Nanning Pinghua Dictionary: A Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects · Volume

Author: Li Rong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-12-01
Features: The dialect survey records the current state of the language, while the dialect comparison reflects the historical evolution of the language. The dialect dictionary uses a list format to express the preliminary results of the research. Readers can use it to examine the meanings of dialect words. Linguists can conduct specialized research based on it. Scholars in literature and history can also utilize the linguistic materials provided. Research on Chinese dialects has made progress in recent years. Under this background, we plan to compile a comprehensive modern Chinese dialect dictionary based primarily on field surveys. This plan is divided into two steps. The first step is to survey forty dialects and compile forty local dialect dictionaries. The second step is to supplement additional dialect materials based on the forty local dialect dictionaries and compile a comprehensive Chinese dialect dictionary. Both the local dialect dictionaries and the comprehensive Chinese dialect dictionary will be published by Jiangsu Education Press. The dialect dictionary is based on dialect surveys. The survey first involves identifying pronunciation collaborators. The selection of pronunciation collaborators includes the elderly and middle-aged, but does not exclude the young. Based on the former, the phonemic system is determined, and the linguistic materials are recorded. The latter is used to supplement vocabulary while explaining the differences between the phonemic systems and the former. The survey forms include character tables and word tables. The former adopts the publicly published "Dialect Survey Character Table," while the latter is newly compiled for this project, "Dialect Survey Word Table." The single characters and words listed in these two tables are as far as possible to be clarified as to whether they can be spoken in the local dialect. Only in this way can the linguistic materials from different regions be compared for similarities and differences. These linguistic materials are merely the largest common denominator for the local dialect dictionaries. The local compilers have ample space to extensively collect the phonetic forms and vocabulary of their respective dialects. The requirements for the local dialect dictionaries are two: one is to prepare conditions for the comprehensive dialect dictionary, and the other is to reflect the characteristics of the dialect. The content of the local dialect dictionaries is divided into three parts: The main body is the dictionary proper, preceded by an introduction and followed by a category index and a index of entries.