John DeFrancis (August 31, 1911January 2, 2009) was an American linguist and sinologist. He was an author of Chinese language textbooks, a lexicographer of Chinese dictionaries, and a professor emeritus of Chinese studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Early life

John DeFrancis was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in a family of modest Italian immigrant origins. His father, a laborer who had changed his name from DeFrancesco, died when DeFrancis was a young child. His mother was illiterate.

Professional life

After graduating from Yale College in 1933 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics, DeFrancis sailed to China with the intent of studying Chinese and working in business. In 1935, he accompanied H. Desmond Martin, a Canadian military historian, on a several-thousand-mile trip retracing the route of Genghis Khan through Mongolia and northwestern China. DeFrancis was one of the first educators outside China to use Hanyu Pinyin as an educational aid, and his textbooks are said to have had a "tremendous impact" on Chinese teaching in the West. He served as Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Oriental Society from 1950 to 1955 and the Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association from 1966 to 1978. The authoring in its first issue a broad mapping of Chinese language and learning challenges.

Retirement

DeFrancis retired from teaching in 1976, but remained an important figure in Chinese language pedagogy, Asian sociolinguistics, and language policy, as well as a prolific author. One of his most well-known books, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy (University of Hawai'i Press, 1984) attempts to debunk a number of what DeFrancis considered "widespread myths" about the language—including what he referred to as the "ideographic myth". Another influential work of his was Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems, which addressed more myths about the Chinese writing system, and has been called his magnum opus by colleague Victor H. Mair.

Works

John DeFrancis was the author and editor of numerous publications.

The "DeFrancis series"

Textbooks (Yale Language Series, Yale University Press):

  6. Part 1: . Part 2:

Supplementary series

Accompanying Supplementary Readers for the Intermediate Chinese Reader, (Yale University Press, 1976):

Books and monographs

  • Chinese Agent in Mongolia, translated from the Chinese of Ma Ho-t'ien (Johns Hopkins Press, 1949)
  • Report of the Second Round Table Meeting on Linguistics, Language Teaching Monograph Series on Languages and Linguistics, Number 1 (Georgetown University Press, 1951)
  • Bibliography on Chinese Social History, by E-tu Zen and John DeFrancis (Yale University, Far Eastern Publications, 1952)
  • Talks on Chinese History (with Elizabeth Jen Young) (Far Eastern Publications, 1952)
  • Chinese Social History, by E-tu Zen and John DeFrancis (American Council of Learned Societies, 1956)
  • Chinese-English Glossary of the Mathematical Sciences (American Mathematical Society, 1964)
  • "The Prospects for Chinese Writing Reform", Sino-Platonic Papers No. 171, 2006

Dictionaries

Editor of bilingual Chinese dictionaries (University of Hawai'i Press), which are used as databases for software such as Wenlin:

  • ABC Chinese-English Dictionary (1996, pocket edition 1999) .
  • ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary (2003) .
  • ABC Chinese-English/English-Chinese Dictionary (2010)

Reviews

References

Works cited

  • John DeFrancis biography, Wenlin Institute
  • Contents and excerpt from The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, Pinyin.info
  • John DeFrancis page, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
  • John DeFrancis' acceptance speech for the Walton Lifetime Achievement Award of the Chinese Language Teachers Association in 1998.
  • John DeFrancis Memorial 1911-2009
  • Andrew Leonard: A name China scholars will remember Salon, January 8, 2009.
  • Remembering John DeFrancis The China Beat (blog). 1/21/2009.