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The ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' or ''ABC Dictionary'' (1996), compiled under the chief editorship of
John DeFrancis John DeFrancis (August 31, 1911January 2, 2009) was an American linguist, sinologist, author of Chinese language textbooks, lexicographer of Chinese dictionaries, and professor emeritus of Chinese Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa ...
, is the first
Chinese dictionary There are two types of dictionaries regularly used in the Chinese language: list individual Chinese characters, and list words and phrases. Because tens of thousands of characters have been used in written Chinese, Chinese lexicographers have d ...
to collate entries in single-sort
alphabetical order Alphabetical order is a system whereby character strings are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. It is one of the methods of collation. In mathematics, a lexicographical order is ...
of
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
romanization, and a landmark in the history of Chinese lexicography. It was also the first publication in the University of Hawaiʻi Press's "ABC" (Alphabetically Based Computerized) series of Chinese dictionaries. They republished the ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' in a pocket edition (1999) and desktop reference edition (2000), as well as the expanded ''ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary'' (2003), and dual ''ABC English–Chinese, Chinese–English Dictionary'' (2010). Furthermore, the ''ABC Dictionary'' databases have been developed into computer
applications Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...
such as Wenlin Software for learning Chinese (1997).


History

John DeFrancis (1911–2009) was an influential American
sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...
, author of
Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...
textbooks,
lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...
of
Chinese dictionaries There are two types of dictionaries regularly used in the Chinese language: list individual Chinese characters, and list words and phrases. Because tens of thousands of characters have been used in written Chinese, Chinese lexicographers have d ...
, and
Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...
of Chinese Studies at the
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offic ...
. After he retired from teaching in 1976, DeFrancis was a prolific author of influential works such as '' The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy'' (1984) and ''Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems'' (1989).
Victor H. Mair Victor Henry Mair (; born March 25, 1943) is an American Sinology, sinologist currently serving as a professor of Chinese language, Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania. Among other accomplishments, Mair has edited the standard ''Columbia His ...
, a sinologist and professor of Chinese at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
, first proposed the idea of a computerized pinyin Chinese–English dictionary in his 1986 lexicographical
review article A review article is an article (publishing), article that summarizes the current Status quaestionis, state of understanding on a topic within a certain discipline. A review article is generally considered a secondary source since it may analyze ...
. He defined "alphabetically arranged dictionary" to mean a dictionary in which all words (''cí'' ) are "interfiled strictly according to pronunciation. This may be referred to as a 'single sort/tier/layer alphabetical' order or series." He emphatically does not mean a usual Chinese dictionary collated according to the initial single graphs (''zì'' ) that are only the beginning syllables of whole words. "With the latter type of arrangement, more than one sort is required to locate a given term. The head character must first be found and then a separate sort is required for the next character, and so on." Mair's article had two purposes, to call the attention of his colleagues to the critical need for an alphabetically arranged Chinese dictionary and to enlist their help in making it a reality, and to suggest that ''all'' new sinological reference tools should at least include alphabetically ordered indices. "Someone who already knows the pronunciation of a given expression but not its meaning should not be cruelly burdened by having to fuss with radicals, corners, strokes, and what not. Let him go directly to the object of his search instead of having to make endless, insufferable detours in an impenetrable forest of graphs." In DeFrancis' Acknowledgements, he says "This dictionary owes its genesis to the initiative of Victor H. Mair", who after unsuccessful attempts to obtain financial support for the compilation of an alphabetically based Chinese–English dictionary, in 1990 organized an international group of scholars who volunteered to contribute towards compiling it. However, "agonizingly slow progress" made it apparent that a fulltime editor was necessary, and in May 1992 John DeFrancis offered to undertake the project centered at the University of Hawaiʻi. Along with Prof. DeFrancis overseeing the general planning and supervision of the project as well as its detailed operations, a volunteer team of some 50 contributors – including academics, Chinese language teachers, students, lexicographers, and computer consultants – were involved in the myriad tasks of processing dictionary entries, such as defining, inputting, checking, and proofreading. The University of Hawaiʻi Press published the ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' in September 1996. UHP republished the original
paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...
''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'', which had a total 916 pages and was 23 cm. high, into the ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Pocket Edition'' (1999, 16 cm.) and
hardback A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy ...
''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Desk Reference Edition'' (2000, 23 cm.). In Shanghai, DeFrancis' dictionary was published under the title ''Han-Ying Cidian: ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' (Hanyu Dacidian Chubanshe, 1997). For reasons of
political correctness "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...
, the Shanghai edition amended the entry for
Lin Biao Lin Biao ( zh, 林彪; 5 December 1907 – 13 September 1971) was a Chinese politician and Marshal of the People's Republic of China who was pivotal in the Chinese Communist Party, Communist Chinese Communist Revolution, victory during the Chines ...
. It altered the original American edition's "veteran Communist military leader and Mao Zedong's designated successor until mysterious death" to "veteran Communist military leader; ringleader of counterrevolutionary group (during the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
)". Victor H. Mair became general editor of the ABC Chinese Dictionary Series in 1996, and the University of Hawaiʻi Press has issued ten publications (as of October 2016), including two developments from the ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' (1996) with 71,486 head entries. John DeFrancis and others edited the hardback ''ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary'',(2003, 1464 pp., 25 cm.), which contains over 196,501 head entries, making it the most comprehensive one-volume dictionary of Chinese. DeFrancis (posthumously) and Zhang Yanyin, professor of Applied Linguistics and Educational Linguistics at the
University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...
, edited the bidirectional paperback ''ABC English–Chinese, Chinese–English Dictionary'' (2010, 1240 pp., 19 cm.). It contains 67,633 entries: 29,670 in the English–Chinese section, 37,963 in the Chinese–English section, which is an abridgment of the ''ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary'' and includes improvements such as more usage example sentences. Computers (namely, the ''C'' in ''ABC Dictionary'') were purposefully involved in almost every stage of dictionary compilation and publication in order to facilitate further advances in electronic lexicography and
software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...
. In 1997, the Wenlin Institute published '' Wenlin Software for Learning Chinese'' with about 14,000 head entries (version 1.0) and entered into a licensing agreement with the University of Hawaiʻi to utilize the ''ABC Dictionary'' database in Wenlin software. The first edition ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' (1996) was incorporated into Wenlin 2.0 with over 74,000 entries (1998); the second ''ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary'' (2003) went into Wenlin 3.0 with over 196,000 entries (2002); and the third edition ''ABC English–Chinese, Chinese–English Dictionary'' (2010) was incorporated into Wenlin 4.0 (2011), which includes 300,000 Chinese–English entries, 73,000 Chinese character entries, and 62,000 English–Chinese entries. Prior to the alphabetically arranged ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'', virtually every Chinese dictionary was based upon character head entries, arranged either by character shape or pronunciation, that subsume words and phrases written with that head character as the first syllable. While pronunciation determines the placement of words within the unconventional ''ABC Dictionary'', Chinese characters still determine the position of words within a standard dictionary. Comparing a Chinese character-based dictionary with the pinyin-based ''ABC Dictionary'' illustrates the difference. ''The Chinese–English Dictionary'' locates the head character entry ''lín'' "① forest; woods; grove ② circles …" as one of 14 characters pronounced ''lín'', and alphabetically lists 17 words with ''lín'' as the first syllable, for instance, ''línchǎnpǐn'' "forest products", ''línhǎi'' "immense forest", and ''línyè'' "forestry". The ''ABC Dictionary'' includes ''lín'' "① forest; woods; grove ② forestry…" as one of 6 characters pronounced ''lín'', followed by alphabetically listed ''lin''-initial headwords from ''línbā'' "lymph" to ''línfēng'' "facing against the wind", but then ''ling''-initial words begin to appear with ''líng'' 〇 "zero", and only after another three pages will one find ''lìngzūn'' "(courteous) your father" followed by ''línhǎi'' "immense forest". DeFrancis' ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' is aptly described as having "defied the tyranny of Chinese characters".


Content

The ''ABC Dictionary'' includes 5,425 different Chinese characters and a total 71,486 lexical entries. The dictionary's most notable feature is being entirely arranged by pinyin in the alphabetical order of complete compound words. For example, ''kuàngquán'' "mineral spring" immediately precedes ''kuángquǎnbìng'' "rabies", which in turn immediately precedes ''kuàngquánshuǐ'' "mineral water", even though the first and last words begin with the same character and the middle word with another. The present dictionary has several titles: *''ABC Dictionary'' ( half title page) *The ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Alphabetically Based Computerized''—with the last three words encircling Chinese calligraphic 'diànnǎo pīnyīn biānmǎ'' "computer pinyin encoding"(
title page The title page of a book, thesis or other written work is the page at or near the front which displays its title (publishing), title, subtitle, author, publisher, and edition, often artistically decorated. (A half title, by contrast, displays onl ...
) *''ABC (Alphabetically Based Computerized) Chinese–English Dictionary'' ( colophon) *''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' 漢英詞典‧按羅馬字母順序排列 'Hàn-Yīng cídiǎn ‧ àn luómǎ zìmǔ shùnxù páiliè'' "Chinese–English Dictionary: according to alphabetically sorted romanization"( front cover). The ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' comprises three main sections: an 18-page
front matter Book design is the graphic art of determining the visual and physical characteristics of a book. The design process begins after an author and editor finalize the manuscript, at which point it is passed to the production stage. During productio ...
, the 833-page body matter of alphabetically arranged entries, and 64-page back matter with nine appendices. The front matter includes a
Table of contents A table of contents (or simply contents, abbreviated as TOC), is a list usually part of the Book design#Front matter, front matter preceding the main text of a book or other written work containing the titles of the text's sections, sometimes with ...
; Dedication to "China's Staunchest Advocates of Writing Reform"; Editor's Call to Action; Acknowledgments;
Introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...
with I. Distinctive Features of the Dictionary and II. Selection and Definition of Entries; and User's Guide with I. Arrangement of Entries, II.
Orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...
, III. Explanatory Notes and Examples, IV. Works Consulted, and V. Abbreviations. The dictionary proper gives alphabetically arranged lexical entries and English translation equivalents, from "a*
particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...
] ''used as phrase suffix'' ① (''in enumeration'') … ② (''in direct address and exclamation'') … ③ (''indicating obviousness/impatience'' … ④ (''for confirmation'')" to "zúzūn clan seniors". The ''ABC Dictionary'' has nine Appendices: I. Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography romulgated by the State Language Commission in 1988 II. Historical Chronology rom the Shang Dynasty c. 1700–1045 BC to the Republic of China (1912–49)">Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
"1912–1949" and People's Republic of China 1949–]; III. Analytic Summary of Transcription Systems [for Pinyin, Wade-Giles, Gwoyeu Romatzyh, Yale romanization of Mandarin, Yale Romanization, and Zhuyin Fuhao]; IV. Wade-Giles/Pinyin Comparative Table; V. PY/WG/GR/YR/ZF Comparative Table; VI. Radical Index of Traditional Characters, Notes on
Kangxi Radicals The ''Kangxi'' radicals (), also known as ''Zihui'' radicals, are a set of 214 radicals that were collated in the 18th-century '' Kangxi Dictionary'' to aid categorization of Chinese characters. They are primarily sorted by stroke count. They ...
, Kangxi Radical Chart, Kangxi Radical Index; VII. Stroke Order List of Recurrent Partials; VIII. Stroke Order Index of Characters with Obscure Radicals; IX. Radical Index of Simplified Characters, with Notes on Selected CASS Radicals iz. the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences system of 189 Radical (Chinese characters)">radicals used in dictionaries like the ''Xinhua Zidian">Chinese Academy of Social Sciences">iz. the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences system of 189 Radical (Chinese characters)">radicals used in dictionaries like the ''Xinhua Zidian''], High Frequency CASS Radicals, Simplified/Traditional Radical Conversion Table, CASS Radical Chart, CASS Radical Index [for users who want to look up a Chinese logograph's pronunciation, listing the 5,425 characters appearing in the dictionary]. DeFrancis' ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' claims six lexicographical distinctions. :1. It offers the powerful advantage of arranging entries in single-sort alphabetical order as by far the simplest and fastest way to look up a term whose pronunciation is known. Alone among look-up systems, the ABC Dictionary enables users to find words seen only in transcription or heard but not seen in written form. And, since most dictionary consultation involves characters whose pronunciation is known (not just by native speakers, but also by learners beyond the very beginning level), over time the total saving in time is enormous. (Radical indexes of characters are provided for those cases where the pronunciation of a term is not known.) :2. It has been compiled with the aid of computers and lends itself to further development in electronic as well as printed form. :3. It makes use of the latest PRC lexicographical developments in respect to selection of terms and rules of orthography. :4. It utilizes frequency data from both the PRC and Taiwan to indicate the relative frequency of entries that are complete homographs (identical even as to tones) or partial homographs (identical except for tones) as an aid to student learning and computer inputting. :5. It presents a unique one-to-one correspondence between transcription and characters that permits calling up on computer the desired characters for any entry by simple uninterrupted typing of the corresponding transcription. :6. It introduces an innovative typographical format that enables its 71,486 entries (3,578 single-syllable and 68,908 multi-syllable entries) to be packed into about one-sixth less space than would be required by conventional dictionaries, while still providing greater legibility, in part thanks to larger characters. The result is a handy portable work that contains an unparalleled number of entries for its size. The main source for ''ABC Dictionary'' entries is the 1989 edition of ''Hanyu Pinyin Cihui'' "
Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means ' Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin'' literally ...
Romanized Lexicon", a semi-official wordlist of 60,400 entries (without definitions) compiled by members of the
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
State Language Commission. Focusing upon the needs of Western students of Chinese, DeFrancis and the editors eliminated some terms and added others. Their dictionary includes many
neologisms In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
such as ''dàgēdà'' "cellular phone" or ''dǎo(r)yé'' "profiteer; speculator", as well as the modern Chinese practice of incorporating the
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...
in coining Sino-alphabetic words like ''BP-jī'' BP机 "pager; beeper". In contrast to most Chinese–English dictionaries, DeFrancis' emphasizes multisyllabic ''cí'' "words" rather than monosyllabic ''zì'' "characters". It only includes monosyllabic character entries that are likely to be encountered as free forms or unbound morphemes (according to the ''Xiandai Hanyu Pinlü Cidian'' "Frequency Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese"). Chinese word frequency is an important aspect of the ''ABC Dictionary'', and it lists
homophones A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, a ...
according to their decreasing occurrence. Frequency orders are based largely on ''Xiandai Hanyu Pinlü Cidian'' for monosyllabic entries and ''Zhongwen Shumianyu Pinlü Cidian'' "Dictionary of the Chinese Written Language" for polysyllabic words. For entries with identical spelling, including tones, arrangement is by order of frequency, indicated by a superscript number before the transcription, a device adapted from Western lexicographic practice to distinguish homonyms. For example, "''1dàomù'' rob graves" and "''2dàomù'' railway sleeper ie. For entries that are homographic if tones are disregarded, the item of highest usage frequency is indicated by an asterisk following the transcription (see ''a''* above), for instance, "''lìguǐ'' ferocious ghost" and "''lìguì*'' clothes-closet; wardrobe; hanging cupboard". While frequency information is useful for students learning vocabulary, the ''ABC Dictionary'' chiefly provides it in order to help determine the default items in computer usage. "Our unique combination of letters, tone marks, and raised numbers provides a simple and distinctive one-to-one correspondence between transcription and character(s) that is intended to facilitate computerized handling of the entries." The ''ABC Dictionary'' format for entries is: *the pinyin spelling of the word in large
boldface In typography, emphasis is the strengthening of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text, to highlight them. It is the equivalent of prosody stress in speech. Methods and use The most common methods in We ...
type *the corresponding
simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized Chinese characters, character sets widely used to write the Chinese language, with the other being traditional characters. Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of ...
, and for single-character entries with a contrasting
traditional Chinese character Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages. In Taiwan, the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the '' Standard Form of ...
, it is given in square brackets given upon the first appearance of each character/morpheme (e.g., "''wà'' 袜 �� socks; stockings; hose") *parts of speech in boldface
small caps In typography, small caps (short for small capitals) are grapheme, characters typeset with glyphs that resemble uppercase letters but reduced in height and weight close to the surrounding lowercase letters or text figures. Small caps are used i ...
(e.g.,
verb phrase In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntax, syntactic unit composed of a verb and its argument (linguistics), arguments except the subject (grammar), subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence ''A fat man quic ...
,
onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetics, phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as Oin ...
), which is especially useful for Western students of Chinese (e.g., "huǎnghū ① absentminded ② dimly; faintly; seemingly") *(optional) usage environments (e.g., ''TW'' Taiwan) or registers (''vulg.'' vulgar) in angle brackets and
italics In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Along with blackletter and roman type, it served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography. Owing to the influence f ...
, for instance, "''húlǔ'' northern barbarians" *translation equivalents in
Roman type In Latin script typography, roman is one of the three main kinds of Typeface, historical type, alongside blackletter and Italic type, italic. Sometimes called normal or regular, it is distinct from these two for its upright style (relative to the ...
(e.g., "''huàngdang'' rock; shake; sway"); semicolons separate slightly variant meanings of entries, and circled numbers distinguish more widely different meanings (as in ''huǎnghū'' above) *(optional) example phrases and sentences in semi-bold italicized pinyin, but without characters, which users can find through alphabetic lookup, followed by English renderings in Roman type (e.g., "''1tóutòng'' have a headache ''Zhè shì zhēn ràng rén ~!'' This gives one a real headache!") Take the '' dao'' in
Daoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...
for an example dictionary entry.
''2dào'' ① road ② channel ③ way ④ doctrine ⑤ Daoism ⑥ line ♦ ''for rivers/topics/etc.'' ♦ ① say; speak; talk ''chángyán dào'' as the saying goes ''Tā shuō ~: "..."'' He said: "..." ② think; suppose (1996: 113)
This concise entry uses a superscript on ''dào'' to denote
道 may refer to: * Dao (political), an administrative division in China, Japan, or Korea **Provinces of Korea, the primary administrative division of Korea since the mid Goryeo dynasty in the early 11th century ***Administrative divisions of North ...
as the second most commonly occurring unbound character pronounced ''dào'', gives six English translation equivalents, distinguishes syntactic uses as a
measure word In linguistics, measure words are words (or morphemes) that are used in combination with a numeral to indicate an amount of something represented by some noun. Many languages use measure words, and East Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, ...
and a verb, and gives two characterless usage examples ''chángyán dào'' and ''Tā shuōdào'' .


Indication of tone change in pinyin spelling

Tone sandhi Tone sandhi is a phonological change that occurs in tonal languages. It involves changes to the tones assigned to individual words or morphemes, based on the pronunciation of adjacent words or morphemes. This change typically simplifies a bidirec ...
(tone change) is usually not reflected in pinyin spelling — the underlying tone (i.e. the original tone before the sandhi) is still written. However, ''ABC English–Chinese, Chinese–English Dictionary'' (2010) uses the following notation to indicate both the original tone and the tone after the sandhi: # (''yī'') pronounced in second tone (''yí'') is written as ''yị̄''. #* e.g. (underlying ''yīgòng'', realized as ''yígòng'') is written as ''yị̄gòng'' # (''yī'') pronounced in fourth tone (''yì'') is written as ''yī̠''. #* e.g. (underlying ''yīqǐ'', realized as ''yìqǐ'') is written as ''yī̠qǐ'' # (''bù'') pronounced in second tone (''bú'') is written as ''bụ̀''. #* e.g. (underlying ''bùyào'', realized as ''búyào'') is written as ''bụ̀yào'' # When there are two consecutive third-tone syllables, the first syllable is pronounced in second tone. A dot is added below to the third tone pronounced in second tone (i.e. written as ''ạ̌''/''Ạ̌'', ''ẹ̌''/''Ẹ̌'', ''ị̌'', ''ọ̌''/''Ọ̌'', ''ụ̌'', and ''ụ̈̌''). #* e.g. (underlying ''liǎojiě'', realized as ''liáojiě'') is written as ''liạ̌ojiě'' Wenlin Software for learning Chinese also adopted this notation.


Reception

Reviews of DeFrancis' ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' were published by major
academic journals An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the dissemination, scr ...
in linguistics (e.g., ''
The Modern Language Journal ''The Modern Language Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations. It covers research and discussion about the learning and teaching of for ...
''), Asian studies ('' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society''), and sinology ('' China Review International''). Most reviewers criticized certain aspects, such as the difficulty of looking up a traditional Chinese character, but also highly evaluated the innovative dictionary. Here are three representative examples of praise: "the most extraordinary Chinese–English dictionary I have ever had such pleasure to look Chinese words up in and to read their English definitions"; "The thorough scholarship and fresh outlook make it a valuable contribution to Chinese lexicography, while the high production standards and comprehensive coverage of the colloquial language should make it a favourite of all serious students of Modern Chinese"; "This excellent one-volume Chinese–English dictionary is a crowning achievement for John DeFrancis, one of the doyens of Chinese language teaching in the United States". A common area of complaint involves the ''ABC Dictionarys treatment of traditional and simplified Chinese characters. Dictionary entries give simplified characters for headwords, and only give the traditional form upon the first appearance of each character, and in the appendices. For instance, critics say, "looking up characters in traditional form is a bit more trouble than it might be, you must use a special index"; and the dictionary is "clearly not designed to be used by anyone who does serious work with nonsimplified characters". One reviewer panned the ''ABC Dictionarys supplementary materials. For instance, saying the front matter's "uncommonly profuse" dedication and Editor's Call to Action reveal "no doubt that axes are being ground" about writing reform; the Distinctive Features of the Dictionary "reads like an abstract for a research grant application"; and describing most of the appendices as "a hodgepodge of
pub quiz A pub quiz is a quiz held in a pub or Bar (drinking establishment), bar. These events are also called quiz nights, trivia nights, or bar trivia and may be held in other settings. The pub quiz is a modern example of a pub game, and often attempts ...
trivia". Several evaluations of the ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary'' mention cases in which using the alphabetically-arranged headword entries is more efficient than using a conventionally arranged dictionary with character head entries that list words written with that character as the first. Robert S. Bauer, a linguist of Cantonese at
Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU or HKPU) is a public research university in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The university is one of the eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Founded in 1937 a ...
says the dictionary works best when users hear a word pronounced but do not know how to write it in characters, they can very quickly look it up in pinyin order and find the correct characters and meanings. However, to look up an unknown character's pronunciation and meaning, then one needs to use a radical-indexed dictionary. Bauer says "I have generally succeeded in finding almost all the words and expressions I have tried to look up; this I regard as quite remarkable since I cannot say the same about other dictionaries I have been consulting over my more than 25 years of working on Chinese". Sean Jensen says alphabetical collation is "truly iconoclastic" in the tradition-rich world of Chinese lexicography and describes experimenting with using the dictionary.
I am used to the "old style" dictionaries based on radicals, and I was disposed to approach the ''ABC Dictionary'' with some skepticism. But having used it for two months I have so say that it is nothing short of wonderful! It is a pleasure to be able to use a Chinese dictionary in the same way that one uses a French or German dictionary. The typography is exceptionally clear, and the sheer quantity of words per page, arranged alphabetically, has the effect of bringing the melodies of spoken Chinese alive.
Michael Sawer, professor of Chinese at the
University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...
, says using the ''ABC Dictionary'' does not make it easy to quickly find all the words beginning with the same Chinese character; but it does enable readers to easily find all those pronounced the same (disregarding tonal differences), as well as which among homophonous words is used most frequently. Taking a contrary view, Karen Steffen Chung, professor of Chinese at
National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...
, found using DeFrancis' dictionary less satisfying than traditional dictionaries, where all compounds beginning with the same character are listed together under that character head entry. Giving the circular example of a hypothetical dictionary user wanting to find all the compounds beginning with ''shí'' "to realize", which is certainly easier with a customary Chinese dictionary than with the ''ABC'', Chung says that the alphabetic arrangement is unfortunately "its biggest drawback", and while "this may reflect an ideal of treating Chinese primarily as a spoken rather than written language, it also goes against native habit and intuition". Scott McGinnis, professor of Chinese at the
University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
, explains that users of the ''ABC Dictionary'' who are already familiar with
written Chinese Written Chinese is a writing system that uses Chinese characters and other symbols to represent the Chinese languages. Chinese characters do not directly represent pronunciation, unlike letters in an alphabet or syllabograms in a syllabary. Rath ...
and dictionaries organized by character headings must "forget" what they know about the Mandarin syllabic inventory and focus strictly on the spelling. For some dictionary users, purely pinyin-dependent sequencing such as ''cuānzi'' "ice pick" to ''cūbào'' "rude; rough; crude" and ''nǎngshí'' "(written) in olden days; of yore" to ''nánguā'' "pumpkin" "may be at least initially confusing". Jan W. Walls, professor of Chinese language and culture at
Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...
, describes some minor oversights in the dictionary such as the "''dīshì'' 的士 taxi" entry, which might imply the borrowing came directly from English, when it actually is a
loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
from
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
''dik1 si6'' transcribing ''
taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...
''. But this is a minor point, "merely ''meizhong-buzu'' (defined in ''ABC'' as 'blemish in sth. otherwise perfect') that should not detract from the great value of this important work … which is quite likely to become a standard reference work for English-speaking students of Mandarin, and to remain so for quite some time". The expanded 2003 ''ABC Dictionary'' had fewer academic reviews than the 1996 ''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary''. Michael Sawer, who also reviewed the original ''ABC Dictionary'', calls this comprehensive dictionary an "outstanding contribution to the field, in many ways better than other comparable dictionaries". He makes comparisons between the ''ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary'' (called "''ABC''") and two bilingual dictionaries aimed more at native speakers of Chinese who are learning English: the ''Han-Ying Da Cidian'' ("''CED''" Chinese–English Dictionary), and ''Xiandai Hanyu Cidian: Han-Ying Shuangyu'' ("''CCD''" Contemporary Chinese Dictionary). The 2003 ''ABC'', like the 1996 first edition, is arranged in strict single-sort alphabetical order, while both the ''CED'' and ''CCD'' are in double-sort alphabetic order—that is, the first syllables of each word are arranged in alphabetic order, and then within each tone category in order of different characters. Take for instance, dictionary users wanting to look up ''yìshi'' "consciousness; mentality". A user who knows the pronunciation begins with ''yì'' can search (in ascending number of strokes) through some eighty characters pronounced ''yì'' before finding , and then ; or a user who knows that ''yìshi'' is written can find in the radical index, under the "heart radical" , then the 9 remaining strokes in , and find the page number for the head entry. A great advantage of ''ABC'' is that you can immediately look up a word you have heard but whose exact tone, meaning, and characters are unknown to you. For ''yishi'' in all tonal combinations, this dictionary gives 46 different words, with easily found. What an ''ABC'' user cannot straightforwardly see (which of course they can in the other two dictionaries) is all the words listed beginning with ''yì'' . ''ABC'' gives grammatical information with around 30 tags, including both parts of speech ("V." for verb) and other tags ("ID." for idiom). ''CED'' provides just 11 grammatical tags, while ''CCD'' only marks numerals and classifiers. The comprehensive grammatical tags in ''ABC'' are "a most valuable feature", especially for learners of Chinese, and many words have more than one grammatical function (e.g., ''xuéxí'' ��習 study; learn; emulate ◆ learning"). Another useful ''ABC'' grammatical tag is B.F. for "bound form" (as opposed to free form words, mentioned above), but this distinction is not usually indicated in PRC dictionaries such as ''CED'' and ''CCD''. Proper nouns receive a particularly ample treatment in ''ABC'' (especially compared with ''CED'' and ''CCD''). These include people's names (e.g., some 15 beginning with the surname , ranging from the famous poet
Li Bai Li Bai (, 701–762), Literary and colloquial readings, also pronounced Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai (), was a Chinese poet acclaimed as one of the greatest and most important poets of the Tang dynasty and in Chinese history as a whole. He and hi ...
to the former PRC President
Li Xiannian Li Xiannian (; 23 June 1909 – 21 June 1992) was a Chinese Chinese Communist Party, Communist military and political leader, president of China from 1983 to 1988 under paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and then chairman of the Chinese People's Politi ...
), names of automobiles (like ''Xiàlì'' " Charade"), and many toponyms (''Xiàwēiyí'' "
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
", spelled with the ʻokina). Yanfang Tang, professor of Chinese at the
College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...
, says the ''ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary'' "stands above its peers as one of the most comprehensive, informative, and useful tools in the study of and dealing with the Chinese language". This dictionary is a valuable asset for several types of users. Native speakers will particularly benefit from the "authentic and accurate English translations" of Chinese words and phrases, which are an improvement over sometimes "stiff and awkward" translations in previous Chinese–English dictionaries, which were edited predominantly by Anglophone native speakers of Chinese. Chinese–English translators, students of
Chinese as a foreign language Chinese as a foreign or second language is when non-native speakers study varieties of Chinese, Chinese varieties. The increased interest in China from those outside has led to a corresponding interest in the study of Standard Chinese (a type of ...
, and compilers of Chinese language textbooks will find this dictionary indispensable for providing comprehensive linguistic information. Nonnative speakers of Chinese will find the dictionary handy to use, and those who are accustomed to alphabets will find locating a Chinese word in this alphabetically arranged dictionary "almost an act of second nature". Advanced learners of Chinese who have a firm command of pinyin will also benefit, especially in cases when they know how to pronounce a word but do not remember how to write it, and will be able to quickly find the character. Tang suggests an improvement for future ''ABC Dictionary'' editions. Users who want to look up an unfamiliar character may find the layout of Stroke-Order Index and Radical Index to be "awkward, inconvenient, and time-consuming" because after looking the character up, the index gives the pinyin pronunciation instead of the page.


Editions

* *''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Pocket edition'' (1999). *''ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Desk reference edition'' (2000). * *


References

* * * * * * Footnotes


External links


ABC Chinese Dictionary Series
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