語言文字是知識傳播的工具，是文化進步的所賴。中國有久遠的歷史文化，也全賴文字的記載，有這文字的記載，才有歷史的延續，才有文化的進步。這文字的記載就是古書，而最古的古書便是經書。中國文化，在有文字以前所累積而成的，都記在古書之中，而有文字以後的發展進步，都由這些古書中來。因此我們要瞭解自己的文化，就不能不瞭解古書；而要瞭解古書，就不能不懂文字的意義；要懂文字的意義，就不能不懂文字的形、音、義之學。所以文字、聲韻、訓詁之學，稱之為小學。……這一學問，也可以說是一切學問的工具之學，也可以說是一切學問的根本之學。小學所以歸入經學，《爾雅》一書且收為十三經之一，祗因不通小學則無法通經學。此所以小學與經學不可分也。古書之最重者莫逾於經。經自漢晉以及唐宋，固全賴古儒解注之力；然其間未發明而沿舊誤者尚多，皆由於聲音、文字、假借、轉注未能通徹之故。

Language is a tool for spreading knowledge and the cornerstone of culture development. Thanks to the written records, China is able to preserve its long-standing history. Only with these records, can history continue and culture evolve. These records are ancient books, of which the most ancient one is the Confucius Classics. Chinese culture that developed before the emergence of written words are all recorded in ancient books and that afterwards are all derived from them. Therefore, we can not understand our own culture without understanding these ancient books; we can not understand ancient books without understanding the meaning of words; we can not understand their meaning without studying the words in morphology, phonetics and semantics. As a consequence, the studies on scripts, sounds and Xungu (”exegesis”) are called ”Xiaoxue” (elementary studies). Xiaoxue is the tool for all kinds of research, and also the elements of all.Xiaoxue is classified as a branch of Jingxue(study of classics); Erya is included in the thirteen Confucius classics. It’s all because we can not master Jingxue without mastering Xiaoxue. Therefore Xiaoxue and Jingxue can not be separated.The classics are most significant among ancient books. During Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, ancient Confucians played an important part in interpreting the classics. However, there were great deals of mistakes that are not found and derived from old researchers, which were due to the lack of general standard of pronunciation, script, Jiajie (phonetic loan) and quoted annotation.