Lexicography for loanwords and words with special orthography

Abstract

Loanwords in Modern Standard Chinese have attracted increasing attention in recent years. We try to unravel the complexity that stems from the properties of the Chinese writing system itself, its variant systems (Japanese Kanji), the rich history of the Chinese lexicon, and its interactions with neighboring languages. We argue that the status of a loanword is not binary, but rather dynamic on a developmental continuum, due to the various intentional choices and cumulative efforts involved in loanword integration. We provide a metalanguage for loanword notation to make explicit throughout the study all relevant kinds of relationships between source and target languages during the borrowing process from any language into Chinese. Finally, we show examples for all major loanword categories, including a modified and notated categorization of loanwords in Chinese, based on Shi ([Chinese loanwords] Hanyu wailaici. Commercial Press, Beijing, 2013).