語言的局限
Limitations of Language
Translated by:林巍 Lin Wei
It is said “words are the voice of the mind”, that is to say whatever thinking and emotions one may have will finally be reflected in his or her language. However, in many cases, language is limited and may not be as powerful as one may expect.
在我國古典文學作品中，不乏這樣的表述。例如，劉禹錫的《視刀環歌》：“常恨言語淺，不如人意深”；黃庭堅的《品令》：“口不能言，心下快活自省”；《妙法蓮華經·方便品》：“止、止不須說！我法妙難思”，以及“余欲無言”、“解人難索”、“辭不達意”等等。
Concerning the issue, there is no shortage of descriptions of this kind in Chinese classical literatures. For examples, Liu Yuxi (772–842) wrote: “How lamentable it is that words are so powerless to express one’s deep feelings; there is no match between the two” (“Shidao huange”); Huang Tingjian (1045–1105) had a poem: “While my mouth may not be unable to utter what I am feeling, my heart is really content with what I have appreciated” (“Pinling”). Also, a Buddha in the Lotus Sutra: “Stop, stop! There is no need to utter anymore since my dharma is so marvelous and it is impossible to convey it to anyone” (Miaofa lianhuajing, “Fangbian”). Meanwhile, expressions of this kind are: “my feelings can hardly be described in any language”, “it is hard to find someone who can really appreciate what I have meant”, “my language fails to express my idea” so on and so forth.
更為典型是陶潛的《飲酒》：“此中有真意，欲辯已忘言”；而陸機的《文賦》：“恒患意不稱物，文不逮意”，透露的則是一種作者與語言之間永恒的掙扎。
More typically, Tao Yuanming (365–427) said in his “Poems after Drinking Wine”: “There are certain things that move me deeply, which I would like to tell but at the very moment I lose the words”. The critic Lu Ji (261–303) had a comment in his Rhapsody on Literature: “My constant concern is that my ideas may not have reflected the objects accurately, and my writing may be deficient of my abundant ideas”, revealing a constant struggle between an author and his language.
著名學者錢鐘書論道：“談藝時每萌此感。聽樂、讀畫，睹好色勝景，神會魂與，而欲明何故，則已大難，即欲道何如，亦類賈生賦中鵬鳥之有臆無詞。巧構形似，廣設譬喻，有如司空圖以還撰《詩品》者之所為，縱極描摹刻畫之功，僅收影響模糊之效，終不獲使他人聞見親切。是以或云詩文品藻只是繞不可言者而盤旋”（《管錐編》）。
As the well-known scholar Qian Zhongshu points out, “Discussing literatures or arts often causes the same frustration. When listening to music, viewing a painting, or enjoying fabulous scenery, your heart and soul are merged with the things that have been perceived. Yet it is almost impossible for you to describe and convey what you have been moved by at the spot; if you do that, you may end up resembling the roc in Jia Yi’s poem where he could not put his thoughts into words properly. Or, if you imaginatively construct a delicate framework of analogies where abundant metaphors and figures of speech are presented, as Sikong Tu did in his Modes of Poetry, you may have drawn or caved a replica vividly, but still only fashioned a resemblance which never affects others to have the same aesthetic experience as you had. That is the reason why it has been widely agreed that literary criticism, for instance, should basically never be expressed in words; it can only be circled around in the field” (Limited Views).
當代作家章詒和亦有一段刻骨銘心的描述：“我拿起筆，也是在為自己尋找繼續生存的理由和力量，拯救我即將枯萎的心。而提筆的那一刻，才知道語言的無用，文字的無力。它們似乎永遠無法敘述出一個人內心的愛與樂，苦與仇”（《往事并不如煙》）。正如劉勰在《文心雕龍·神思》中所說：“思表纖旨，文外曲致，言所不追，筆固知止”。
The contemporary writer Zhang Yihe has a heartbreaking writing: “By writing this book, my desire was to relieve my dying heart and to gain some strength and purpose for my survival. However, I was dead wrong! The moment I picked up the pen, I realized how powerless and useless the words, the language!…I doubt they can ever convey a person’s true love, joy, pain or hatred” (The Past Events Have not Vanished like Smoke). This has proved literary critic Liu Xie’s (465–522) point in his Dragon Carvings on the Literary Mind. “The delicate nuances of language lie at the boundaries of thought and the subtle meanings of a sense of feeling beyond any written words: this is where a speech is held back from its further pursuit and a pen halts without a clear realization”.
同時，語言一旦形成，又有其相對的獨立性和多面性。例如，墨子的說“言多方”，“行而異，轉而危，遠而失，流而離本”（《墨子·小取》）；呂不韋言：“言不可以不察”，“多類非而是，多類是而非”（《呂氏春秋·察傳》）。而這從另一方面證實了語言的“不可靠性”。
Meanwhile, once a saying is formed it becomes independent and multifaceted. As Mozi said that “Utterance has many meanings”, “As the language is being conveyed its meanings may vary gradually; as it changes its course, it may damage someone. When it is carried far away, it will be lost somewhere; when it is set adrift it will deviate from its original route” (Mozi, “Xiaoqu”). Also, the historian Lü Buwei pointed out in his The Spring and Autumn Annals of Lü: “Words cannot go without being scrutinized”, “More often than not words appear to be one thing but turn up to be another”. These comments have illustrated the “unreliability” of a language from another prospective.
總之，理解語言的局限性，其實有利于我們更深刻地認識和掌握語言。
In short, by realizing its limitations, we may in fact gain certain insights in mastering a language.
