Western Mandarin/Introduction
INTRODUCTION.
The need of a thorough knowledge of the every-day language of the people among whom the writer's work lay, and the lack of adequate helps to the attainment of that knowledge, led to the preparation of this vocabulary. Being assured that it would prove of use to his fellow-labourers in Western China, he has arranged it for publication.
Scope:—The name of the book, "The Spoken Language Western China," indicates pretty clearly the scope of the work. It is difficult to draw a line between what is spoken and what is written only. Many phrases used by scholars have been rejected as too "bookish," but, on the other hand, nothing has been regarded as too common for insertion. The work contains 3,786 characters, 112 duplicate characters, 191 words without characters, and 13,484 examples, including 401 proverbs. The examples have been taken in every case from the lips of the natives. No phrases of foreign origin—religious or otherwise—have been collected, as students can easily obtain such from other sources.
Arrangement:—The first and chief part of the work is arranged according to the radicals. The second part, which consists of words without characters, is arranged alphabetically. A syllabic index enables the student to find any word from the sound, and an English index gives the advantages of a very full English-Chinese dictionary. An appendix on relationships, is an attempt to clear up what many have found to be a somewhat perplexing subject.
Romanization:—The Romanization used is a modification of the China Inland Mission system. The principal alterations are as follows:—k, before i or ü, is changed to ch, as in 江 chiang, or 去 chʻü; hs, before i or ü, is changed to sh, as in 下 shia, or 玄 shüen; ae, i, ei, and eh, are uniformly written e, as in 這 che, 雷 lue, 背 pe, or 白 pe.
Definitions:—As the meanings of a word are often modified by association with other words, no list of definitions can give a true idea of these meanings. As a general rule, one example of each use of a word has been given, and, in the translation, the different shades of meaning in its various connections have been indicated by italics. When an English word covers more ground than the Chinese word, only a part of the English word is italicized. A word may have other meanings in the classical language, but only such as are used in the spoken language are given.
Translation:—The rendering into English of the word to be illustrated sometimes entails a cumbrous or roundabout sentence. The aim has been to translate the word in each sentence correctly. The remaining words are often freely translated. In some instances the meaning is obvious but not translatable into idiomatic English, and, in a few cases, the derivation, or reference, is quite obscure.
No doubt, in many instances, the characters did not originally bear all the meanings given, but, owing to the scarcity of characters of a certain sound or tone, one character has, in time, come to do duty for many and varied meanings; e. g., 巴 pa, page 195.
Emphasis sometimes alters the meaning; e. g., page 117, line 26, "hao ta ti sï," with the emphasis on "ta," means "How big is the affair?"; "What a big affair!", either really or sarcastically.
The student should be careful to discriminate between phrases that are similar in sound but quite different in meaning; e. g., 乘轎子 and 陞轎子, or 你門興不興 and 你門信不信, etc.
Tones:—The tones are marked in the usual order from 1 to 5. In Western Mandarin the tones differ from Northern Mandarin on the one hand, and from Southern Mandarin on the other. The names of the tones are the same, but the sounds are different. The 1st tone in Western Mandarin is similar to the 3rd in Southern Mandarin, the 2nd like the 1st, the 3rd like the 4th, and the 4th like the 2nd. The 5th tone is sometimes difficult to distinguish from the 2nd, being less abrupt than the 5th tone in Southern Mandarin. Still, it is a distinct tone and is not confounded with the other four tones as in Northern Mandarin. In double words, such as 娃娃, etc., the second word usually rises in tone.
Duplicates:—Where one character may be written in two or more forms, that form which is commonly used has been adopted. Where two forms are commonly written, both have been inserted; but, as the aim has been to illustrate the spoken language, as few as possible of such duplicates have been given.
Numerary Adjuncts:—N. A. stands for "Numerary Adjunct," or "Classifier." These, where they occur, are usually placed at the end of the list of examples. Such as cannot be translated are indexed under "Numerary Adjunct." Those that are translated are indexed as ordinary words; e. g., "bundle," "handful," etc.
Proverbs:—Many common proverbs will be found scattered throughout the book. The subjects of these have been indexed under the head "Proverbs."
Words without Characters:—Most of the words without characters are very common and useful words. Some of these might have been classed under certain characters, but, as there is a measure of uncertainty about their identity, the compiler has not presumed to allocate them.
Omissions:—Omissions are often significant and should be noted; e. g., 上4 has two tones for purposes of poetry, but only one in speaking; also 去4 and others.
Errata:—Unavoidable absence from China has made it impossible for the writer to do full justice to the work while passing through the press, and, but for the assistance of friends in Shanghai, its appearance would have been considerably delayed.
For the same reason it is to be regretted that some errors have passed into print. Students should carefully note the corrections given under "Errata" at the end of the book.
The writer is indebted to Mr. Vale, C. I. Mission, Chʻen-tu, who kindly revised the greater part of the manuscript, and to many other friends for help and encouragement.
If all who use the book derive from it a tithe of the profit and pleasure which the writer has obtained from the compilation of it, he will be doubly rewarded.
His earnest prayer is, that it may, above all, prove a help to fellow-workers in their efforts to reach the Chinese with the "good news of God concerning His Son."
Shanghai, November, 1900.