A Study On Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary Of Modern Usage(1972):Its English Index

Lin Yutang is a celebrated writer,translator and linguist in modern China.He was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.He is a productive writer,creating several novels,prose and essay collections and translating more than twenty Chinese literary works into English.In addition,he compiled Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage(1972)(LCEDMU for short)which he treated as the crowning achievement of his writing career.What's more,he is the first one who introduced the notion and word of "index"(??)to China.He had a full understanding of its significance and function,which led to the making of an English Index to LCEDMU.LCEDMU is the first of its kind to have made such a device in modern Chinese lexicography and,unexpectedly,no other dictionaries of its kind have followed its suit.Therefore,this thesis aims to investigate the structure of the English Index in LCEDMU and its functions,especially for the practice of C-E and E-C translation.This thesis intends to answer the following questions:(1)How is the English Index structured in LCEDMU?(2)What are the general functions of English Index in LCEDMU?(3)What are the roles the English Index plays for Chinese EFL learner's C-E translation?(4)How does the English Index influence CFL learner's E-C translation?(CFL learners in this thesis refer to those with English as their native language)In order to attain research aims and answer those research questions,the thesis examines the English Index in theoretical and empirical approaches.It explains the rationality of setting the English Index in LCEDMU from the perspective of structuralist lexical semantics,particularly lexical field theory and relational semantics.Then it selects index headings with initial letter F and their index subheadings from the English Index so as to analyze its structure.Next,it searches difficult words in translation by consulting the dictionary and its English Index in order to explore the uses of the English Index in translation.With regard to C-E translation,it searches difficult words listed in the reference answer of CET6.As for E-C translation,it looks up words which are similar to difficult words mentioned in previous literature.The primary findings are as follows:First,it summarizes the components of the index entry and the arrangement and characteristics of its index headings and index subheadings in the English Index,Second,the general functions of the English Index are searching an English word or collocation quickly,knowing the concepts of an English word and collocation and revealing the relation between English words and collocations.Third,English Index exerts positive influence on Chinese EFL learner's C-E translation,such as checking an English equivalent,seeking an appropriate English equivalent and providing its synonyms,and offering the collocations of an English word.Last but not the least,the English Index assists CFL learners with their E-C translation in the following three aspects,finding or checking a Chinese equivalent,accessing several Chinese equivalents and selecting an appropriate one among them and obtaining the settled Chinese expression of an English collocation.