On the Changes in Chinese Chengyu Dictionaries of the 20th Century

The article is devoted to the study of monolingual Chinese dictionaries of chengyu from the 20th century (成语词典). The object of the study is Chinese chengyu dictionaries published in the 20th century, while the subject is their macro- and microstructure, as well as the principles of lexicographic description of chengyu. The goal of the research is to identify changes in the macro- and microstructure of chengyu dictionaries, as well as the reasons behind them. The tasks of the research include analyzing 20th-century chengyu dictionaries, determining factors that influenced the change in the principles of dictionary representation of chengyu, and establishing the relationship between the development of lexicography, particularly phraseography in 20th-century China, state policy (including language policy – the appearance of the pinyin phonetic system in 1958), and changes in the dictionaries. The article employs the following scientific methods: descriptive and comparative. The material of the research consists of monolingual (i.e., Chinese-Chinese) chengyu dictionaries from 1916 to 1995. It was found that: 1) macrostructural changes are due to language reforms; 2) the main principles of chengyu description in dictionary entries were formulated by the mid-1950s; 3) the microstructure of chengyu dictionaries consists of mandatory elements: headword, phonetic characteristics, interpretation of components, general interpretation, and examples, while in early dictionaries illustrative material was combined with information about the origin of the chengyu. Subsequently, dictionary entries expanded to include (optional) information about lexical variants (也作 / 又作), possible errors (正误), etc.; 4) changes in chengyu dictionaries occurring in the second half of the 20th century are largely influenced by political processes in the PRC and are reflected in the illustrative material (the emergence of quotes from the works of Lu Xun and Mao Zedong). The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that it is the first attempt at a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of Chinese chengyu dictionaries in the 20th century. A direct connection has been established between the political situation in the PRC and the development of phraseography in 20th-century China. The results of this research can be used in lectures for Russians studying Chinese and for Chinese speakers learning Russian.