Book Reviews : Nationalism and Language Reform in China. By JOHN DE FRANCIS. (Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1950. Pp. xii, 306. $4.00.)

• Author: William H. Vatcher
• Published date: 01 September 1951
• Date: 01 September 1951
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295100400325
• Subject Matter: Articles

508

’

of

the

total

vote

gained

in

the

same

elections

by

government

candidates

in

twenty-six

&dquo;barometer

constituencies.&dquo;

A

final

map

presents

a

composite

of

the

party

results

by

constituency

in

all

four

general

elections.

There

is,

perhaps

wisely,

little

direct

attempt

to

analyze

the

data

pre-

sented.

The

purpose

of

the

book

would

seem

to

be

to

make

available

in

convenient

tabular

and

graphic

form

a

considerable

amount

of

statistical

information

about

recent

British

elections.

It

should

prove

of

interest

and

value

to

political

analysts,

professional

politicians,

and

those

with

a

gen-

eral

interest

in

British

politics.

Since

its

publication

antedated

the

1950

elections,

the

book

is

to

that

extent

already

out

of

date,

and

the

American

reader

will

be

curious

to

know

how

the

1950

results

compare

with

pre-

vious

elections,

especially

in

the

&dquo;barometer

constituencies.&dquo;

Michigan

State

College.

LEROY

C.

FERGUSON.

Nationalism

and

Language

Reform

in

China.

By

JOHN

DE

FRANCIS.

(Princeton:

Princeton

University

Press.

1950.

Pp.

xii,

306.

$4.00.)

What

are

the

problems

involved

in

writing

the

Chinese

language

in

Roman

script?

Would

that

system

be

feasible

for

China?

How

would

its

use

affect

China’s

national

unity?

These

are

some

of

the

questions

discussed

by

the

author,

a

member

of

the

faculty

of

the

Page

School

of

International

Relations

at

Johns

Hopkins

University.

He

approaches

the

study

by

outlining

the

attempts

already

made

to

resolve

the

difficulties

of

the

written

language.

He

care-

fully

points

out

the

technical

problems

involved

in

language

reform,

such

as

dialects

and

tones,

and

presents

arguments

in

favor

and

against

the

suggested

changes.

He

negates

either

fully

or

partially

many

existing

gen-

eralities

in

regard

to

the

Chinese

language-that

it

is

a

monosyllabic

lan-

guage,

that

it

must

inevitably

be

written

with

an

ideographic

script,

that

the

ideographs

serve

as

an

instrument

of

Chinese

unity.

He

notes

that

such

generalities

&dquo;possess

a

political

as

well

as

linguistic

significance,&dquo;

and

&dquo;have

long

been

part

of

the

thinking

of

Chinese

and

Westerners

alike.&dquo;

Mr.

De

Francis

concludes

that,

contrary

to

general

opinion,

the

com-

plexity

of

reform

is

not

insurmountable;

but

he

cautiously

points

out

that

the

whole

problem

is

very

closely

associated

with

nationalism

itself,

and

that

&dquo;the

social,

political,

and

military

struggle

raging

in

China

is

now

deciding

the

fate

of

Chinese

nationalism.&dquo;

Although

the

book

is

not

one

which

would

attract

the

attention

of

the

layman,

it

contains

invaluable

material

both

for

the

student

of

China

and

for

the

scholar

of

linguistics.

It

also

has

much

to

offer

the

student