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QWERTY in China: Chinese Computing and the Radical Alphabet
Technology and Culture
|January 1, 2019
Summary
This study reveals that China's engagement with the Latin alphabet is more complex than previously understood. It explores diverse historical schemes for alphabetizing Chinese while preserving character-based writing systems.
Area of Science:
- Digital Humanities
- Linguistic History
- Information Technology History
Background:
- Modern Sinophone computing predominantly uses QWERTY keyboards and Latin alphabet-based input methods since the late 1980s.
- Historical scholarship has oversimplified China's interaction with the Latin alphabet, focusing narrowly on phoneticization efforts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To challenge the conventional understanding of China's QWERTY keyboard history and its engagement with the Latin alphabet.
- To explore the broader history of "Chinese alphabets" beyond phoneticization.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of historical records concerning the adoption and adaptation of Latin alphabet-based systems in China.
- Case studies examining various schemes for alphabetizing Chinese.
Main Results:
- Historians have misunderstood the role of QWERTY keyboards in the Sinophone world.
- Scholarly focus on phoneticization overlooks a wider array of historical projects involving "Chinese alphabets."
- Numerous historical initiatives aimed to alphabetize Chinese without abandoning Chinese characters.
Conclusions:
- China's historical engagement with the Latin alphabet is multifaceted, extending beyond phoneticization.
- The history of Chinese computing and language reform requires a more nuanced understanding of alphabetization efforts.
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