The ABC Chinese–English Dictionary or ABC Dictionary (1996), compiled under the chief editorship of John DeFrancis, is the first Chinese dictionary to collate entries in single-sort alphabetical order of pinyin romanization, and a landmark in the history of Chinese lexicography. It was also the first publication in the University of Hawaiʻi Press's "ABC" (Alphabetically Based Computerized) series of Chinese dictionaries. They republished the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary in a pocket edition (1999) and desktop reference edition (2000), as well as the expanded ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary (2003), and dual ABC English–Chinese, Chinese–English Dictionary (2010). Furthermore, the ABC Dictionary databases have been developed into computer applications such as Wenlin Software for learning Chinese (1997).
History John DeFrancis (1911–2009) was an influential American sinologist, author of Chinese language textbooks, lexicographer of Chinese dictionaries, and Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. After he retired from teaching in 1976, DeFrancis was a prolific author of influential works such as The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy (1984) and Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems (1989).
Victor H. Mair, a sinologist and professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania, first proposed the idea of a computerized pinyin Chinese–English dictionary in his 1986 lexicographical review article. He defined "alphabetically arranged dictionary" to mean a dictionary in which all words (cí ) are "interfiled strictly according to pronunciation. This may be referred to as a 'single sort/tier/layer alphabetical' order or series." He emphatically does not mean a usual Chinese dictionary collated according to the initial single graphs (zì ) that are only the beginning syllables of whole words. "With the latter type of arrangement, more than one sort is required to locate a given term. The head character must first be found and then a separate sort is required for the next character, and so on." Mair's article had two purposes, to call the attention of his colleagues to the critical need for an alphabetically arranged Chinese dictionary and to enlist their help in making it a reality, and to suggest that all new sinological reference tools should at least include alphabetically ordered indices. "Someone who already knows the pronunciation of a given expression but not its meaning should not be cruelly burdened by having to fuss with radicals, corners, strokes, and what not. Let him go directly to the object of his search instead of having to make endless, insufferable detours in an impenetrable forest of graphs."
In DeFrancis' Acknowledgements, he says "This dictionary owes its genesis to the initiative of Victor H. Mair", who after unsuccessful attempts to obtain financial support for the compilation of an alphabetically based Chinese–English dictionary, in 1990 organized an international group of scholars who volunteered to contribute towards compiling it. However, "agonizingly slow progress" made it apparent that a fulltime editor was necessary, and in May 1992 John DeFrancis offered to undertake the project centered at the University of Hawaiʻi.
Along with Prof. DeFrancis overseeing the general planning and supervision of the project as well as its detailed operations, a volunteer team of some 50 contributors – including academics, Chinese language teachers, students, lexicographers, and computer consultants – were involved in the myriad tasks of processing dictionary entries, such as defining, inputting, checking, and proofreading. The University of Hawaiʻi Press published the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary in September 1996. UHP republished the original paperback ABC Chinese–English Dictionary, which had a total 916 pages and was 23 cm. high, into the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Pocket Edition (1999, 16 cm.) and hardback ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Desk Reference Edition (2000, 23 cm.).
In Shanghai, DeFrancis' dictionary was published under the title Han-Ying Cidian: ABC Chinese–English Dictionary (Hanyu Dacidian Chubanshe, 1997). For reasons of political correctness, the Shanghai edition amended the entry for Lin Biao. It altered the original American edition's "veteran Communist military leader and Mao Zedong's designated successor until mysterious death" to "veteran Communist military leader; ringleader of counterrevolutionary group (during the Cultural Revolution)".
Victor H. Mair became general editor of the ABC Chinese Dictionary Series in 1996, and the University of Hawaiʻi Press has issued ten publications (as of October 2016), including two developments from the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary (1996) with 71,486 head entries. John DeFrancis and others edited the hardback ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary,(2003, 1464 pp., 25 cm.), which contains over 196,501 head entries, making it the most comprehensive one-volume dictionary of Chinese. DeFrancis (posthumously) and Zhang Yanyin, professor of Applied Linguistics and Educational Linguistics at the University of Canberra, edited the bidirectional paperback ABC English–Chinese, Chinese–English Dictionary (2010, 1240 pp., 19 cm.). It contains 67,633 entries: 29,670 in the English–Chinese section, 37,963 in the Chinese–English section, which is an abridgment of the ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary and includes improvements such as more usage example sentences.
Computers (namely, the C in ABC Dictionary) were purposefully involved in almost every stage of dictionary compilation and publication in order to facilitate further advances in electronic lexicography and software development. In 1997, the Wenlin Institute published Wenlin Software for Learning Chinese with about 14,000 head entries (version 1.0) and entered into a licensing agreement with the University of Hawaiʻi to utilize the ABC Dictionary database in Wenlin software. The first edition ABC Chinese–English Dictionary (1996) was incorporated into Wenlin 2.0 with over 74,000 entries (1998); the second ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary (2003) went into Wenlin 3.0 with over 196,000 entries (2002); and the third edition ABC English–Chinese, Chinese–English Dictionary (2010) was incorporated into Wenlin 4.0 (2011), which includes 300,000 Chinese–English entries, 73,000 Chinese character entries, and 62,000 English–Chinese entries.
Prior to the alphabetically arranged ABC Chinese–English Dictionary, virtually every Chinese dictionary was based upon character head entries, arranged either by character shape or pronunciation, that subsume words and phrases written with that head character as the first syllable. While pronunciation determines the placement of words within the unconventional ABC Dictionary, Chinese characters still determine the position of words within a standard dictionary. Comparing a Chinese character-based dictionary with the pinyin-based ABC Dictionary illustrates the difference. The Chinese–English Dictionary locates the head character entry lín "① forest; woods; grove ② circles ..." as one of 14 characters pronounced lín, and alphabetically lists 17 words with lín as the first syllable, for instance, línchǎnpǐn "forest products", línhǎi "immense forest", and línyè "forestry". The ABC Dictionary includes lín "① forest; woods; grove ② forestry..." as one of 6 characters pronounced lín, followed by alphabetically listed lin-initial headwords from línbā "lymph" to línfēng "facing against the wind", but then ling-initial words begin to appear with líng 〇 "zero", and only after another three pages will one find lìngzūn "(courteous) your father" followed by línhǎi "immense forest". DeFrancis' ABC Chinese–English Dictionary is aptly described as having "defied the tyranny of Chinese characters".
Content The ABC Dictionary includes 5,425 different Chinese characters and a total 71,486 lexical entries. The dictionary's most notable feature is being entirely arranged by pinyin in the alphabetical order of complete compound words. For example, kuàngquán "mineral spring" immediately precedes kuángquǎnbìng "rabies", which in turn immediately precedes kuàngquánshuǐ "mineral water", even though the first and last words begin with the same character and the middle word with another.
The present dictionary has several titles: ABC Dictionary (half title page) The ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Alphabetically Based Computerized—with the last three words encircling Chinese calligraphic [diànnǎo pīnyīn biānmǎ "computer pinyin encoding"] (title page) ABC (Alphabetically Based Computerized) Chinese–English Dictionary (colophon) ABC Chinese–English Dictionary 漢英詞典‧按羅馬字母順序排列 [Hàn-Yīng cídiǎn ‧ àn luómǎ zìmǔ shùnxù páiliè "Chinese–English Dictionary: according to alphabetically sorted romanization"] (front cover).
The ABC Chinese–English Dictionary comprises three main sections: an 18-page front matter, the 833-page body matter of alphabetically arranged entries, and 64-page back matter with nine appendices.
The front matter includes a Table of contents; Dedication to "China's Staunchest Advocates of Writing Reform"; Editor's Call to Action; Acknowledgments; Introduction with I. Distinctive Features of the Dictionary and II. Selection and Definition of Entries; and User's Guide with I. Arrangement of Entries, II. Orthography, III. Explanatory Notes and Examples, IV. Works Consulted, and V. Abbreviations.
The dictionary proper gives alphabetically arranged lexical entries and English translation equivalents, from "a* [i.e., particle] used as phrase suffix ① (in enumeration) ... ② (in direct address and exclamation) ... ③ (indicating obviousness/impatience ... ④ (for confirmation)" to "zúzūn clan seniors".
The ABC Dictionary has nine Appendices: I. Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography [promulgated by the State Language Commission in 1988]; II. Historical Chronology [from the Shang Dynasty c. 1700–1045 BC to the Republic of China "1912–1949" and People's Republic of China 1949–]; III. Analytic Summary of Transcription Systems [for Pinyin, Wade-Giles, Gwoyeu Romatzyh, Yale Romanization, and Zhuyin Fuhao]; IV. Wade-Giles/Pinyin Comparative Table; V. PY/WG/GR/YR/ZF Comparative Table; VI. Radical Index of Traditional Characters, Notes on Kangxi Radicals, Kangxi Radical Chart, Kangxi Radical Index; VII. Stroke Order List of Recurrent Partials; VIII. Stroke Order Index of Characters with Obscure Radicals; IX. Radical Index of Simplified Characters, with Notes on Selected CASS Radicals [viz. the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences system of 189 radicals used in dictionaries like the Xinhua Zidian], High Frequency CASS Radicals, Simplified/Traditional Radical Conversion Table, CASS Radical Chart, CASS Radical Index [for users who want to look up a Chinese logograph's pronunciation, listing the 5,425 characters appearing in the dictionary].
DeFrancis' ABC Chinese–English Dictionary claims six lexicographical distinctions. 1. It offers the powerful advantage of arranging entries in single-sort alphabetical order as by far the simplest and fastest way to look up a term whose pronunciation is known. Alone among look-up systems, the ABC Dictionary enables users to find words seen only in transcription or heard but not seen in written form. And, since most dictionary consultation involves characters whose pronunciation is known (not just by native speakers, but also by learners beyond the very beginning level), over time the total saving in time is enormous. (Radical indexes of characters are provided for those cases where the pronunciation of a term is not known.) 2. It has been compiled with the aid of computers and lends itself to further development in electronic as well as printed form. 3. It makes use of the latest PRC lexicographical developments in respect to selection of terms and rules of orthography.