起來看 read, and tók ’k’í lé k’ön‘, read it and try, the accent is on the first and last words of both these sentences, the middle words being enclitic.
426. The three-word foot may be called, if it consists of two unaccented, and one accented syllable, an anapaest; e.g. 壁立直 pih lih dzuh, exactly straight; 敲敲鼓 k’au k’au ’kú, to beat a drum; 梁惠王 liáng wé‘ wong, a king in Mencius. If the accent is on the first word of three, the foot might be called a dactyl; e.g. 做末者 tsú‘ meh ’tsé, do it. Instances of such dactyls are rare and are chiefly confined to sentences containing enclitics, which reject the accent. In some cases, the accent is on the middle word as in 放颻子 fong‘ yau‘ ’tsz, to fly a kite; 子 ’tsz as an enclitic throws back the accent on the preceding word.
427. The number two occurs in innumerable combination, which may be called iambs; i.e. 上山 ’zong san, ascend a hill.
428. Common recognized groups numbering more than four coordinate words are not very numerous. They may be readily resolved into smaller feet of two, three, or four words, by attending to the cæsura, which will be always found in them; e.g. 喜怒哀懼愛惡欲 ’h’í nú‘ é gü‘ é‘ ú‘ yóh, joy, anger, grief, fear, love, hatred, desire. That mark of division occurs after the fourth word for groups of seven, and after the second for groups of five; others may be divided into groups of two or three words each.
Obs. i. The cæsura of seven word and five word versification in good poetry, and in street ballads, is generally after the fourth and second words, but variations occur according to the taste of the writer, and the exigencies of composition.
Obs. ii. By marking the cæsura, groups of four words may be divided into smaller divisions of two, and those of three words into parts of one and two words. Thus the secondary accent heard in the first part of the group, and referred to in the sections on tones may be accounted for, as properly belonging to the smaller groups, or single word, to which it is affixed.
Obs. iii. The accent here spoken of is, that which is understood by the word in English and French, viz. that emphasis which is predominantly on the penultimate or antepenultimate in the former, and on the last syllable in the latter language. It is one simply of position, and is so far independent of tones on the one hand, and of the quantity of vowels as long or short, on the other. English versification is entirely regulated by the accent of position, and not by the consideration of vowels and syllables being long and short. Thus in the line “our voices keep tune, and our oars keep time,” the quantity of “keep,” and “our” is long, yet they stand as short syllables. Chinese poetry is like that of England in possessing rhymes, and instead of a rhythmus of long and short vowel quantities, such as formed the framework of Greek and Latin versification, it has one of even and uneven tones.