Visible Speech is an attempt to set the record straight about the nature of writing. John DeFrancis, a noted specialist in the Chinese language, shows that writing can be based only upon a sound system and not upon any other linguistic level. He corrects the erroneous views of Chinese writing as pictographic, ideographic, logographic, or morphemic, and defends his conclusion that because of these misrepresentations, the nature of all writing continues to be misunderstood. Using the writing systems of Sumerian, Egyptian, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Mayan, and English, among others, to illustrate his points, Dr. DeFrancis stresses their basic identity as representatives of visible speech, while noting their secondary differences as manifested in their diverse script forms. He proposes a new classification of writing systems based on this theme of diversity and oneness, and makes an impassioned case for the essential phonetic component of all writing. This book reflects the author's sound scholarship and novel insights, which place it in the forefront with such classics on writing as those by Gelb, Diringer, Cohen, Fevrier, and Jensen. The readable style aims at a general audience interested in understanding the nature of the symbols that first strike the eye, while the academic research involved makes it an indispensable work for scholars in the many fields related to language and linguistics.

This second edition, like the earlier first edition, introduces some of the main varieties of Chinese as found before and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. While continuing to stress the basic importance of the traditional usages, such as the regular characters to be found in all materials published before the adoption of the simplified forms in 1956 and still in use in some areas, the present revision goes further in contrasting variant usages and in providing additional material relevant to the PRC. Closely related with the author's Beginning Chinese and its companion volume, Character Text for Beginning Chinese, this text is based on a new approach which not only takes into account the advantages of the oral-aural method but gets the student more quickly into material that he is likely to encounter in actual written Chinese. Unique features are the emphasis on compounds and their extensive use in various types of exercises. The 1,200 combinations are based on 400 characters; in all, the book contains 120,000 characters of running text. All compounds appear in illustrative sentences accompanied by English translations, in dialogues as a means of audio-lingual reinforcement, and in narrative or expository form. Additional exercises include maps, booksellers' book lists, correspondence, poems, table of contents, and brief passages from the works of outstanding writers such as Sun Yatsen, Hu Shih, Mao Tse-tung, and Lu Hsun. Supplementary lessons present reading material using the simplified characters adopted in mainland China. To suit the needs of the beginner, characters are introduced in large size, and tables indicate the sequence of strokes used in their formation. In addition to a pinyin index, there are three summary charts in which the characters are arranged by lesson, by number of strokes, and by radical. A fourth chart contrasts regular and simplified characters; a fifth chart presents variant forms of the same character. Because of the large characters and extensive material, the book is issued in two volumes, Part I and Part II. This work was supported by a contract with the United States Office of Education.

This second edition, like the earlier first edition, introduces some of the main varieties of Chinese as found before and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. While continuing to stress the basic importance of the traditional usages, such as the regular characters to be found in all materials published before the adoption of the simplified forms in 1956 and still in use in some areas, the present revision goes further in contrasting variant usages and in providing additional material relevant to the PRC.Closely related with the author's Beginning Chinese and its companion volume, Character Text for Beginning Chinese, this text is based on a new approach which not only takes into account the advantages of the oral-aural method but gets the student more quickly into material that he is likely to encounter in actual written Chinese. Unique features are the emphasis on compounds and their extensive use in various types of exercises. The 1,200 combinations are based on 400 characters; in all, the book contains 120,000 characters of running text. All compounds appear in illustrative sentences accompnied by English translations, in dialogues as a means of audio-lingual reinforcement, and in narrative or expository form. Additional exercises include maps, booksellers' book lists, correspondence, poems, table of contents, and brief passages from the works of outstanding writers such as Sun Yatsen, Hu Shih, Mao Tse-tung, and Lu Hsun. Supplementary lessons present reading material using the simiplified characters adopted in mainland China.To suit the needs of the beginner, characters are introduced in large size, and tables indicate the sequence of strokes used in their formation. In addition to a pinyin index, there are three summary charts in which the characters are arranged by lesson, by number of strokes, and by radical. A fourth chart contrasts regular and simplified characters; a fifth chart presents variant forms of the same chracter. Because of the large characters and extensive material, the book is issued in two volumes, Part I and Part II. This work was supported by a contract with the United States Office of Education.This is the paper copy version of this text.

This character version of Beginning Chinese has been prepared for use by both students and teachers. It can function as the starting point in the study of Chinese, as an introduction to characters after the same material has been mastered in transcript form, or as a supplement to Beginning Chinese Reader. (The latter, now in preparation, is designed specifically as a reader and hence is based on quite different principles.)

Students and teachers will welcome this new addition to the DeFrancis series of Chinese language texts. The famous little red book of Mao Tse-tung's thoughts contains basic ideas that permeate virtually all discussion in China of a wide range of topics - war and peace, socialism and communism, culture and art, women and youth, study and education, politics and government, economics and philosophy, morality and ethics, and so on. The Annotated Quotations provides the original Chinese text together with a complete pinyin transcription. The annotation includes regular characters, simplified forms, pinyin transcription, and English definitions. Structural notes are provided for passages of special difficulty. A cumulative glossary of first occurrences of all characters and vocabulary items not in the Index Volume to the DeFrancis series concludes the work. From the point of view of language teaching, an important feature of Chairman Mao's book is that its didactic objective has resulted in precisely the kind of repetition and review that textbook writers work hard to achieve. Furthermore, his writing style is generally simple and clear, and there are few extremely rare characters. For students at various levels of language competence starting at the level of DeFrancis's Beginning Chinese Reader, Part II, the Annotated Quotations provides an excellent introduction to the vast body of materials published in the People's Republic of China.

A sequel to Beginning Chinese Reader and Intermediate Chinese Reader, this text, the eleventh in a series produced under the auspices of Seton Hall University, is closely correlated with the author's Advanced Chinese and Character Text for Advanced Chinese. It contains 400 new characters, some 3,000 compounds, and about 20,000 characters of running text. All compounds appear in illustrative sentences and in narrative or expository materials, including adaptations of articles and stories by Chinese authors. Supplementary lessons present reading material using the simplified characters adopted in mainland China. A stroke-order chart is provided for characters that students might find difficult to write. In addition to a pinyin index, there are three summary charts in which the characters are arranged by lesson, by number of strokes, and by radical. A fourth chart contrasts regular and simplified characters; a fifth chart shows the differences between two typefaces; and a sixth chart presents variant forms of the same character. This series has been supported by contract with the United States Office of Education.Mr. DeFrancis is professor of Chinese at the University of Hawaii.

A sequel to Beginning Chinese Reader, this text is closely correlated with the author's Beginning Chinese, Advanced Chinese, and the character versions of these two texts. It contains 400 new characters, some 2,500 compounds, and about 200,000 characters of running text. All compounds appear in illustrative sentences, in dialogues, and in narrative or expository form. Supplementary lessons, summary charts, indexes, and other aids follow the general pattern of those in Beginning Chinese Reader. This work was supported by a contract with the U.S. Office of Education. Yale Linguistic Series.Mr. DeFrancis, research professor of Chinese at Seton Hall University, is visiting professor of Chinese at the University of Hawaii.

The general approach in writing this text is the same as that in Beginning Chinese Reader. It is discussed in some detail in the introduction to that work. Salient features include:1) Selection of characters on the basis of frequency;2) Provision of a large number of compounds and a large amount of reading matter relative to the number of characters;3) Inclusion of dialogue material in order to provide students with audiolingual support of what they read;4) Close correlation with Beginning Chinese, Advanced Chinese, and the character versions of these two texts.The present volume contains 400 characters, some 2,500 compounds, and about 200,000 characters of running text. Published for Seton Hall University. With the assistance of Ten Chia-yee and Yung Chih-Sheng.

Designed to be used after either "Beginning "or "Intermediate Chinese," this work is based on recordings of twenty lectures on academic topics in pinyin Romanization. The new material in each lesson is presented in illustrative sentences and dialogues between student and teacher. Additional material includes grammar drills, review exercises, questions, recapitulations of the lectures, and notes, plus 45 illustrations, a combined glossary, and an index. Yale Linguistics Series.John DeFrancis is research professor of Chinese at Seton Hall University.

This character version of "Advanced Chinese" contains also pinyin transcriptions of infrequently used characters at each occurrence. Both texts were supported by the U.S. Office of Education. Yale Linguistic Series.

In this parallel character version of Intermediate Chinese, dialogues, pronunciation drills, sentence-building exercises, substitution drills and memorization exercises correspond to the same lessons Intermediate Chinese offers in English and in pinyin romanization of Mandarin. Published for Seton Hall University

This text is the second in a series of three closely integrated volumes of spoken Chinese for use at the high-school and college levels. Intermediate Chinese presents dialogues on everyday topics together with analysis of anticipated points of difficulty for the student and numerous sentences illustrating the usage of all new words and grammar.The book consists of four units, with six lessons each. The first five lessons of each unit contain new material; the sixth reviews the preceding five. The review lessons contain a variety of drills, with no two lessons having exactly the same types of exercises. All the main lessons, however, contain the following divisions:-Dialogues (in Chinese)-Sentences for New Words and Grammar (in Chinese)-Review Sentences (in Chinese)-Monologue (in Chinese)-Questions (in Chinese)-Dialogue (English translation)-Sentences for New Words and Grammar (English translation)-Review Sentences (English translation)-Notes (in English) Like its predecessor, Beginning Chinese, this work is aimed at secondary school and college levels. In pinyin romanization, the dialogue-form lessons are supplemented by exercises, notes, and a combined glossary and index covering all the new tiems introduced in the dialogues. The first two lessons review all of Beginning Chinese, and every sixth lesson is a thorough review of the preceding five. A hundred illustrations compliment the text. Mr. DeFrancis, research professor of Chinese at Seton Hall University, compiled Intermediate Chinese under contract with the U.S. Office of Education. Yale Linguistic Series, 7. Previously announced. Published for Seton Hall University

A complete revision of the first volume in the Yale Linguistic Series, this new version, in "pinyin" romanization, and aimed at secondary school and college levels, is an introduction to spoken Chinese. It includes dialogues, pronunciation drills, sentence-building exercises, examples of characters, substitution drills, and miscellaneous exercises in the form of games like crossword puzzles. There is a combined glossary-index, supplementary vocabulary for each lesson, notes, and a detailed suggested study guide. John De Francis is research professor of Chinese at Seton Hall University. Yale Linguistics Series, 1. The features of this introductory text for learning the Chinese language include: -Pinyin romanization-Vocabulary of 600 items-Pronunciation drills, dialogues, sentence-building exercises, pattern drills, substitution tables, games and other learning aids, memorization exercises, and a combined glossary-index-No characters are used

This dictionary is an expansion of the ground-breaking ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, the first strictly alphabetically ordered and Pinyin computerized dictionary. It contains over 196,000 entries, compared to the 71,486 entries of the earlier work, making it the most comprehensive one-volume dictionary of Chinese. The single-sort alphabetic order of the entries provides by far the simplest and fastest way to look up a term whose pronunciation is known. Radical charts help locate characters when the pronunciation of a term is not known and facilitate access to traditional, simplified, and variant forms of characters. Other distinctive features of this dictionary include: information on whether a character is free form, sometimes bound, or always bound; traditional character equivalents for preceding simplified characters for each entry where appropriate; measure words for particular nouns; data from both the PRC and Taiwan indicating the relative frequency of entries that are complete or partial homographs; unique one-to-one correspondence between transcription and characters that permits calling up on a computer the characters of any entry by simply typing the corresponding transcription.

Buch, zuweilen humorvoll und geradezu spannend zu lesen, ist im sprachlichen Duktus bewusst offen gehalten fur alle moglichen Leser, Laien wie Experten. Zwanzig Jahre nach seiner Erstveroffentlichung wird es einen postmodern geschulten Linguisten zumindest wissenschaftsgeschichtlich interessieren. Dem nicht-linguistischen Sinologen sowie allen anderen, die sich mehr wunschen als bloss oberflachliche Einblicke in die Besonderheit und Problematik der chinesischen Sprache und Schrift, deren kulturelle und politische Bedeutung, sei dieses Buch warmstens empfohlen." Gudula Linck in Internationales Asienforum Aus dem Inhalt I. Die chinesische Sprache 1. Zur Definition von "Chinesisch" und "Sprache" 2. Grund-legende Fakten zum gesprochenen Chinesisch 3. Idiolekte, Dialekte, Regiolekte und Sprachen II. Die chinesische Schrift 4. Was Namen besagen 5. Piktographe - und dann? 6. Wie geben chinesische Schriftzeichen Laute wieder? 7. Wie vermitteln chinesische Schriftzeichen Bedeutung? III. Entmythologisierung der chinesischen Schriftzeichen 8. Der Mythos der Ideographie 9. Der Mythos der Universalitat 10. Der Mythos der Nachahmbarkeit 11. Der Mythos der Einsilbigkeit 12. Der Mythos der Unentbehrlichkeit 13. Der Erfolgsmythos IV. Die chinesische Sprachreform 14. Die Sprachreform 15. Die Schriftreform V. Anhang Glossar; Bibliographie; Nachbemerkung zur deutschen Ausgabe; Index