A Study Of Incorrect Characters In Zhengzitong

Zhengzitong is a dictionary compiled in early Qing dynasty under the reign of Kang Xi. Between Zihui and Kang Xi dictionary in chronicle time, it weighed heavily in the history of dictionary. The original purpose of ZhangZilie, the author, was to correct errors and supply the deficiency of Zihui. It actually become the valuable reference for compiling Kang Xi dictionary because of its wide citations and concrete annotations.Inheriting Zihui, there is a system of nomenclatures in Zhengzitong while it explains characters, one of which is incorrect character. It is of great importance among the nomenclatures. Many characters with annotations of pronunciation and meaning were judged as incorrect characters in Zhengzitong, for part of which proper graphs were given. The relationship between the proper graphs and incorrect characters among these materials is probed, thus two standards of judging incorrect character are concluded: whether it conforms to the six principles theory of Chinese script and whether it was once used in bequeath documents. Given two characters with the same pronunciation and meaning, the one that conforms to the six principles theory is considered as the proper graph. Given two characters with totally or partially the same pronunciation and meaning, the one that once used in bequeath documents is considered as the proper graph, while the other which appeared later and was considered unnecessary is judged as incorrect character. The characters with totally the same pronunciation and meaning are considered as allographs unnecessary, while the characters with partially same pronunciation and meaning are considered as over differentiated graphs.