Modern Chinese Dictionary

Compilation of History

Publishing Background

In the 1950s, Chinese dictionaries published in the 1950s all used simple classical Chinese to interpret meanings, which broke away from the reality of the public's spoken language.

On February 6, 1956, the State Council instructed the Institute of Languages ​​of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now the Institute of Languages ​​of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) to compile a medium-sized modern Chinese dictionary for the purpose of determining vocabulary norms .

In June 1958, the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was officially opened.

In July 1956, the Institute of Linguistics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Xinhua Dictionary Office, and the Chinese Dictionary Editing Office under the Character Reform Commission jointly formed the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" editing room. The biggest problem encountered by the editing room is that there is no dictionary of its kind to refer to, and everything starts from scratch.

Before the formal compilation, the editorial office carried out data collection from 1958 to 1959, and constructed vocabulary from available domestic and foreign modern Chinese books, newspapers, magazines, etc., each word is separate Recorded on the card, and finally collected more than 700,000 cards, plus the more than 300,000 cards when the Xinhua Dictionary Office was compiling the "Xinhua Dictionary", the compilation of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was based on more than 1 million cards. .

Because of the urgent task of "Modern Chinese Dictionary", the trial version of 1960 adopted the method of finalizing part of the manuscript and printing part of it. 1,000 copies were printed and sent to universities, schools, and research institutes for revision and approval. Beginning in 1961, the review opinions from various regions have been fed back one after another. After more than two years of revision, the editorial office finalized the trial version in 1964 and published the trial version in 1965. But the next 10 years have become a nightmare for "Modern Chinese Dictionary".

In 1966, the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" continued to be revised, and the revised manuscript was sent to the Commercial Press. However, during the review process of the publishing house, the "Cultural Revolution" began and related work was forced to stop. In 1970, the staff of the dictionary editing office was transferred to the "May 7 Cadre School" in Xixian County, Henan Province along with the Language Institute, and only returned to Beijing in 1972.

In 1973, the trial version of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was published internally.

In May 1975, the National Publishing Bureau and the Ministry of Education decided at a meeting that the Language Research Institute established a "three-combination revision group" to revise the "Modern Chinese Dictionary".

In August 1975, the revision of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" began. At the end of October, 9 workers from the Liaoyuan Coal Mine in Hancheng, Shaanxi came to the Language Institute. In December, 10 workers from the Beijing Radio Joint Factory joined. In February 1976, the revision team added 3 personnel from the Political Department of the Beijing Military Region.

The "three-in-one revision team" of more than 50 people basically couldn't work. The representative put forward many opinions that made researchers laugh or cry. For example, the example sentence that suggested the "mountain alliance" is: "We swear to each other with Chairman Mao." The worker master of the wireless power plant asked to add such sentence examples: learn wool selection, practice, start early, go to bed late, and learn more after tea and dinner, because "this is what we often say."

The "Three Combinations" greatly interfered with the revision of "Modern Chinese Dictionary". In 1976, the "Gang of Four" collapsed. In the spring of 1977, the workers and PLA personnel of the "Three Combinations Revision Group" were cleared of language centers. The dictionary editing room had to spend nearly a year re-editing the manuscripts in an effort to eliminate the influence of the extreme left. In December 1978, the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was finally officially published.

Not long after the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was released, the editorial office discovered that the dictionary still had some problems left over from the "Cultural Revolution" and it was necessary to revise it as soon as possible. In 1983, the second edition of the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was launched, also known as the "reset edition".

Since 1993, the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" has entered the second revision work, and has undergone 4 revisions in the following 19 years.

A Short History of Publication

The "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was officially opened in early 1958.

In 1978, the first edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was published, with 56,000 words and a price of 5.40 yuan.

In 1983, the second edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" came out, with 56,000 words and a price of 5.50 yuan;

In 1996, the third edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was published. It received 61,000 words and was priced at 55.00 yuan;

In 2002, the fourth edition of the "Modern Chinese Dictionary", which is the supplement to the third edition, came out, with 61,000 words and the price was 60.00 yuan.

In 2005, the fifth edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was published. This revision started in 1999 and lasted 6 years. It collected 65,000 words and was priced at 68.00 yuan.

In 2012, after the fifth revision work started in 2008, the sixth edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was published with 69,000 words and a price of 95.00 yuan.

In September 2016, the Commercial Press published "Modern Chinese Dictionary" (7th edition) with a price of 109.00 yuan.

Compiling anecdotes

In 1974, the "Primary Lin and Confucianism" movement began. Seven workers at the Liaoyuan Coal Mine in Hancheng County, Shaanxi posted a big-character poster titled "Who is Good for Objectivism". The news quickly spread to Beijing. Yao Wenyuan instructed: It is worth noting that the problem is very prominent.

This round of criticism of the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" is very fierce. The dictionary is called "a hodgepodge of entitlement, capital, and revision". "Its publication is very inconsistent with the great revolutionary situation currently in-depth development in our country. , It can even be said that they are playing against the tune of the "Pan Lin Pi Confucian" movement initiated and led by Chairman Mao himself."

Take "Yu Bin"'s "Reprint of Criticism" as an example, in the article "Modern Chinese Dictionary" can be described as "inferior": "The "Modern Chinese Dictionary" first touted Kong Lao Er as a "sage", when mentioning "classic", the first one to mention is "Confucian classics", and then it talks about religion Classics, that is, the works of Marxism-Leninism and Chairman Mao are not mentioned as classics." Finally, the article concluded the "Modern Chinese Dictionary": "Related to the fact that there is no example sentence praising the great leader Chairman Mao in the whole book, we are totally OK. I believe that this performance in the collection is a reactionary political tendency."

Under fierce criticism, the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was required to be destroyed. Under Chen Yuan's dealings with the Commercial Press, The dictionary escaped the catastrophe.

Dictionary Catalog

Note: The catalog of each edition has been slightly adjusted. The following is the catalog of "Modern Chinese Dictionary (6th Edition)".

One: Legend

Two: Syllable table

Three: New and old glyph comparison table

Four: Radical checklist

(1) List of radicals

(2) Check list

(3) Index of difficult characters and strokes

5: Dictionary text (Attached with words starting with Western letters)

6: Appendices

(1) China's chronology table

(2) Measurement unit table

(3) List of Chinese Characters Radical Names

(4) Chinese Pinyin Scheme

(5) Periodic Table of Elements

(6) Map of China

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Revision and update

After the official publication of "Modern Chinese Dictionary", it has undergone 5 revisions, each time it has been further improved on the basis of maintaining the original advantages in order to strive for excellence.

First revision

(1980-1983), minor revision, the second edition after publication. Additions, deletions and adjustments were made to the collections and notes, focusing on further eliminating the influence of the "Cultural Revolution" in terms of ideological content.

Second revision

(1993-1996), overhauled, the third edition after publication. More than 61,000 entries are included, and efforts are made to increase the income of new words and meanings that have appeared after the reform and opening up. The appendix adds words starting with Western letters, and implements the new standard for pronunciation examination of different pronunciations in Mandarin. Words no longer adopt the way of listing articles. Due to space reasons, the four-corner number checklist has been deleted before the main text.

In the third edition of 1996, more than 9,000 words were added and 4,000 were deleted. Due to the long interval (13 years), at that time, it was just in the early stage of reform and opening up. The country developed very fast in all aspects, and the new words and meanings reflecting new things increased correspondingly, so more than 9,000 new words were added.

Third revision

(2002), minor revision, 4th edition after publication. More than 1,200 new words have been added to this edition, printed in pink pages and attached to the back of the main text.

The 2002 supplement is based on the 1996 revision with more than 1,200 new words and new meanings. Among the new words, there are "Deng Xiaoping Theory", "Three Represents", "Knowledge Economy", "Quality Education" and other words closely related to politics and social life; there are also a large number of words reflecting the new development of science and technology, such as "Nanotechnology" ", "Bluetooth", "Broadband", "Genetically Modified", etc.; many things that are closely related to the lives of the people and therefore attract attention can also be explained in the supplement, such as "sandstorm", "air quality", "Gini coefficient" "Wait. In addition to new words, some words have also been added with new meanings; in view of the fact that many Western alphabetic words are frequently seen in newspapers, the supplement has selected more than 140 commonly used words to be added to the appendix to meet the needs of readers. In addition, taking advantage of this supplementary opportunity, the 2002 supplement "Modern Chinese Dictionary" also revised some character forms in accordance with the regulations of relevant state departments, which further improved the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" in terms of standardization.

Fourth revision

(1999-2005), with more than 65,000 entries. Re-examine the homographs, separable words, etc., implement the "First Batch of Variant Words List", and comprehensively mark parts of speech on the basis of distinguishing words and non-words.

The fifth edition of 2005 added 7,200 new words, and many words introduced into the mainland from Hong Kong and Taiwan are also included in the fifth edition of the "Modern Chinese Dictionary", such as "funny" and "mask" , "Make a show" and so on.

The fourth revision lasted 6 years, and the book included about 65,000 words, which basically reflected the appearance of modern Chinese vocabulary in 2005. At the same time, the fifth edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" further comprehensively implements the national language norms and scientific and technological terminology norms. According to the "First Batch of Variant Words Sorting List" published by the country in 2002, the vocabulary is divided into standardized words and variant words, and the standardized words are listed as the recommended standard.

Fifth revision

(2008—2012), overhauled, and the sixth edition after publication. The sixth edition of the revision follows the consistent purpose of the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" as a guide and norm, and based on the principle of universality, it has absorbed the latest achievements of relevant experts and scholars, and carefully determined the shape and sound of the characters in accordance with the norms and standards; Different relationships have been sorted out; more than 600 single characters have been added (mainly in place names, surnames, and scientific and technological characters), and more than 13,000 single characters of various types have been collected. More than 3,000 new words and other words were added, more than 400 new meanings were added, a small number of obsolete words and word meanings were deleted, and more than 69,000 entries were collected.

The revision of the sixth edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" insists on taking academic research as the forerunner, focusing on scientific and systematic revision work. More than a dozen related topics have been set up from various links such as collection of words, collection of words, interpretation, and examples, and investigations and studies have been carried out one by one. When revising, make full use of various corpora to select or test new words, new meanings and new usages, and strive to reflect the new look of vocabulary development in recent years and the new results of related research. Following the consistent aim of promoting the standardization of modern Chinese, in addition to fully and correctly implementing the previous national norms and standards on language and science and technology, we also pay attention to absorbing and reflecting the relevant issues formulated and revised by experts and scholars organized by the National Language Working Committee in recent years. The latest achievements of norms and standards in terms of glyphs, phonetics, etc.

Revisions refer to the comments of the National Language Commission's "Basic Rules of Chinese Phonetic Orthography" and the "Putonghua Unvoiced Words Standards", and revised the phonetic notation of the entries; in addition, according to In terms of categories, comprehensive inspections and revisions have been made to the interpretations of spoken words, dialect words, classical Chinese words, specialized words, foreign words, and Western alphabet words. According to experts, the sixth edition also added nearly a hundred illustrations of ancient artifacts in conjunction with the interpretation, and revised the checklist and appendices in accordance with relevant standards and new research results.

In order for the new version of the dictionary to meet readers with high quality, the editorial department has invested a lot of manpower, including 11 proofreading times. In the printing and packaging process, various printing companies regard "Modern Chinese Dictionary" as a major cultural project. They not only set up special production workshops, but also establish special printing and packaging processes, formulate special management measures, and implement strict storage and transportation plans.

Content update

On July 15, 2012, "Modern Chinese Dictionary" (6th edition) was first published in Beijing, with words from Hong Kong and Taiwan The entries showed strong influence, and distinctive vocabulary such as "fighting, gossip" and "choking, worshipping tickets" were included.

The new version of the dictionary received a total of more than 13,000 words, the number of entries increased to more than 69,000, and nearly 3,000 new words were added. The scale of revision is unprecedented, and there are no lack of "thunder" and " Internet hot words such as "Geely", there are also foreign words such as ECFA (the cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement), PM2.5 (inhalable particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns floating in the air).

Introduced by Jiang Lansheng, the former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the president of the Chinese Lexicographical Society, and the host of the sixth edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary". For example, words such as "Mother's Day and Valentine's Day" from the West reflect the exchange and integration of Chinese and Western cultures; "low-carbon, emission reduction, and second-hand smoke" can show the increase in environmental protection awareness of the Chinese people; Nouns such as, Daren, Angry Youth, Famous Mouth, Banana Man, Ant Clan, etc. directly reflect some new social groups and their characteristics; Words such as ”, hush money” reflect some negative effects on people’s values ​​during the period of social transformation.

As seen in the new dictionary, the influence of dialect words or regional words on Mandarin can also be seen. For example, new items from Taiwan include "choking, support, embarrassment, MRT, cheating, software, hardware, pipeline" and "vote, thank you, platform" related to election culture. The Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao regions also have a great influence on Mandarin. In addition to the "paying bills and firing" in the 5th edition, the 6th edition also includes "gossips, jokes, paparazzi, nonsensical, hand-written letters" and so on.

Because of the extensive influence of Zhao Benshan's sketches and TV dramas, the Northeast dialects such as "Flicker, Ripse, Designation" and other dialects have also been included this time.

Behind the revisions

The addition or deletion of a word must pass at least three passes

The revision of "Modern Chinese Dictionary", each A specific revision work almost has to go through constant discussion, and it is impossible to get it in place all at once through the iterative process of changing it and then changing it back.

In the revision process of the 6th edition, the revision team was divided into several groups according to the dictionary entries, including language group, science and technology group, philosophy and community group, etc. Some of the team members have PhD degrees, and some have years of experience in compiling dictionaries.

The revision team also set up a research group specifically to collect new words. The new word research group collects new words extensively through a well-designed new word search program. In addition, the members of the working group should usually record and pay attention to the reading materials.

Although the 6th edition finally added more than 3,000 new words, the number of new words collected through the research group far exceeds this number.

Whether a new word can be included in the dictionary requires at least three screenings. The first is the first screening of group members. The new words collected by the new word research group are often relatively coarse and wide in scope, requiring manual screening and intervention. This is the first hurdle, the second hurdle is the team leader’s suggestion for amendments, and the third hurdle has to be checked by the chief reviewer. In addition, there will be a review process in the later stage, in which experts, scholars and social forces are invited to conduct a final review of the revised manuscript.

What kind of words have been deleted? ——Pure classical Chinese words and outdated transliterated words

The 5th edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" has deleted about 2000 old words. The deleted entries mainly include the following aspects: pure classical Chinese words, such as "carrying two (two hearts; centrifugal), eunuchs (eunuchs), Jin Jin (tribute to the emperor for sacrifices by princes)", etc.; Use narrow dialect words, such as "Baixiangren (a person who is idle and evil; a gangster), Digener (basic; always), Sayazi (let go and run)", etc.; outdated transliteration words, such as "Amateur (amateur) Lovers), bitterness (coup d’etat), Fan Yaling (violin)" etc.; words that reflect outdated things and are no longer used, such as "bangkou (in the old society, local or industry borrowing from fellow villagers or other relationships) Combined small groups), land wealth (referring to private properties buried in the ground during the land reform period), and withdrawal (landlord forcibly repossessing the land leased to farmers for farming)" and so on.

What kind of word meaning should be revised? ——Words that are prone to ambiguity

The 6th edition also revised the definitions of some words. For example, the term low price, the old version of the definition of low price is "lower than the average price." After repeated discussions, experts believe that this interpretation is prone to ambiguity. It can be interpreted as a price that is "lower than the general price", and its part of speech is nominal; it can also be understood as lower than the "general price", so it is verbal. After many demonstrations, the experts finally decided to modify this interpretation, which was changed to "lower price" in the new version.

Why the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" has achieved outstanding and groundbreaking achievements.

The two chief editors of "Modern Chinese Dictionary", Mr. Lu Shuxiang and Mr. Ding Shengshu, are both well-known linguists at home and abroad. They are members of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. High achievements have been made in many fields such as Chinese grammar, character reform, phonology, exegesis, grammar, dialects, dictionary compilation, and collation of ancient books. Mr. Lu presided over the compilation of the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" for more than four years, determined the compilation rules, and completed the "trial print", laying a solid foundation for the "Modern Chinese Dictionary". Mr. Ding has been in charge of editing and finalizing the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" for more than ten years. On the basis of the "trial version", he has carefully revised and improved the dictionary words and phrases.

Its reviewers are all top-level Chinese masters in China. For example, Wang Li, a professor at Peking University. His "Manuscripts of Chinese History" and "Modern Chinese Grammar" have long become classics of linguistics. The 20 volumes of the brilliant work "Wang Li's Collected Works" established his position as a master of linguistics; Li Jinxi, Beijing Professor of Normal University, former Director of the Compilation Office of the Chinese Dictionary, and editor of the Chinese Dictionary of Chinese Language, which was influential during the Republic of China. His masterpiece "New Chinese Grammar" has influenced several generations of linguists; Wei Jiangong, Professor of Peking University , Used to serve as the president of Xinhua Dictionary Society, and edited China's first new-type normative dictionary "Xinhua Dictionary". He has made outstanding contributions to phonology, text and ancient books collation. Others such as Lu Zhiwei, Li Rong, Lu Zongda, Ye Laishi, Ye Shengtao, Zhou Dingyi, Zhou Zumo, Shi Mingyuan, Zhou Haoran, Zhu Wenshu, etc., the review committee members of the 5th edition in 2005 Cao Xianzhen, Chao Jizhou, Chen Yuan, Dong Kun, Han Jingti, Hu Mingyang, Jiang Lansheng, Liu Qinglong, Lu Jianming, Lu Zunwu, Shen Jiaxuan, Su Peicheng, Wang Ning, Xu Shu, Zhou Mingjian, and the host of the sixth edition, Jiang Lansheng, are all highly accomplished experts in linguistics and lexicography.

Because of the two presided over by Mr. Lv Shuxiang and Ding Shengshu, a group of top-level language experts have reviewed and contributed their talents, and the overall level of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" can reach unprecedented heights. , And achieved outstanding and pioneering achievements in terms of collection, phonetic notation, interpretation, and use cases.

Writer

Review Committee

Trial copy

Fifth Edition p>

Sixth Edition

Chao Jizhou

• Editor-in-chief of the trial print in 1960 (1956-1960)Lu Shuxiang b>

Main editor

• Editor-in-chief of the 1965 trial version (1961-1965)Ding ShengshuAssist Li Rong

Data personnel

• First edition of 1978 (1973-1978) Editor-in-ChiefDing Shengshu< /b>Main revision staff

Min Jiaji

Liu Qinglong

Sun Dexuan

Han Jingti

Li Guoyan

Lv Tianchen

Li Bochun

Mo Heng

Wu Changheng

Wu Chongkang

Lu Zhuoyuan

Qu Hanzhang

Liu Jiexiu

Li Yuying

Zhang Yuzhong

Sing Yaohai

Zhou Dingyi

Guan Xiechu

Shao Rongfen

Wang Kezhong

Mai Meiqiao

Bai Wanru

Huang Xuezhen

Jin Youjing

Cao Jianfen

Liu Lianyuan

Chen Jiayou

Liu Fengyun

Xia Yimin

Data Staff

• 1996 revision (third edition) (1993-1996) revision reviewShan Yaohai 、Han Jingti Main revision staff

Computer processing and data personnel

• The fifth edition of 2005 (1999-2005) revised hostChao Jizhou、 b>Han Jingti

People who participated in the revision Members (arranged in surname sequence)

Lu Zunwu

Participants of partial revision

Information personnel: Guo Xiaomei, Wang Qingli

Person in charge of part-of-speech tagging review: Xu Shu

Person in charge of reviewing philosophical articles: Dong Kun

Review of science and technology items Person in charge: Zhou Mingjian

• 2012 6th Edition (2008-2012) Revision Host:Jiang Lansheng ,Tan Jingchun, Cheng RongParticipants in the revision

Participants of partial revision

Information staff: Guo Xiaomei, Wang Qingli

Honors and Awards

In 1993, the first Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Award for Outstanding Scientific Research Achievements.

In 1994, the first National Book Award.

In 1997, the first prize of the Second National Dictionary Award.

In 2002, the first prize of the 4th Wu Yuzhang Humanities and Social Science Award.

In 2007, the first China Publishing Government Award Book Award.

Appreciation and Appreciation

Many of the new words included in the sixth edition have oral and dialect colors, which are in line with the needs of modern language life. Flowing relationship". (Professor of Beijing Language and Culture UniversityLi Yumingreview)

"I have lived to be more than 80 years old, it can be said that there will not be a day The dictionary is not searched, because it accompanies people for life. The "Modern Chinese Dictionary" is a decades-old product. Almost every teacher has one copy. It is not only useful for teenagers during school, but also affects people for a lifetime." ( Yu Yizeng, a famous Chinese educator)

These new words in "Modern Chinese Dictionary" fully reflect the new things, new concepts, and new changes in social life that have emerged in the new era in China And people’s new ideas reflect the rapid growth of China’s wealth, the increasing awareness of environmental protection and some of the existing social problems. (British "Daily Telegraph")

Publication significance and influence

Publication significance

Publishing of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" It fills up the blank of our country's normative language dictionary. When foreign leaders visited China in the 1950s and 1960s, some would give their own dictionary to the Chinese government as a gift. At that time, we could only give back a copy of "Xinhua Dictionary", which was not commensurate with the status of a big country. .

The "Modern Chinese Dictionary" summarizes the achievements of the Chinese vernacular movement since the 20th century. Fully regulated.

The "Modern Chinese Dictionary" has reached a new height in dictionary theory, compilation level, and editing quality. It is a model work for the compilation and publication of dictionaries. Its large circulation and wide range of applications are rare in the history of the world's dictionaries; its unification and standardization of modern Chinese, the research, learning and correct application of modern Chinese, and the expansion of the exchanges between China and all ethnic groups in the world. Important influence.

After the publication of "Modern Chinese Dictionary", it has become a must for teachers and students from all walks of life, especially teachers and students in elementary and middle schools, researchers, reporters, editors, announcers, presenters, secretaries and even judges. Language reference books have become an important basis for college entrance examination examination papers, broadcast hosts, newspaper editors, legal rulings, formulation and revision of national language policies and regulations.

The "Modern Chinese Dictionary" is not only one of the most important reference books for Chinese people all over the world to study modern Chinese, but also known as the "Bible" for people in many countries and regions in the world to study and learn Chinese. So far, in addition to the mainland Chinese version, the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" also has a Singapore version, a Korean version, and a Hong Kong version.

The "Modern Chinese Dictionary" also provides a good Chinese blueprint for the compilation of various Chinese and foreign dictionaries. Since the 1980s, various Chinese and foreign dictionaries have sprung up, like a hundred flowers blooming. One of the very important reasons is the publication of the "Modern Chinese Dictionary". Therefore, the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" not only plays an active role in "promoting common activities and promoting the standardization of Chinese" in the country and internationally.

Social Responsibility

The "Modern Chinese Dictionary" shoulders the tasks assigned by the state to promote Mandarin and promote the standardization of Chinese. For the language standards that have been formulated and promulgated, it must implement it; for areas that have not yet formed a standard, it must clarify the normative guidance according to the law of language development and the principles of conventions, guide readers to use, and create conditions for the formulation of norms and standards. For the inadequate parts of the existing norms and standards, it must supplement and make appropriate amendments to make them more complete, so as to prepare conditions for the revision of these standards. Language is constantly evolving and therefore requires constant regulation. The "Modern Chinese Dictionary" needs to reflect the development of Chinese in a timely manner and continuously promote the standardization of Chinese.

Dictionary controversy

Joint report

On August 28, 2012, including Li Minsheng, researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the inventor of "Wubi font" More than 100 scholars, including Wang Yongmin and translator Jiang Feng, jointly signed a letter of reporting, stating that the 6th edition of the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" published by the Commercial Press in 2012 contains 239 words starting with "NBA" and other Western letters, which violates The "Law of the People's Republic of China on the National Common Language and Written Language", the "Publication Management Regulations of the State Council" (Order No. 594 of the State Council) and other laws and regulations. Regarding this, Jiang Lansheng, the host of the 6th edition of "Xian Han", said that the relevant regulations are that alphabetic words cannot be abused, which is two different things from appending alphabetic words to the dictionary for readers to find easily.

Li Minsheng said that language and writing are the foundation of Chinese culture. The introduction of English into the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" is a fundamental destruction of the foundation of Chinese culture and a substantial destruction of Chinese characters. Regarding this, Jiang Lansheng said that the relevant regulations of the General Administration of Press and Publication must not abuse alphabetic words. It is not the same thing as attaching alphabetic words commonly used in daily life to let everyone have a place to check. Letter words are an objective existence. The regulations do not say that the use of letter words is prohibited. The abbreviation of CCTV is CCTV. People go to the hospital to take a B-scan CT. With PM2.5 in air quality, can you leave these letter words in daily life? The dictionary is accompanied by commonly used letter words for the convenience of readers.

Huang Anjing, the deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine "Ziwen Cheuzi", known as "Yulin Woodpecker", said that the term "violating laws and regulations" is a bit too much. Light. In fact, there is no law that does not allow the use of alphabetic words, and it is unrealistic to prohibit the use of alphabetic words.

Collection of New Words

The sixth edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" was officially released in 2012. The "leftover man", "leftover woman" and "shen" are widely used in the daily language environment. Hot words such as "Ma" have not been included in the new version of "Modern Chinese Dictionary", which has caused some controversy.

The editor-in-chief of the sixth edition of "Modern Chinese Dictionary" Jiang Lansheng explained: "'Shenma' is only a temporary usage, a playful usage. As a standard interrogative word, we have interrogative pronouns. What's, why do we interfere with it with the'shenma'?"

"It's not that the more new words we include, the more we will keep pace with the times." Hao Mingjian, editor-in-chief of "Chew Words", also believes that "in the social transformation With the help of factors and the Internet, our country is now entering an unprecedented explosion of Chinese creativity and the whole people participating in the language carnival stage of "word-making and sentence-making". Many trendy words and trendy language may be short-lived and fleeting. Dictionary editing may wish to keep a little bit more than language life. The speed of'slow a few beats' allows it to go through a process of scouring the sand and filtering through accumulation, otherwise it will burden people's language life."

In addition to the standards of versatility and vitality, some experts believe that, Values ​​and social effects are also one of the criteria that must be considered in language normative reference books such as "Modern Chinese Dictionary".

For example, "leftover men" and "leftover women" are not included. Jiang Lansheng said, "For people who cannot get married in time for various reasons, they have various reasons", so this expression does not respect people. .

Does the selection of words need to reflect humanistic care? This view has caused controversy. Huang Yufeng, a special-grade teacher at the High School Affiliated to Fudan University, believes that he agrees that the “leftover men” and “leftover women” lose the election, but he does not think that their value orientation is wrong, but that they have not been through for long enough.

"There should be no double standards for word selection. The only standard for a dictionary is the language itself." Many experts insist on this view. They believe that for the sake of authentic records and easy access, the choice of words should be regardless of praise and criticism, and not lose objectivity in taboo. Only in this way can we show respect for language.

In fact, the sixth edition dictionary also contains a lot of negative words, "hidden rules", "rebates", "hush money", etc., all reflect the dark side of society. Zhang Yiwu believes: "They do reflect some phenomena existing in the current society, so it is normal to be included."