The Importance of Tone for a Proper Understanding of Ancient Texts: “Wunai” in the *Lubang da han 魯邦大旱

Abstract

This article, starting with the modal particle wunai 毋乃, analyzes the tone of a dialogue between Confucius and Zigong in the *Lubang da han 魯邦大旱 manuscript. It points out that the attitude to a certain viewpoint is often contained in the tone of the speaker, and improper understanding of this information may lead to misreading a person’s point of view and their relationship with others.