在中世纪的中国,被正式认作文学语言的是使用上古汉语语法和词汇的所谓“文言”。同它长期并存的是另一种文学语言——接近口语的“白话”。“白话”在它的整个历史时期内并不完全相同。它逐渐变化,以适应口语本身的变化。一种语言的成分常常渗透到另一种语言中去,构成一系列混合的或者是中间的形式。大约从十三到十四世纪之际开始,区别用文言和白话写成的作品一般说来并不费力。无疑,这个时期的文言已经大大“落后”于口语,以致不经过专门学习的人,就不 In medieval China, the formal recognition of literary language was the so-called “classical” use of the ancient Chinese grammar and vocabulary. Long coexistence with it is another literary language - close to spoken “vernacular.” “Vernacular” is not exactly the same throughout its historical period. It gradually changes to adapt to the change of spoken language itself. The components of a language often permeate into another language, forming a series of mixed or intermediate forms. Starting from the thirteenth to the fourteenth centuries, it is generally not hard to tell the difference between works written in vernacular and vernacular. Undoubtedly, the classical Chinese of this period has been greatly “behind” in spoken language, so that people without specialization will not