Customer Reviews

Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation in Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin

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I have used this book almost every day for 15 years. As a researcher in Chinese historical phonology, I find it to be the most handy tool available when I need to quickly find out some basic, historical information on any of the 8,000 Chinese words listed. It is ordered by Pinyin spelling and then by tones, and also has a radical index. Each entry, besides supplying concise definitions, includes Pulleyblank's reconstructed pronunciations for three different eras: EMC (early Middle Chinese), LMC (Late Middle Chinese), and Yuan. The last is based essentially on the Zhong-yuan yin-yun, but since the old Chinese manual lists categories, not actual sounds, one might disagree with some of Pulleyblank's ideas. In most respects, however, I think it is more "on the money" than some earlier attempts at Yuan-era reconstruction. As we proceed further back in time, PB's reconstructions become more and more controversial; formal reviews of his work, as well as that of "competing" systems (Baxter, Li Fang-kuei, Wang Li etc.) should be consulted. No matter whether you accept his ideas or not, if you are familiar with his EMC "system", it is not too hard to convert each word to its more traditional category in the old rime dictionaries (Guang-yun, Ji-yun), and that is why this book is so handy -- no counting of strokes, no searching through long character lists under various radicals; if you know the modern pronunciation, "bang!" you find the word. The book also has useful information on irregular developments, which, along with other topics, are discussed in a fascinating introduction to the dictionary proper. Detracting from the book's usefulness are the rather large number of errors, especially in the EMC transcriptions. Also, despite its high price, the binding fell apart after only a few months' usage, and I am not the only person this has happened to. Caveat emptor.