ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Hui-Ching Chang critiques previous research on the impact of Confucianism on communication in East Asia for overemphasizing relational hierarchy and social harmony and for translating Confucian values into a set of well-defined rules that prescribe language behaviors for different relationships in different contexts. She engages in a close reading of the Analects in order to accurately gauge the Confucian view of language and words. Like Miike (Chapter 8), Chen (Chapter 18), Yin (Chapter 19), and Tu (Chapter 32) in the volume, Chang asserts that Confucian teaching is first and foremost concerned with ethics and morality. She specifies four Confucian orientations toward speaking: (a) words define and reflect moral development; (b) beautiful words lacking substance are blameworthy; (c) actions are more important than words; and (d) appropriate speaking relies on rules of propriety. Her careful reading pinpoints that Confucius held the view that language use should be inextricably linked to the speaker’s moral development and the appreciation of varying relationships and situations based on human emotion. From her literature review, Chang raises five theoretical issues in Confucian communication research: (1) a scholarly priority that ties Confucianism exclusively to collectivism, (2) the assumed incompatibility between social position and individual will, (3) the absence of discussions on the moral character in language use in Confucian societies, (4) the assumption that the ability to reason and formulate message rests upon the person’s individual freedom, and (5) the tendency to explain Confucianism retroactively after analyses about language behaviors in Confucian societies have been made.
