A Study Of The Lexicon Of An Unofficial History Of Wan Li Period

This dissertation studies the language in"An Unofficial History of Wan LiPeriod",which is a work of historical materials of Ming Dynasty,by using thetheories and study methods of exegesis studies,lexicology,semantics,andlexicography.The dissertation focuses upon its value in lexicological study andlexicographical study,and it has also done some work of collation and addingpunctuation marks."An Unofficial History of Wan Li Period"can be considered as atreasure-house for lexicological study and dictionary compilation,as the new wordsand new senses as well as the oral expressions appeared in"An Unofficial History ofWan Li Period"have greatly enriched the vocabulary of modern Chinese,and haveprovided abundant language materials for the compilation of large and medium-sizedChinese dictionaries.One of the biggest flaws of meaning description in traditionaland modern dictionaries is that they have not paid much attention on the accuratedescription and definition of the meaning register of a lexical unit or a sense.This is adefect of dictionary compilation,and one of the reasons why readers can not graspand use the words comprehensively and accurately.When defining the lexicalmeanings,the dissertation pays special attention to the accurate definition of themeaning register of a sememe,and it has pointed out some meaning register mistakesin sememes description (The meaning registers are generally too narrow.)in manyauthoritative reference books;it has also done some practical modifications.Whendefining the lexical meanings,this dissertation,with the guidance of the theories oflexicology,semantics,and lexicography,makes use of practically all the methods ofmeaning description and definition in traditional exegesis,with inductive anddeductive as the most used methods,and the application range of deductive methodbeing enlarged.The historical terms in"An Unofficial History of Wan Li Period"aremany,and it is quite necessary to collect and explain them all.The important roles"An Unofficial History of Wan Li Period"plays in lexicography are as follows:1.tosupplement new entries;2.to add new senses;3.to modify definitions;4.tosupplement illustrations;5.to advance the earliest illustrations;6.to update the latestillustrations.The purpose and significance of ancient book collation are to present amost precise,most reliable and most improved possible version to the readers.Byreferring to the photo-offset copy of the old handwritten copy,and using many methods of proofreading,including comparing different editions of the book,editingby referring to the context,referring to other related materials,as well as using theauthor's own learning and self-cultivation,this dissertation has corrected manymistakes in the three most authoritative collated and punctuated editions of"AnUnofficial History of Wan Li Period",and it has corrected the mistakes exists in thephoto-offset copy of the old handwritten copy itself.