Pleco Chinese Dictionary Instruction Manual : ABC English-Chinese Dictionary

ABC English-Chinese Dictionary

ABC 汉语大词典

Editors: John DeFrancis, Zhang Yanyin
Associate Editors: Tom Bishop, Victor H. Mair, Zhang Liqing, Zhang Yanhua

Copyright © 2009 University of Hawai'i Press, All rights reserved

Table of Contents

1. Dedication
2. Editor's Call to Action
3. Acknowledgements
4. Reader's Guide
   1. Selection and Explication of Entries
   2. Orthography
   3. Abbreviations

Dedication

TO

John DeFrancis
1911-2009
A visionary lexicographer, a perceptive theorist of writing systems, the author of the most widely used textbook series for English speakers learning Mandarin, and, for more than half a century, the foremost historian of Chinese and Vietnamese script reform.

AND

China's Staunchest Advocates of Writing Reform

Lu Zhuangzhang 卢戆章
1854-1928
Pioneer reformer whose publication in 1892 of alphabetic schemes for several varieties of Chinese marked the beginning of Chinese interest in reform of the writing system.

Lu Xun 鲁迅
1881-1936
China's greatest writer of the twentieth century who passionately supported the Latinized New Writing of the 1930s.

Mao Dun (Shen Yanbing) 茅盾
1896-1981
China's foremost novelist and one-time Minister of Culture who in 1962 was the first to call for a policy of “walking on two legs” that involved using two writing systems--the traditional character system and the new pinyin alphabetic system.

Wang Li and Lü Shuxiang 王力 / 吕叔湘
1900-1988 1904-1998
Two of China's most distinguished linguists who have come out strongly for writing reform; the former criticized intellectuals for their opposition to such reform, and the latter criticized lexicographers for their failure to produce dictionaries based on a simple alphabetic arrangement.

Zhou Youguang 周有光
1905-
The most prolific and penetrating advocate of writing reform who emphasizes that a “two-script system” or “digraphia” has become an even more essential part of China's modernization if it is to make an efficient entry into the computer age.

Editor's Call to Action

This appeal calls upon users of the ABC Dictionary, and scholars generally in China and abroad, to participate in the broad effort needed to bring about (1) progress in Chinese lexicography (2) planned periodic upgrading of the present work.

In a way, the present effort is premature. It should have been preceded by generally accepted rules for pinyin orthography (e.g., capitalization and joining or separating syllables) and serial arrangement of characters. Instead there is virtual chaos in both these areas, best exemplified by the factious decisions of recent Chinese lexicographers to arrange characters under 186, 188, 189, 191, 225, 226, 242, and 250 radicals.

The advent of computers has increased the need to end this chaos and reach a degree of agreement more or less comparable to that achieved by Western lexicographers in their arrangement of entries and by authors and publishers in their acceptance of a common manual of style.

To be sure, Western practice is by no means completely uniform, and in any case took hundreds of years to evolve. The problems of Chinese written in pinyin are even more complex than those in a language like English, and are not susceptible to quick and easy solutions. Nevertheless, greater effort is possible, and is certainly needed, to work toward the eventual goal of standardization of pinyin orthography.

The present work represents a contribution to this effort. As a pioneering effort it has been forced to grapple with complicated problems that await solution. For example, should the popular category of four-syllable idioms called chéngyǔ be handled on the basis of their phonetic structure, which is overwhelmingly 2+2, or of their grammatical structure, which is a much more complicated matter since most chéngyǔ are of classical origin? Various reference works handle one such idiom as follows:

àn dù chén cāng (five works)
àn dù Chéncāng (Wu Jingrong)
àn-dù-chéncāng (Lin Yutang, changed from Guoyeu Romatzyh to pinyin)
àndù-chéncāng (Hanyu Pinyin Cihui)
àndùchéncāng (Yingyong Hanyu Cidian)

We have chosen simply to write àndùchéncāng (without spaces, hyphens, or capitalization), but we would like to see debate and ultimate consensus in this matter. The same applies to our necessarily tentative handling of other problems, of which the following are a few examples:

Whether numbers and measures shold be joined or separated:

sānběn shū vs. sān běn shū

Whether tonal changes should be indicated:

bǐjiǎo vs. bíjiǎo

Whether preference should be given to colloquial or formal style:

bǐjiǎo/bíjiǎo vs. bǐjiào

Whether components of resultative verbs should be joined or separated:

kànbujiàn vs. kàn bu jiàn

Of course the decisions regarding these and other matters of pinyin orthography should ultimately be made by the Chinese themselves. I hope, however, that Westerners will add to the present effort to raise the issues, will participate in academic discussion of the problems, and will help find reasonable solutions aimed at increasing the efficiency of pinyin as an orthography and as the optimum method of handling characters on computers.

In these efforts it is especially necessary to give support to reform-minded Chinese who, unequivocally rejecting any idea of abandoning characters, insist on the need to modernize Chinese writing through a policy of “digraphia,” that is, literacy both in characters and in pinyin.

Consideration of these issues will also help prepare the way for future revision of the ABC Dictionary. Apart from consideration of rules of orthography such as those noted above, there is need also for help in pointing out specific errors, suggesting terms to be added (preferaby with citation to sources that can be checked), and contributing ideas for improvement.

We welcome corrections, comments, and suggestions. Please address these to

ABC Dictionary Project
Center for Chinese Studies, University of Hawai'i
1890 East-West Road, Moore 417
Honolulu, HI 968221

You may also contact the ABC Dictionary Project directly by e-mailing to china@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu.

--John DeFrancis

Acknowledgments

This dictionary has been made possible by the volunteer contributions of numerous individuals, by grants from the US Department of Education and the University of Hawai‘i Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development, and by the generosity of the University of Hawai‘i Center for Chinese Studies through its successive directors Professors Roger T. Ames and Ronald Brown; its associate director Professor Cynthia Y. Ning, who was particularly helpful in arranging for all manner of logistical support; and its coordinator Daniel Tschudi, who helped out in myriad aspects of the Project.

Professor Victor H. Mair, editor of our whole ABC series, made major scholarly contributions that included participation in decision-making, checking the entire material, especially in the final stages, and leading a team involved in the massive task of proofreading (see below).

Tom Bishop, creator of Wenlin Software for Learning Chinese, assisted in every step of the project by providing linguistic expertise and technical implementation for the innumerable tasks involved in producing the dictionary, including addition of complex (traditional) forms of Chinese characters, addition of International Phonetic Alphabet for English pronunciations, creation of new entries, checking and revision of existing entries (for consistency, orthography, parts of speech, grammar, etc.), abridgment, indexing, and the final production of camera-ready copy.

Zhang Liqing, a retired professor from Swarthmore College, made the initial selection of terms for the Chinese-English section, a task that was particularly onerous because it had to be done twice, the initial draft having been lost somewhere in the transition from Pennsylvania to Hawai‘i.

Dr. Zhang Yanhua, a professor at Clemson University, was very helpful in establishing and testing inputting procedures in the initial stage of the dictionary. She was also one of the key figures in setting up the conventions for the English- Chinese part of this dictionary.

A considerable number of Chinese students and others at the University of Hawai‘i helped in a variety of tasks related to the dictionary, such as inputting material, checking, and proofreading. They include O. T. Benson, Chen Xiaohua, Chu Wei, Roderich A. Gammon, He Jinli, Hu Leping, Max P. Hirsch, Huang Ying, Li Yanfeng, Li Xiangping, Lu Caixia, Nie Jiang, Matt Olsen, Pan Linlin, Kimberly M. Sato, Wang Qinghong, Wang Xiaoling, Wang Yanyan, Wu Lei, Yang Decheng, Yang Yide, Zhang Shanshan, and Zhu Kunlun. The proofreading team, led by Victor H. Mair, was assembled from individuals scattered across the world. Among them were the following: Liqing Zhang, Xu Wenkan, Jonathan M. Smith, Paula Roberts, Melvin Lee, Si Jia, Jiajia Wang, Chen Ruyan, Kenneth Yeh, Natalie Liu, Michael Sawer, Linda Li, Mi Yinan, and Endymion Wilkinson.

Many scholars deserve thanks for contributions to the ABC Chinese-English Dictionary and ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary because so much of the present dictionarywas based on those earlier works. They include especially Robert Hsu, James Dew, and Robert Sanders; also Timothy Connor, Denis Mair, E-tu Zen Sun, Yin Binyong, Duan Xiaoping, Li Weiping, Li Ye, Chen Jing, Gu Xiurong, Fern Aki, Paul Hacker, Han Xiaorong, Huang Bihong, Li Yuenching, Liu Jiacai, Shoshana Su, Tian Chenshan, Wan Jianing, Wang Caixiang, Wang Huijing, Wang Shaoling, Mike White, Yang I-Te, Zhang Yao, Eric Meyer, Roger P. Bissonnette, Fang Zhizeng, Xu Ruzong, Bai Yuqing, Alan Adcock, Ang Woei, Joel A. de Benoit, Nghi Duc (Bruce) Chau, Robert K. Cliver, Tom Cullen, Jeffrey J. Hayden, Mun Yin (Carol) Li, Lisa Leigh Lian, Liu Dong, Ip Hung (Kim) Mar, David Pai, Sylvia Henel Sun, Kristina L. Taber, Jianqi Wang, Kai Wang, Ye Ding, Di Zhang, Ruohong Zhang, Zheng Jie, Liu Yongquan, Ke Chuanren, Michael Carr, Chu Kuangfu, Duan Xiaoqing, Jia Yunqi, Liu Ziheng, Lo Chihong, Thomas H. Mair, Wei Xin, Apollo Wu, Xie Tianwei, Ted Yao, Zhang Zesheng, Robert Cheng, David Ashworth, Lo Chin-tang, and David W. Goodrich.

Our own role as editors involved overall supervision of all aspects of the work as well as contributions to the detailed tasks in both sections of the dictionary. In all these tasks we had the invaluable help of those mentioned above, and we heartily thank them all.

John DeFrancis, University of Hawai‘i
Yanyin Zhang, University of Canberra, Australia; University of Hawai‘i

Reader's Guide

Selection and Explication of Entries

1. Entries are selected on the basis of the following criteria:

a. Common and frequently used words, terms and expressions
b. All 6,500 terms appearing in Dàxué Yīngyǔ Jiàoxué Dàgāng Cíhuìbiǎo (Shànghǎi: Wàiyǔ Jiàoyù Chūbǎnshè, 2000)
c. All 850 words in Basic English (C. K. Ogden. London: Paul Truebner & Co., 1930)

2. Within an entry, the following information is provided: the grade level as described in 2, the part(s) of speech, and definitions. The following information is provided where necessary: irregular forms of the word, illustrative examples, tone sandhi (tone change) of Chinese words, phrases, idioms or fixed expressions, and sentence constructions. Both Pīnyīn and Hànzì are used for the definition and illustrative examples of the entry.

3. For easy cross-reference, all Chinese terms used in the definitions and examples can be found as head entries in the Chinese-English section of the dictionary.

4. The pronunciation of the head word is notated in International Phonetic Alphabet transcription in square brackets. The pronunciation is based mainly on the West Coast American dialect. A typical feature of this regional dialect is the post-vocalic [r] in words such as hard [hArd] and car [kAr]. In British English and some other varieties of English, these two words are pronounced without the [r] sound.

5. The conjugation of irregular nouns and verbs is provided in the entry after the part of speech. Full spelling of the conjugated form of irregular nouns and verbs is given in brackets, as bring and child show (see above). Where the conjugation requires only the doubling of the last letter, it is indicated by the doubled letter surrounded by dashes. If the conjugation is regular and rule-based, such as plural -s in desks, past tense -ed in listened, no special notation is used.

6. For ease of cross-reference, irregular forms of verbs and nouns also appear as head entries. Readers may refer to the base form for detailed information such as definition, etc.

7. Within an entry, there may be sub-entries. All sub-entries are listed, in boldface, at the end of the main entry. Listed as sub-entries are terms derived from the headword, e.g., hardness from 1hard; phrasal verbs, e.g., look after; fixed expressions, e.g., go-slow; and compound words, e.g., false alarm. Please note that not all compounds are treated as subentries. Many of them are in fact head entries, especially where there is a large number of relevant compounds. In addition, the sub-entry does not always start with the headword of the main entry. Fixed expressions (F.E.) such as in the face of, lose face are listed under face.

8. Where words are identical in spelling but differ in meaning or etymology, they are listed separately as two entries by order of frequency, which is indicated by a raised number before the word. This method is also used for entries which have different parts of speech each of which contains a large number of definitions and usages.

9. American spelling is used in this dictionary. For example, behavior (not behaviour), theater (not theatre). However, the non-American spelling variety is also listed as an entry for easy look-up and cross-references.

Orthography

In matters such as capitalization, use of hyphens, and joining or separation of syllables, although the Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography promulgated in 1988 were made the official standard in 1996, it appears that some PRC writers disagree with the rules or find them insufficiently detailed to cover all the problems that arise in this area, and they are therefore advancing their own preferences or ad hoc solutions. (For example, many Chinese use d, di, de respectively for the characters 的, 地, 得 in ALL cases instead of only in the officially sanctioned "when necessary for technical purposes.") It is apparent that thoroughgoing standardization at a level approximating that of Western orthographies is presently not possible but must be worked out over what may turn out to be a considerable period of time, as was indeed the case in the West.

In this dictionary we have adopted the policy of following the rules when they appear to have general acceptance, and, in the many instances where there are no clear guidelines, in consultation with some of the leading PRC workers in this field we have advanced solutions that we hope are at least internally consistent. However, it should be stressed that our ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary does not claim to provide a definitive or authoritative solution to the exceedingly complicated problems of Pinyin orthography. Instead it should be viewed as the largest alphabetically arranged database that can provide a starting point for what should eventually lead to a reference work comprising a more or less exhaustive lexicon that has the imprimatur of official Pinyin orthography.

Abbreviations

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