The Research Of The Minor Differeces In Chatacters Between Mainland And Taiwan

The separation between mainland and Taiwan has led to the difference in the form of Chinese characters, the study of the minor formal differences between the Chinese characters used on the two sides has long been a weak link. At the time when the mainland are making a table of the standardized Chinese characters and under the guidance of my tutor, Prof, Lin Zhongxiang,I made a study of the present situation in the research into the characters with minor differences between the two sides, the minor differences in characters not only includes mostly the differences between the traditional and the simplified, but also the differences not included in the differences between traditional and simplified.The thesis first points out the importance of such study and the defines the concept of the characters with minor differences, distinguishing it from the differences between traditional and simplified. On the basis of a detailed study of the standard characters between the two sides, a database of characters with minor differences are made. A list of the categorized differences and statistics are made. The morpheme theory is used in analyzing the differences, and it is pointed out that the minor differences in forms of characters are just allomorphemes of the same morphemes which will not cause any differences in morphemic meaning. The causes of the differences are discussed in depth, using examples, the thesis points out the possibility and feasibility in the unification of the characters with minor differences and shows the bright future of the unification.