Essays on Writing and Language in Honor - Sino-Platonic Papers

Sino-Platonic Papers, 27 (Aup t 3 1, 1 99 1 )
is the view of the garden from the computer work area.
Also included is a photo of Prof. DeFrancis sitting before
a window.
In my discussions with Professor DeFrancis on the
problems of Chinese language reform, I was very much
impressed by his conviction and his keen academic insight
concerning the desirability of a pinyin script for
Chinese. He also emphasized that the tone problem has
already been satisfactorily solved by using diacritical
marks. He frequently points out that many Chinese tend to
spend lots of time discussing and debating about the
merits and demerits of a pinyin script, and the problems
of homophones or homographs in the Chinese language. He
believes that it is essential and more fruitful to find-
out the real problems through practice rather than
indulging in theoretical discussions. The artificial
difficulty of " shi shi shi ..." humorously created by
Professor Zhao Yuanren is rather irrelevant in actual
language usage. Professor DeFrancis firmly believes that
whatever problems may have been created for the Chinese
phonetic script as a result of the long use of the Hanzi
character system can eventually be overcome. What is
needed is a will for creating such a script among the
Chinese people, particularly among their leaders. He is
disappointed to note that such a political will has been
very weak, if not virtually absent in China.
Professor DeFrancis' panoramic knowledge in
linguistics enabled him to prepare reputable textbooks on
Chinese for college students. He has also written books