Wells Williams' Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Canton Dialect (1856) was seen by the author as helping to make 'a tolerably complete apparatus' for learning the Canton dialect. It is arranged alphabetically, using a variant of Sir William Jones' system for representing Oriental languages. To save space, only the syllable heading of each entry is given with a Chinese character; the compounds included under the head syllable are given in romanization only. The 'tonic' of the title refers to the ordering of ...
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Wells Williams' Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Canton Dialect (1856) was seen by the author as helping to make 'a tolerably complete apparatus' for learning the Canton dialect. It is arranged alphabetically, using a variant of Sir William Jones' system for representing Oriental languages. To save space, only the syllable heading of each entry is given with a Chinese character; the compounds included under the head syllable are given in romanization only. The 'tonic' of the title refers to the ordering of the entries: 'the characters [...] are arranged under each syllable, according to their tones'. In addition, there is a character index, arranged by radical. Its publication marked a decisive step forward for the study of Cantonese, making available for the first time a reasonably comprehensive guide to the language accessible both through romanization and a character index.
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Add this copy of A Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the to cart. $271.60, like new condition, Sold by The Guru Bookshop rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hereford, WALES, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2001 by Ganesha Publishing Ltd.
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Seller's Description:
Fine. A very rare book beautifully rebound in Hong Kong in leather to conserve the original script. Some corners which were dog earred have been replaced/restored but this does not distract in any way from the appearence or text of the whole. -A collector's treasure.
