The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy

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The Chinese Language
Defrancis.jpg
Cover of the paperback edition
Author John DeFrancis
LanguageEnglish
GenreNonfiction
Publisher University of Hawaii Press
Publication date
1984
Media typeHardcover, Paperback
Pages330
ISBN 0-8248-1068-6 (paperback)

The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy is a book written by John DeFrancis, published in 1984 by University of Hawaii Press. The book describes some of the concepts underlying the Chinese language and writing system, and gives the author's position on a number of ideas about the language.

Contents

Main points

Content

The book has an introduction and four sections, with fifteen chapters in total. [1] There are eleven pages of tables of Chinese script. [2] The chapter notes, glossary, index, reference list, and suggested reading list are at the end of the book, [1] There are 251 pages of texts if the introduction, tables, and end notes are not included. [2]

Part I is "Rethinking The Chinese Language." Parts II and III, "Rethinking Chinese Characters" and "Demythifying Chinese Characters," deal with hanzi. Part IV is "Chinese Language Reform," including DeFrancis's opinions what would happen if the misconceptions about Chinese continue. A. Ronald Walton of the University of Maryland, College Park wrote that the titles indicate that the book uses the approach of presenting facts as "counterfacts" to misconceptions about Chinese. [3]

About 201 of the pages, about 80% of the book, deal with Chinese writing. [2] Part II, Part III, and much of Part IV discuss Chinese writing. Part I has discussion of spoken Chinese. [4]

The book discusses attempts to reform Chinese that occurred in the 20th century, as well as the development process of hanzi over time. [5]

Six myths

A good portion of the book is devoted to attempts at debunking what DeFrancis calls the "six myths" of Chinese characters. The myths are:

All of these are dealt with in separate chapters, at length, in the book.

Reception

William G. Boltz of the University of Washington wrote that the majority of the book "is an entirely worthy and satisfactory accomplishment that will reward the general reader and scholar alike" but that he wished that the section on spoken language, Part I, was better developed. [6]

Matthew Y. Chen of the University of California, San Diego wrote that DeFrancis "excels in inventing felicitious examples to illustrate his point" and "has succeeded to a remarkable degree in rousing readers' curiosity and in challenging them to look at Chinese writing in a refreshingly new, often unconventional, and sometimes controversial fashion." [7]

Walton wrote that DeFrancis "admirably succeeded in" simultaneously dealing "with a language tradition stretching back over a millennium" and providing interest for specialists of Chinese, "and has provided some new and invigorating conceptual insights as well." [3]

Stephen Wadley of the University of Washington wrote "The book on the whole is well researched and documented, expertly written and very enjoyable reading-a book that is certainly needed and welcomed." [8]

Florian Coulmas of Chuo University wrote that "His lucid and extremely well-written presentation of the structural and historical peculiarities of the Chinese language provides much more than the necessary context for an appreciation of current language policy issues." [9] Coulmas argued that DeFrancis may have had an impatient tone regarding Chinese literary reform since Chinese characters had been "a central part of Chinese culture". [9]

See also

Bibliography

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References

  1. 1 2 Wadley, p. 114.
  2. 1 2 3 Boltz, p. 405.
  3. 1 2 Walton, p. 180.
  4. Boltz p. 405-406.
  5. "The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy (Book Review)." The Wilson Quarterly (1976-), 1 July 1985, Vol.9(3), pp.136-136. "To the amateur linguist, DeFrancis offers a wealth of lore on everything from the evolution of Chinese characters to the many (and as yet unsuccessful) 20th-century attempts at speech and writing reform."
  6. Boltz, p. 407.
  7. Chen, p. 691.
  8. Wadley, p. 115.
  9. 1 2 Coulmas, p. 287.

Further reading