John Defrancis
Biographic Data
| ID | 3652292 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John Defrancis |
| GIVEN NAMES | John |
| FAMILY NAME | Defrancis |
| SIGNATURE | DEFRANCIS J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Hawaii System |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1954 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
ABC Chinese-English (Alphabetically Based Computerized) Dictionary
Graphemic indeterminacy in writing systems
The linguistic ideal calls for a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes or syllables on the one hand and the graphic symbols that represent them on the other. In some writing systems the orthgraphies have been systematized to the point of approximating this ideal, but in others that are characterized by graphemic indeterminacy their graphemes are multi-valent and their phonemes or syllables multi-represented. Although all writing systems cont…
"Rejoinder to Geoffrey Sampson, "Chinese script and the diversity of writing systems
L'A. examine de maniere critique les hypotheses de G. Sampson (1994) a propos du systeme d'ecriture chinois. La question est de savoir quels sont les criteres qui definissent un systeme d'ecriture comme etant partiel ou complet. L'A. propose deux criteres: a) la presence ou l'absence d'un element phonographique dans le systeme; b) le degre de fonctionnalite de ce systeme, c'est-a-dire s'il est possible d'apprendre ce systeme pour des raisons prat…
On Degendering English
This article recounts how the author came to be involved in the problem of degendering the English language, summarizes the rationale for doing so, presents a few specific examples of degendering, and notes how writers can find help for their own efforts to use non-sexist language
Writing reform
The Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars delayed publishing this response to the He shang symposium in the hope that the authors of He shang would write a reply to DeFrancis that could be published along with his response, but unfortunately the authors of He shang approached by BCAS never responded.In the symposium on the Chinese TV series He shang (Yellow River elegy) published by the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars in volume 23, number 3 (…
Visible Speech
Visible Speech
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 cont…
The Chinese Language
The Chinese Language
Cracking the Chinese Puzzles
The Chinese Language. Fact and Fantasy
China's literary renaissance
The leaders of the literary phase of the May Fourth Movement that began in the 1910s, in calling for a change from the Classical to the Vernacular style of writing, referred to the change as a “Literary Renaissance.” This was done to draw a parallel with the European Renaissance in its transition from Latin to Italian, French, English, and other vernaculars as a medium of written expression. Hu Shi, the first and foremost proponent of the Renaiss…
The Chinese Language
Digraphia
Beginning Chinese Reader, Parts I and II (Second Edition)
Annotated Quotations from Chairman Mao
This volume provides the original Chinese text together with a complete pinyin transcription of the famous little red book of Mao Tse-tung's thoughts on a wide range of topics. The annotation includes regular characters, simplified forms, pinyin transcription, and English definitions. Structural notes are provided for passages of special difficulty
Index Volume; Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Texts in Spoken and Written Chinese
The Time Factor in Language Learning
In measuring language‐teaching activities, especially when comparing programs, the question frequently arises as to how long it takes to attain a specified goal. The various units of measurement which have been used are all very imprecise and misleading because they generally overlook such time‐related aspects as student aptitude, relation between class hours and outside study, and number of students in class. All these are multiple aspects of th…
Intermediate Chinese Reader
A sequel to Beginning Chinese Reader, this work 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 as a means of audio-lingual reinforcement, and in narrative or expository form. Supplementary lessons present reading…
Beginning Chinese Reader
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 furthe…
Chinese-English Glossary of the Mathematical Sciences
Bibliography on Chinese Social History
Digraphia
Bibliography on Chinese Social History
"Rejoinder to Geoffrey Sampson, "Chinese script and the diversity of writing systems
L'A. examine de maniere critique les hypotheses de G. Sampson (1994) a propos du systeme d'ecriture chinois. La question est de savoir quels sont les criteres qui definissent un systeme d'ecriture comme etant partiel ou complet. L'A. propose deux criteres: a) la presence ou l'absence d'un element phonographique dans le systeme; b) le degre de fonctionnalite de ce systeme, c'est-a-dire s'il est possible d'apprendre ce systeme pour des raisons prat…
The Chinese Language
Bibliography on Chinese Social History
Chinese-English Glossary of the Mathematical Sciences
Beginning Chinese Reader
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 furthe…
Intermediate Chinese Reader
A sequel to Beginning Chinese Reader, this work 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 as a means of audio-lingual reinforcement, and in narrative or expository form. Supplementary lessons present reading…
Index Volume; Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Texts in Spoken and Written Chinese
The Time Factor in Language Learning
In measuring language‐teaching activities, especially when comparing programs, the question frequently arises as to how long it takes to attain a specified goal. The various units of measurement which have been used are all very imprecise and misleading because they generally overlook such time‐related aspects as student aptitude, relation between class hours and outside study, and number of students in class. All these are multiple aspects of th…
Annotated Quotations from Chairman Mao
This volume provides the original Chinese text together with a complete pinyin transcription of the famous little red book of Mao Tse-tung's thoughts on a wide range of topics. The annotation includes regular characters, simplified forms, pinyin transcription, and English definitions. Structural notes are provided for passages of special difficulty
Beginning Chinese Reader, Parts I and II (Second Edition)
The Chinese Language
Digraphia
China's literary renaissance
The leaders of the literary phase of the May Fourth Movement that began in the 1910s, in calling for a change from the Classical to the Vernacular style of writing, referred to the change as a “Literary Renaissance.” This was done to draw a parallel with the European Renaissance in its transition from Latin to Italian, French, English, and other vernaculars as a medium of written expression. Hu Shi, the first and foremost proponent of the Renaiss…
The Chinese Language
The Chinese Language
Cracking the Chinese Puzzles
The Chinese Language. Fact and Fantasy
Visible Speech
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 cont…
Visible Speech
Writing reform
The Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars delayed publishing this response to the He shang symposium in the hope that the authors of He shang would write a reply to DeFrancis that could be published along with his response, but unfortunately the authors of He shang approached by BCAS never responded.In the symposium on the Chinese TV series He shang (Yellow River elegy) published by the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars in volume 23, number 3 (…
"Rejoinder to Geoffrey Sampson, "Chinese script and the diversity of writing systems
L'A. examine de maniere critique les hypotheses de G. Sampson (1994) a propos du systeme d'ecriture chinois. La question est de savoir quels sont les criteres qui definissent un systeme d'ecriture comme etant partiel ou complet. L'A. propose deux criteres: a) la presence ou l'absence d'un element phonographique dans le systeme; b) le degre de fonctionnalite de ce systeme, c'est-a-dire s'il est possible d'apprendre ce systeme pour des raisons prat…
On Degendering English
This article recounts how the author came to be involved in the problem of degendering the English language, summarizes the rationale for doing so, presents a few specific examples of degendering, and notes how writers can find help for their own efforts to use non-sexist language
Graphemic indeterminacy in writing systems
The linguistic ideal calls for a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes or syllables on the one hand and the graphic symbols that represent them on the other. In some writing systems the orthgraphies have been systematized to the point of approximating this ideal, but in others that are characterized by graphemic indeterminacy their graphemes are multi-valent and their phonemes or syllables multi-represented. Although all writing systems cont…
ABC Chinese-English (Alphabetically Based Computerized) Dictionary
Philosophy (15 works) · History (14 works) · Linguistics (12 works) · Translation Studies and Practices (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (6 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Classics (4 works) · Literature (4 works)