On The Evolution Of The Connotation Of The Concept Of "radical

Radical is an important concept in traditional Chinese linguistics.It can still be used today.With the development of Chinese characters and Chinese language,the connotation of the concept radical has also evolved.It is necessary to analyse the differences in the connotation of this concept radical in different historical stages and to investigate its specific connotation when used in the current situations.It is most typical situation that radicals are created and used in Character dictionary and lexicons.This paper takes the three typical character dictionaries called Shuo wen Ji zi,Kangxi Dictionary and Xinhua Dictionary as research materials.Chapter One describes the differences of the three dictionaries in the radicals they established and the result they distributing the Chinese characters through these radicals.Then it compares their principle of establishing the radicals and distributing those Chinese characters through the radicals.Chapter Two lists the several forms of radical's evolution and analyses carefully about the development of the radicals' types and functions.The Character dictionaries and lexicons of each historicial stage contain various radicals belonging to different types and having different functions,which constitutes the epitaxy of the concept radical.Basing on Chapter Two,Chapter Three indicates the evolution track of the concept radical from the academic perspectives in study of Chinese characters,linguistics and lexicography,and then analyses the primary cause of its evolution.The conclusion is that at the time of its inception,the concept radical refered to a sign of aggregeting Chinese characters by their patterns and meanings,a sign of distinguishing the meanings of the different aggregations of Chinese characters,and a tool to assist compiling the Chinese dictionary and lexicons by their meanings.And it has developed to a sign of aggregeting by the patterns,a tool to assist compiling the Chinese dictionary and lexicons by the number of strokes and a tool to retrieve the Chinese characters.In many modern dictionaries,radicals are no longer used as a tool to assist in the compilation of dictionaries.The primary cause of its evolution is the development of the patterns and meanings of Chinese Characters and the changing in the purpose of dictionaries.Basing on the above reseaches,Chapter Four pays attention to the current application of radicals in the digital dictionaries and Chinese teaching in the primary school.The connotation of radical used in the digital dictionaries is also a tool to retrieve the Chinese characters,but its importance has been weakened.The connotation of radical used in Chinese teaching in the primary school is both a tool to retrieve the Chinese characters,a sign of aggregeting Chinese characters by their patterns and meanings,a sign of distinguishing the meanings of the different aggregations of Chinese characters,which superimposes the connotation of radical in different historaical stages.