Organizer: Cynthia Y. Ning, University of Hawai'i, Manoa
Chair: John DeFrancis, University of Hawai'i, Manoa
Discussant: Michael E. Carr, Otaru University of Commerce
Advances in the Computerization of Chinese
James E. Dew, Inter-University Program, Taipei
A little more than a decade ago, when Chinese computing was more a nascent idea than a reality, focus was on three competing concepts: the "big key board," modeled on the traditional Chinese typewriter; a "middle-size" keyboard; and the ordinary "small" Western typewriter keyboard designed to carry only the Roman alphabet, Arabic numerals and a few other symbols. Very quickly, double-byte coding systems were developed for designation of up to 13,000 or even 17,000 Chinese characters, and three different keyboard input, or character-retrieval, systems-all designed for the small keyboard-came to be widely used in Taiwan and America. By 1993, the computer user had a wide choice of Chinese language programs designed to run in DOS, Windows or on Macintosh computers, accompanied by a variety of attractive dot-matrix and scaleable outline fonts. Some of these programs use "closed architecture" and are limited to their own built-in word-processing functions, while others provide "open" Chinese language environments in which one can run a variety of word-processing, database, or spreadsheet applications that were originally designed for English and other Western language use, and can choose any one of a half dozen different graphic and phonetic input methods. While ten years ago it appeared that the "difficult" Chinese writing system would be an impediment to computerized handling of the language, it is now clear that, on the contrary, the computer makes the "difficulties" of the Chinese writing system recede into the background, and anything that we can do with Western languages-from desktop publishing to database manipulations and on-line communications-we can also do with Chinese.
Taking Digraphia Seriously: Future Software for East Asia
J. Marshall Unger, University of Maryland, College Park
The opponents of script reform, as John DeFrancis has frequently pointed out, have falsely portrayed the issue as a black-and-white choice between total abolition of Chinese characters and maintaining the status quo. In reality, even if the governments of China and Japan were to adopt standard romanized orthographies overnight, there would necessarily be a long, perhaps indefinite period of "digraphia," during which traditional and alphabetical script would coexist in everyday life. Dire scenarios of cultural destruction and economic paralysis may have a place in the political tactics of conservatives but are not realistic predictions. They arc in accord neither with historical experiences of script reform nor with the findings of linguistic science. In particular, most users of existing Chinese and Japanese script-handling software are already using romanized orthography on a regular basis except as a working format for language data.
It is therefore a worthwhile exercise to imagine what life in a future digraphic China or Japan would be like. In this paper, I sketch out a small portion of the picture, offering some general specifications for software applications designed under the assumption that Chinese characters coexist with alphabetic script and users are free to choose which form of writing to use for each application, i.e., without excessive concern for social pressures, either for or against one particular form of writing. Instead, users would base their choices on such factors as efficiency, cost, and personal satisfaction. Much routine work in which Chinese characters contribute little or no useful information would be handled alphabetically. Emphasis would shift from real-time character input software to intelligent scanning of documents in traditional script. Batch reformatting of documents from one orthography to the other, an application not marketed today, would have an important niche in everyday work.
Computerization of Chinese: The State of the Field in the PRC
Yonghe Fu, PRC State Language Commission
This paper (presented in Chinese with English translation) will present an overview of computer usage in the PRC, which is widespread and often markedly different from common practice in the US and Taiwan.