Pinyin news

The latest excerpt from Yin Binyong’s book on Pinyin orthography covers how to write four-syllable idioms in Hanyu Pinyin (929 KB PDF). Here’s a key passage:

almost all four-character idioms can be broken in two halves, called yǔjié 语节 (language segments), on the basis of phonetic structure. The simple expedient of connecting the two yǔjié with a hyphen then provides idioms with their own distinctive written form, and assures ease of writing and reading. It is also a simple rule for students of HP to master.

But not all four-syllable idioms follow this rule, as the reading shows.

This is a worthwhile reading for Mandarin learners, even if you’re not particularly interested in Pinyin. There are many examples of idioms here, all given in Hanzi, Pinyin, and English.

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Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has put online its new Taiwanese (Hoklo) dictionary, the Táiwān Mǐnnányǔ chángyòngcí cídiǎn (giving the Mandarin name) (臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典). The preliminary version, which is to be amended in six months, contains 16,000 entries.

I especially welcome the section on Taiwan place-names.

further reading: MOE launches first Hoklo-language online dictionary, Taipei Times, October 20, 2008 [Note: The headline's use of "first" is almost certainly incorrect.]

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Ten years ago John DeFrancis was awarded the Chinese Language Teachers Association’s first lifetime achievement award. Since he could not be present at the association’s annual conference to receive the award, he sent a videotape of a 12-minute acceptance speech. The video was recently edited down to 6:27 and uploaded to YouTube: John DeFrancis remarks.

Here’s my summary of the main points:

0:00 — While working on what he intended to be a largely political study of Chinese nationalism, DeFrancis encountered references to people who wanted China to adopt an alphabetic writing system, an idea which he initially dismissed. But discovering Lu Xun’s interest in romanization led him to investigate the matter further. [I'm frustrated by the cut away from this discussion. Perhaps a fuller version of the video will be posted later.]
1:30 — Emphasizes he’s not in favor of completely abandoning Chinese characters. Rather, he favors digraphia.
2:30 — “I’d like to mention three aspects of the Chinese field which have interested me.”

1. pedagogy (2:50) — lots of advancements
2. linguistic aspect (3:20) — that’s also progressing well
3. socio-linguistics (3:52) — the field isn’t doing as well as it should be

5:00 — computers and Chinese characters. DeFrancis tears into the Chinese government for its emphasis on shape-based character-input methods rather than Pinyin.

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For those who don’t know an ogonek from a retroflex hook — and sometimes for those who do — finding a needed letter with a diacritical mark can be a time-consuming process. (I look forward to the days when combining marks are much better supported.)

So I made a chart with lots of — but certainly not all — diacritics, sorted alphabetically by appearance as well as name and sound. That means, for example, that a thorn (þ) can be found under p as well as under t (as in th), even though — I know, I know — p and þ are unrelated.

Perhaps some people will find it quicker to use than going through the various Unicode charts or searching through various other charts in which the letters are grouped by sound rather than appearance. Someone has probably already made one of these, and done a better job. But I didn’t have any luck finding it before hacking out my own.

Here it is, for what it’s worth: letters with diacritical marks, grouped alphabetically.

I hope some people find it useful.

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Under the new administration of President Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has worked out its plan for teaching pretty much everything … except for Hoklo (the language better known in these parts as “Taiwanese”). There have been a lot of arguments. How early to start teaching the language? How much should be taught? Use romanization? Use zhuyin? May teachers use any kind of soap or only special kinds when washing out the mouths of students speaking the language? (OK, they don’t do that last one anymore.)

So the ministry has decided to appoint a new committee to review such questions. Decisions on these issues are expected in six months or so.

My guess would be that the ministry is going to pack the new committee with conservatives who will see to it that romanization is avoided or at least belittled, that little of the language will actually be taught, and that students will not be tested seriously on the subject. But I’ll be happy if I’m wrong.

sources:

• Jiǔ nián yīguàn kè gāng wēitiáo — dúquē Mǐnnányǔ kè gāng bùfen (九年一貫課綱微調 獨缺閩南語課綱部分), CNA, August 27, 2008
• Jiǔ nián yīguàn kè gāng wēitiáo — dú lòu Mǐnnányǔ (九年一貫課綱微調 獨漏閩南語), Liberty Times, August 28, 2008

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High-ranking Kyrgyz officials are now reportedly saying that having Kyrgyzstan switch from the Cyrillic to the Roman alphabet would cost more money than the country can afford for the project at present. A later switch has not been ruled out.

sources:

• Kyrgyzstan will not shift to Latin alphabet, Kazakhstan Today, April 3, 2008
• В Кыргызстане пока не будут переходить на латиницу, Казахстан Сегодня (Kazakhstan Today), April 3, 2008
• Kyrgyzstan may join trend, adopt the Roman alphabet, Pinyin News, February 15, 2008

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Asel translates and summarizes remarks by Tashboo Jumagulov (Ташбоо Жумагулов), chairman of Kyrgyzstan’s state language commission, and Kyrgyz legislator Zainidin Kurmanov (Зайнидин Курманов) on the possibility of Kyrgyzstan switching from the Cyrillic to the Roman alphabet, which was recently discussed in the Kyrgyz parliament.

Both Jumagulov and Kurmanov seem to regard the switch as inevitable, though the latter voiced concern that the switch is done carefully and not rushed.

Kyrgyzstan is not to be confused with its neighbor, Kazakhstan, which has been seesawing on its own proposed switch to the Roman alphabet.

sources:

• Cyrillic vs Roman?, New Eurasia, February 14, 2008
• Зайнидин Курманов: «Если у других стран для перехода на латиницу есть необходимые условия: газ, нефть и свободные средства, то у нас ничего этого нет», Bishkek Press Club, February 14, 2008

On Kazakhstan’s proposed switch:

• Kazakhstan backtracks on move from Cyrillic to Roman alphabet?, Pinyin News, December 14, 2007
• Kazakhstan plans switch to Latin alphabet, Pinyin News, November 18, 2007

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Since earlier this month when I wrote a post on Dungan-language radio, I’ve discovered that Olli Salmi has some great Dungan material on his website, including a paper he wrote and a couple of stories in Dungan, including one he has translated into English.

• Central Asian Dungan as a Chinese Dialect
• Laohu Dai Dacaidi (”Tiger and the Woodchopper”): in English translation, and in Dungan in the Cyrillic alphabet and Dungan in the Roman alphabet
• Lixin: in Dungan in the Cyrillic alphabet and the Roman alphabet

And for lagniappe he offers “An Unofficial Practical Orthography for the Kiowa Language.”

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