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发表于 2009-1-14 22:08:28
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英文稿-推介
Linguistic Atlas of Chinese Dialects
By Cáo Zhìyún (Chief Compiler)
Published by the Commercial Press, Beijing, November 2008
The Linguistic Atlas of Chinese Dialects is the world’s first atlas to map the distribution of characteristic dialect features based on original fieldwork at the actual dialect sites, and is a pioneering work that reflects the essential outlines of all the Chinese dialects in the 20th century. This Atlas is an indispensable reference book for linguists and language researchers. Compiled during 7 years cooperative research by 57 researchers from 34 colleges, universities, and research institutes in China and abroad, the Atlas includes 510 dialect maps based on surveys of 930 sites in Chinese dialect speaking regions throughout China. All maps are printed in color in a 430×320mm page layout, on 157 gram copperplate paper, and are bound with a deluxe cover. The price of the entire 3 volume set is RMB 1980 yuan. Individually, the Phonetics volume is RMB 810 yuan, the Lexicon volume is RMB 720 yuan, and the Grammar volume is RMB 450 yuan.
The Chinese dialects have a long history, are profuse in number, and highly complex. They are one of the most ancient and rich sources of linguistic culture in the world today, a precious legacy of Chinese culture and human civilization. From the mid 20th century, in the wake of rapid developments in economy, culture, education, and transportation infrastructure in China, the Chinese dialects have undergone immense change. Characteristic features of the dialects in every local are swiftly disappearing. Some of the weaker, minor dialects are fast approaching extinction. It has become the urgent and imperative mission of China’s linguistic scholars to thoroughly and scientifically survey and describe the historical features of the Chinese dialects, to promptly rescue and preserve dialect data, thus to protect this linguistic and cultural heritage of China’s people.
The compilation of dialect atlases is an important method in this effort. It is an indispensable tool in the task of describing, exhibiting, and preserving a record of, the features and distribution of a large number of dialects across a wide-ranging area. Maps of the distribution of dialect characteristics (or “distributional maps”) are a principal format for dialect atlases, and are also a fundamental tool in various linguistic studies, including geographical linguistics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and linguistic typology. For a long time scholars in China and abroad have been earnestly awaiting the appearance of a comprehensive collection of maps of the distribution of dialect characteristics.
The project to research and compile the Linguistic Atlas of Chinese Dialects began in 2001 and was completed in 2008. The 57 researchers who took part in this project are from 34 colleges, universities, and research institutes in China and abroad. The project surveyed 930 sites throughout China (including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), including one site per county in southeast China. Except for surveys done in the provincial capitals and the cities selected as representative dialect sites, all surveys were done in countryside and village sites. Linguistic informants generally were male and born between 1931 and 1945. The items surveyed were all included on the questionnaire compiled expressly for this project by the project team, the Survey Handbook for the Linguistic Atlas of Chinese Dialects. There are 425 single character-reading entries, 470 lexical entries in 14 categories, and 110 grammar entries in 65 categories, for a total of 1005 entries. The main principles in the selection of questionnaire entries were: (1) that they be reflective of important differences between regions, and (2) that they reflect important historical developments. All data was collected at the actual sites of the dialect being surveyed. In addition to the traditional method of making handwritten notes of all forms in the questionnaire, digital audio recordings were made of all the data elicited.
After completion of the data entry and the proofreading, the data for all 930 sites was successfully entered into the “Database for the Linguistic Atlas of Chinese Dialects.” The project team utilized the Topographic Database of the National Fundamental Geographic Information System of China (NFGIS) and ArcView 9.1 mapping software to develop a “Geographical Database of Chinese Dialects,” which was used to produce the dialect maps.
From the entire corpus of survey data, a set of 510 items was selected to use in developing maps that show the distribution of characteristic features of the Chinese dialects, organized into 3 sections, Phonetics, Lexicon, and Grammar. |
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