A Dictionary of the PinYin Language
Language change
This is a proposal for development of the han4yu3pin1yin1 (Chinese language spelling sounds), or PinYin for short. In the Chinese character writing system (HanZi), homophonic words are represented by different HanZi. This phenomenon is taken into consideration in this design. The standard Chinese is different in various periods of history. Chinese language in the future will be different from what is currently spoken. Language change is also taken into consideration in this design. This dictionary is intended to prove that an alphabetic script facilitates language change towards more phonological distinction.
In this dictionary, a blue print represents a sound that is possible but not current in the standard Chinese. I admit that the ‘possible’ is my personal opinion. Other people definitely have their personal opinions, too. I have no intention of defining what the future language will sound like, but only propose the possibility of more phonological diversification. A language is created and developed by all members of the speech community.
Three methods
Three methods, synonymy, heterography and homography, are adopted in this design. Synonymy is to adopt a new sound for a word. The new and current sounds will coexist. The current sound of the word is shared by at least another word. But the new sound and its spelling are unique for the meaning. The new sound will eventually prevail and replace the current sound for the word. The language will consequently become more distinct, thus less homophonic.
Chinese is a tonal language. Each syllable has a tone. The tone insulates a syllable from its neighboring syllables. Therefore, change the sound of a syllable does not affect other syllables in speech. This characteristic makes the method of synonymy feasible. As said, synonyms are presented in blue font. In order to demonstrate the possibility of the new sound, a sound file is attached at the end of each synonymous entry.
Heterographic homophones are different words that share a sound but not written form. Many Chinese words share sound but are written in different HanZi. For instance, the Chinese words for ‘one’, ‘clothes’ and ‘medicine’ share the sound [i1], but are written in different characters. They are heterographic homophones. Heterographic spellings proposed in this design are presented in orange font.
It is assumed that each possible but not-currently-spoken syllable also has a standard spelling in PinYin, thus can have heterographic spellings, too. For instance, [an2] is such a syllable. Its standard spelling is an2. If this sound takes another spelling, such as ann2, then this spelling is presented in pink font, indicating it is both a possible but not-currently-spoken sound and a heterographic spelling.
The method of homography is to write two or more homophonic words with one graph or spelling. For instance, the words for ‘face’ and ‘flour’ are homophones in Chinese, but written with two different HanZi in the traditional set of HanZi. In the simplified set of HanZi, the HanZi for ‘face’ is used for both words. Which word it represents depends on the particular context in which it appears. The HanZi for ‘flour’ is abolished, due to its complex written form. This method is adopted in this design wherever possible. it is easy to see as there will be two or more numbered English words in the parentheses after the main entry. Please note that when two or more English words in parentheses are separated by a forward slash, they represent one HanZi that has two or more meanings.
Aid to understanding non-standard PinYin spellings
When encountered with a non-standard pinyin spelling in any example, the reader can move the cursor to that spelling, the standard pinyin spelling will appear in a rectangular box. All such spellings are underlined with a short green dotted bar. In the following example, when moving the cursor to the ‘qyu4‘, ‘qu4‘ will appear in a rectangular box. Also, a sound file is created for each synonymous entry. In the following example, a sound file can be opened by clicking the ‘listen’ at the end.
Three New Initials
In this and following few sections I will discuss my proposals on change of the language. Three initials are added to the PinYin language. They are [v] written as ‘v’, [z] as ‘dz’, and [Error: Access denied. Your account has been disabled.] as ‘ng’. These three initials existed in the earlier standard Chinese. Though not defined as current in the standard Chinese nowadays, they are current respectively in following mandarin dialects: