现代汉字刍议

对现代汉字的界定学者们见仁见智,或着眼于汉字记录的语言,认为现代汉字就是现代汉语用字,亦即现代白话文用字;或着眼于汉字字体的演变,但具体观点又不相同。我们从汉字发展史的角度看现代汉字,认为它应指"五四"以来,特别是中华人民共和国建立以来的现行汉字。现代汉字既包括中国大陆使用的规范汉字,也包括台港澳同胞和海外华人现阶段使用的汉字,还包括汉字文化圈国家特别是日本、韩国等当前使用的汉字;但其主体是中国大陆所倡导、所规范的以记录现代汉语为主的规范汉字。现代汉字与规范汉字、通用汉字均为交叉关系;现代汉字与现行汉字具有很大的一致性,但现行汉字时间的上限是模糊的,所以现代汉字与现行汉字仍是两个不同的概念。

Scholarshavedifferentopinionsonthedefinitionof modern Chinesecharacters. Some,fromtheperspectiveofrecordinglanguage,thinkthatmodernChinesecharactersarethe charactersusedinmodernChinese,thatis,theonesusedinmodernvernacularwritings.Someana-lysesthemfromtheperspectiveoftheirevolution,buttheyhavedifferentarguments.Welookat modernChinesecharactersfromtheperspectiveofthedevelopmenthistoryofChinesecharacters. WethinkthatmodernChinesecharactersarethosethathavebeenusedsincethe May4th Move-ment,especiallysincethefoundingofthepeople'sRepublicofChina.ModernChinesecharactersare notonlythestandardChinesecharactersusedinMainlandChina,butalsoincludethoseusedinTai-wan,Hongkong,MacaoandthoseusedbyoverseasChineseandcountriesoftheculturalcircleof Chinesecharacters,suchasJapan,SouthKoreanandsoonwherealargenumberofChinesecharac-tersareused.ThemainbodyofmodernChinesecharactersaretheonesstandardizedandpromoted by MainlandChina.TheyarethestandardChinesecharactersmainlyusedtorecordModernChinese. ModernChinesecharacters,standard Chinesecharactersandcommonly-used Chinesecharacters overlaponeanother,butmodernChinesecharactersandcurrentChinesecharactersharegreatsimi-larity.Intermsofhistory,thebeginningofcurrentChinesecharactersisnotclearandsothey presentdifferentconcepts.