Study on the “Language Game” of Dialect Narration in Li Jieren’s “Ripples in Stagnant Water”

This paper takes Li Jieren's novel "The Ripples in the Stagnant Water" as its research object, adopts Wittgenstein's "language-game theory" as the analytical framework, and conducts in-depth analysis of the linguistic characteristics and narrative functions of Sichuan dialect in the novel through literature analysis and close reading methods. The discussion unfolds around the three core propositions of the theory: dialect, as a form of linguistic practice embedded in specific social contexts, vividly reproduces the features of urban life in western Sichuan during the late Qing Dynasty; clusters of synonymous dialect terms, through the partial similarities within their semantic fields, collectively portray the distinct and multi-faceted images of the novel's characters; the contextualized connotations of dialect words not only drive the progression of the plot, but also deeply reflect the evolution of social norms and the ups and downs of the characters' fates. By systematically exploring the dialect narration in "The Ripples in the Stagnant Water", this study attempts to reveal that beyond serving as a carrier of local culture, dialect also functions as an invisible tool for shaping character personas and reconstructing social rules through local cultural logic, thereby providing new perspectives and approaches to the research on regional narration in modern Chinese literature. 本文以李劼人的长篇小说《死水微澜》为研究对象，运用维特根斯坦的“语言游戏说”理论框架，通过文献分析和文本细读的方法，深入剖析小说中四川方言叙事的语言特点及其作用。文章从“生活形式”、“家族相似性”和“意义即使用”三个层面展开论述：方言作为特定社会情境下的语言实践，生动再现清末川西市井生活的风貌；方言中的类义词群通过语义场的局部相似性，共同勾勒出小说人物鲜明立体的形象；方言词汇在具体语境中产生的特殊含义，不仅推动故事情节的发展，更深刻反映社会规则的变迁和人物命运的起伏。本文通过对《死水微澜》中方言叙事的深入分析，尝试揭示方言除了作为文化载体，同时如何塑造人物形象、成为地方文化重构社会规则的隐形工具，为中国现代文学地方叙事的研究提供新的视角和思路。