The origin, features and evaluation of the May Fourth new vernacular

Abstract

The new vernacular, a literary language that narrows the gap between written and oral language, has played a vital role in the past more than four score years since its birth in the May Fourth new literature. However, the evaluation towards the new vernacular is still controversial and uncertain due to the constraints of research documents that can be available or because of the prejudice and stereotyped opinions held by scholars. This paper is written to explore the origin, features and some debates concerning the new vernacular and propose my personal views for the purpose of furthering this study in this field.

Key words： new vernacular; May Fourth Movement; classical prose; Westerization