A Study Of Word Retreat In The Dictionary Of Wang Yun-wu

Published in 1930,The Dictionary of Wang Yun-wu is the first comprehensive modern vernacular dictionary in China,which mainly reflects Chinese vocabulary in the early 20 th century.The paper takes it as the source of corpus to study the retreat of Chinese vocabulary,through quantitative and qualitative analysis,the dissertation finds the group phenomenon of word retreating,including 7 types,namely,abbreviations,aliases,inverse morphemes words,respectful words,pejorative words,archaic words and loanwords.Abbreviations retreat due to the special formation of their own and the missing of words' meaning.The retreat of aliases proves that vocabulary changes and develops abide by the economic principles of language.Excessive aliases cause the burden of vocabulary memory and language communication,so easy to retreat.One-survival and one-death of inverse morphemes words show the economic principles and preferred principles of language,and the tone rhythm plays a crucial role in it.The respectful words retreat due to the end of feudal hierarchy system and patriarchal concept in ancient China.The retreat of pejorative words mainly indicates the progress of social psychology.The expressions of narrow-minded national and ethnic concepts,and the pejorative terms that are not conducive to social stability and harmony,they become retired too.The retreat of archaic words is related to the transformation of modern Chinese vocabulary,and the demise of social things also leads to a large retreat of the archaic words.The retreat of loanwords shows the translation of the words is unsuccessful,the circulation is not smooth,so replaced finally.In general,the retreat of words in The Dictionary of Wang Yun-wu is not only the internal mechanism of the lexical system,but also the demise of social things,the change of social and cultural psychology,the catalysis of major historical events,and the formulation and implementation of language specification standards.In a comprehensive view,the retreat of words in The Dictionary of Wang Yun-wu is a result of the combined effects of internal and external factors.For different types of retreated words,the main driving forces for retreating are different.