《六書實義》為清初法籍耶穌會士馬若瑟之重要字學著作，雖然其內容主要在依據《文解字》講述文字要理，但因馬若瑟同時他是一位索隱論者，將字學視為通達中國古經之本，故此書也包含他看待與詮解文字之特定觀點。為了深入分析《六書實義》的文字觀，本文由文字之意義表達、指涉與使用等面向，逐步梳理馬若瑟的六書論，並藉由David Lewis、John Searle、George Lakoff、Louis Dupré與Paul Tillich等哲學家對於語言的觀點，論馬若瑟的六書論有接近當代哲學觀點的層面，即認為語言可以被看作是一種記號，基於約定而獲得意義，而其假借論也與當代隱喻論多有相似之處。不過本文亦將指出，馬若瑟《六書實義》中的指事論，接近於當代哲學家對於宗教語言與宗教象徵的觀點，最是表現出其文字觀的特色。針對這些相似的部分，本文無意宣告馬若瑟的觀點，即是當代文字觀，或他將漢語視為宗教語言，唯欲指出其文字觀巧妙融合了幾種層面，其中一部分為當代語言哲學所熟知者，但也有一部分對於當代讀者較為陌生，值得更進一步探究，也因此提供了重新思索語言本質的另一個視角。

Liushu shiyi 六書實義 (True Meanings of the Six Types of Chinese Characters), written by French Jesuit Joseph Henri Marie de Prémare (1666-1736) in the early Qing dynasty, is a significant text on philology that mainly concerns liushu 六書 (the six types of Chinese characters) based on the Han dictionary Shuowen jiezi 說文解字. But as a work by a figurist who asserts philology as fundamental to the Chinese classics, the book also reveals a very specific viewpoint from which Prémare sees and understands the nature of language. In order to thoroughly analyze Prémare’s philosophy of language within Liushu shiyi, I explicate his interpretations of liushu from several angles, including linguistic meaning, expression, reference, and use. Moreover, I also draw on certain modern philosophical discourses on language, such as those of David Lewis, John Searle, George Lakoff, Louis Dupré, and Paul Tillich, to illustrate how Prémare similarly regards language as containing signs that can both acquire meanings by convention and be used metaphorically as jiajie 假借 (loan characters), the latter of which resembles present theories on metaphor. I also argue, however, that Prémare’s interpretation of zhishi 指事 (ideograms), the most characteristic facet of his philosophy of language, reveals striking similarities with certain philosophical views on religious language and symbols. This is not to say that I intend to subsume Prémare’s conceptions under present-day philosophies of language or to assert that Prémare deems the Chinese language as religious language. The aim of this paper is only to show that Prémare’s philosophy ingeniously combines several aspects along different dimensions, some of which are familiar to modern readers of the subject, whereas others are rather unfamiliar and worth further investigation. The present paper therefore provides a different perspective from which we may rethink the nature of language.