A UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

PUBLICATION

national Bureau of Standaras

library, E-01 Admin. Bldg.

FEB 6 1970

NBS TECHNICAL NOTE 492

*L

Component Combination and

Frame-Embedding in

Chinese Character Grammars

US. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERC

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

The National Bureau of Standards ' was established by an act of Congress March 3, 1901. Today,

in addition to serving as the Nation's central measurement laboratory, the Bureau is a principal

focal point in the Federal Government for assuring maximum application of the physical and

engineering sciences to the advancement of technology in industry and commerce. To this end

the Bureau conducts research and provides central national services in four broad program

areas. These are: (1) basic measurements and standards, (2) materials measurements and

standards, (3) technological measurements and standards, and (4) transfer of technology.

The Bureau comprises the Institute for Basic Standards, the Institute for Materials Research, the

Institute for Applied Technology, the Center for Radiation Research, the Center for Computer

Sciences and Technology, and the Office for Information Programs.

THE INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS provides the central basis within the United

States of a complete and consistent system of physical measurement; coordinates that system with measurement systems of other nations; and furnishes essential services leading to accurate and

uniform physical measurements throughout the Nation's scientific community, industry, and commerce. The Institute consists of an Office of Measurement Services and the following technical

divisions:Applied Mathematics—Electricity—Metrology—Mechanics—Heat—Atomic and Molecular Physics—Radio Physics -—Radio Engineering -—Time and Frequency -—Astrophysics -—Cryogenics.2 THE INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS RESEARCH conducts materials research leading to im- proved methods of measurement standards, and data on the properties of well-characterized

materials needed by industry, commerce, educational institutions, and Government; develops,

produces, and distributes standard reference materials; relates the physical and chemical properties of materials to their behavior and their interaction with their environments; and provides

advisory and research services to other Government agencies. The Institute consists of an Office of Standard Reference Materials and the following divisions: Analytical Chemistry—Polymers—Metallurgy—Inorganic Materials—Physical Chemistry.

THE INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED TECHNOLOGY provides technical services to promote

the use of available technology and to facilitate technological innovation in industry and Government; cooperates with public and private organizations in the development of technological

standards, and test methodologies; and provides advisory and research services for Federal, state, and local government agencies. The Institute consists of the following technical divisions and

offices: Engineering Standards—Weights and Measures — Invention and Innovation — Vehicle Systems Research—Product Evaluation—Building Research—Instrument Shops—Measurement Engineering—Electronic Technology—Technical Analysis.

THE CENTER FOR RADIATION RESEARCH engages in research, measurement, and application of radiation to the solution of Bureau mission problems and the problems of other agencies and institutions. The Center consists of the following divisions: Reactor Radiation—Linac Radiation—Nuclear Radiation—Applied Radiation. THE CENTER FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY conducts research and

provides technical services designed to aid Government agencies in the selection, acquisition,

and effective use of automatic data processing equipment; and serves as the principal focus

for the development of Federal standards for automatic data processing equipment, techniques,

and computer languages. The Center consists of the following offices and divisions: Information Processing Standards—Computer Information — Computer Services — Sys- tems Development—Information Processing Technology.

THE OFFICE FOR INFORMATION PROGRAMS promotes optimum dissemination and

accessibility of scientific information generated within NBS and other agencies of the Federal government; promotes the development of the National Standard Reference Data System and a system of information analysis centers dealing with the broader aspects of the National Measure- ment System, and provides appropriate services to ensure that the NBS staff has optimum accessibility to the scientific information of the world. The Office consists of the following

organizational units: Office of Standard Reference Data—Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information :1 —Office of Technical Information and Publications—Library—Office of Public Information—Office of International Relations.

Headquarters and Laboratories at Gaithersburg, Maryland, unless otherwise noted; mailing address Washington, D.C. 20234.

1 Located at Boulder, Colorado 80302.

1 Located at 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22151.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Maurice H. Stans, Secretary

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS • Lewis M. Branscomb, Director

NBS TECHNICAL NOTE 492

ISSUED FEBRUARY 1970

Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 492, 36 pages (Feb. 1970)

CODEN: NBTNA

Component Combination and Frame-Embedding in

Chinese Character Grammars

Kirk Rankin and James L Tan

Systems Development Division

Center for Computer Sciences and Technology

National Bureau of Standards

Washington, D.C. 20234

NBS Technical Notes are designed to supplement the Bureau's regular publications program. They provide a means for making available scientific data that are of transient or limited interest. Technical Notes may be

listed or referred to in the open literature.

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C, 20402

(Order by SD Catalog No. CI 3.46:492), Price 40 cents
Contents

Page

1. Introduction 1

2. The Grammar 7

2.1 The Syntax 8

2.2 The Lexicon 12

2.3 Variation 28

3. Concluding Remarks 32

4. References 34

li
Component Combination and Frame-embedding

in Chinese Character Grammars

Kirk Rankin and James L. Tan

Chinese characters can be almost completely described from the point of view that each character is

composed of a number of components and that each

component is composed of a number of strokes. This

note offers a grammatical treatment of component

combination. It is concerned with the three most

productive processes of component arrangement. This

grammar differs from previous grammars in that the

constraints on recursion have been minimized and

great lexical economy has been achieved.

Key words: Chinese characters; grammar; generative

grammar; component combination; linguistics; frameembedding; blocking.

1. Introduction

This note is one of a series which is generally concerned with the

linguistic study of the formation of Chinese characters. It offers a

particular treatment of one aspect of the general study. In this preface

we wish to establish a frame of reference for placing the treatment offered here within the general study. To that end we will initiate a

discussion of the formation of Chinese characters and will successively

focus our attention on less general aspects of it until the treatment in

this note is reasonably well characterized.

Concerning the formation of Chinese characters the following comments can be made. It has been observed that the internal structure of

Chinese characters bears certain resemblances to the internal structure

Burkart (1), Rankin (3), Rankin et al.(M-), Rankin et al.(5) (see references) are the other publications in the series.
2 of natural language sentences. For example, sentences can be viewed as

being composed of word sequences and ultimately of words or word-parts,

and words and word -parts can be viewed as being sequences of sound units.

Analogously, Chinese characters can be almost completely described as

being composed of a number of components, components in turn being composed of a number of strokes. Thus 4%£ , a character, is composed of

three components ( A , 6 , and Jf ). In turn, % is composed

of the strokes J , / , and Is £ is composed of the strokes

/ , J^ , and \ ; and ^_ is composed of the strokes J , 7 ,

and V •

This note is restricted to the area of component combination, the

manner in which characters are composed of components. Examples of characters analyzed in terms of components are:

Character Component (s

)

*

A-

£

>

j /L

a *-

ilL i~, A

2

See Rankin (3), especially Chapter VIII, for a detailed discussion of

this point.
Character Component ( s

)

-i.

Hi

ft

7 a

)

> /

The concept of component combination has been informally introduced,

We must now face the problem of how to account for it in a linguistic

analysis of Chinese characters. One way to account for it (and this is

by no means the only way) is to construct a grammar to generate output

objects which correspond to Chinese characters using components as the

terminal symbols in the grammar. This is the approach followed in all

the previous papers in this series except Burkart(l). Given that we

wish to pursue the generative grammar approach the question then arises

of what mechanism will enable us to characterize the spatial combination

of components into characters. One way to represent it is by means of

the process of frame -embedding. That process will now be introduced.

First, is a frame, and represents all single-component
characters, such as 7£ • Second, (1) (2) , and

(3) are frames. (1) represents those two-component characters,

like jkQ , in which the two components, ( yk and Qt in this case)

are horizontally arranged. (2) represents those two-component characters

like pT , in which the two components ( J- and Hi ^n this case) are

vertically arranged. (3) represents those two-component characters, like

, in which the two components (

j""""} and 7b in this case) are

arranged in a surrounding/ surrounded fashion. ntj is an instance

of total surrounding; (3) also represents instances of partial surrounding, like

Jjj-

, /3| , and "qT Frames for characters of component complexity greater than two are derived by means of the embedding

>f (1), (2), (3) in any subframe of (1), (2), (3) except the shaded

subframe in ( 3

)

The process of frame -embedding is recursive,

That is, once a frame has been embedded in a subframe, any subframe
of the derived frame (except ) may be embedded in, and so on

without limit. Thus, for example, once

for example

is derived from

any of its subframes can be embedded in, yielding,

, or etc

Thus there are arbitrarily "large" frames in terms of the number

of embeddings. This does not imply that there are arbitrarily large

characters in terms of component -number . Our position is that there is

3 an upper bound on the number of components per character , hence on

frame size, but that (1) the precise location of the upper bound is not

known and (2) the grammar w^uld be less elegant if the upper bound were

built in via, e.g., a loop counter.

There are presumably many kinds of restrictions we can impose on the

above stated process. We could thus build a theory of frame -embedding

which would be somewhat analogous to the theory of string languages, but

that is not our purpose here. However, one restriction does have interesting results. Let us define each of the following pair of subframes as "partner" subframes:

In a sample of 400 characters from Mathews' (2), we found that the

upper bound was 9.
a b

pair 1 ( a , b

)

pair 2 (c ,d)

Now if at embedding time the partner of the "embedded in" subframe

is blocked from future embedding, we can no longer derive such frames as

and

- —

I—

, or generally any frame where there is embedding

in both partner subframes of a pair. This restriction is worth mentioning because it is adhered to in the grammars in Rankin (3) and Rankin et,

r

al.(M-). Note that the border of

past work and in this presentation :

is always blocked , both in

The blocking restriction has an important implication for the size

of the lexicon. There are many characters which are complex in both

partner subframes of a pair. Examples are: (1) g£* , which is complex in both partner subframes of

plex in both partner subframes of

; (2) r§]^ > which is comand which further contains

J2_ , which is complex in both partner subframes of Such
multiple complexity is quite common , and for a blocked grammar to generate such characters, it must list at least one of the complex structures in its lexicon. In the case of |jg above, either "% or £

must appear in the lexicon, and obviously both are composed of components already in the lexicon: -&r = ^—

; ^-) ; and fl = jrj

s

£7 • Consequently, lexicons in blocked grammars necessarily contain

more entries than those in (partially) unblocked grammars.

So we see that there are two versions of frame embedding which

have been used in grammars for Chinese characters : the blocked version

(used previously) and the partially umblocked version (used in the current treatment). Given any version of frame-embedding there are many

grammars based upon it which all derive their common syntactic power

(i.e. , their ability to impose certain kinds of constituent structure

on generated characters) from the process of frame-embedding. They

would differ from each other primarily in what components are listed in

the lexicon and in how the components are classified. We now present

one grammar based on the partially unblocked version of frame-embedding.

2 . The Grammar

In this section we present a grammar capable of generating all

the entries in Mathews' (2) minus two small classes of entries which

are deliberately excluded. The first class of excluded entries are

those traditional radicals which are not characters; that is, they are

always bound, such as v and jf . The second class consists of

uncommon forms of characters which are more commonly represented by

variant forms which are generated by the grammar. Here we refer to such

7
in common practice

uncommon forms as gj, and ^xr , which are usually replaced by /2jH

and -2:

The grammar comes in two parts: a syntax and a lexicon. The

two parts are linked by the use of component class marks. That is,

the syntax generates all possible frames, with subframes filled by

component class marks. The lexicon lists all components and marks

them as members of certain of these classes. The lexicon further indicates certain component variation information. The outputs of lexical

selection are frames filled with components — our representation of

Chinese characters. It is understood that components in distinct subframes do not touch each other.

2.1 The Syntax

I. CHAR

II. CHAR

III,

IV.

V. c +

VI,

cl

s

1

C

2

' '

w, c

1 2

C

l

E

2

w F! 1

, 1

2

VII. c

VIII. c

IX. c

X. c

XI. c

-*

XII. c *

c

l

C

2.

N

l

C

2

C

l

S

2

N

l

S

2

R

I C

2

\\1

l

2
The syntax consists of twelve replacement rules (I, II, . .., XII)

of the form p

-> q, where p is a non-terminal symbol (CHAR or C), and q

is either a frame filled with one subscripted symbol or a frame filled

with two subscripted symbols, terminal, non-terminal or mixed. The

subscripts can be ignored for now. The terminal symbols are W=WEST,

E=EAST, N=NORTH, S=S0UTH, B=BORDER, I=INTERIOR, and F=FREE. These terminal symbols are terminal with respect to the syntax. With respect

to the total grammar, they are "sub-terminal" symbols, i.e., those symbols which are replaced by lexical items. The initial symbol of the

syntax is CHAR (for CHARACTER), and every generation begins, by convention, with that symbol.

The generation of a terminal frame (i.e., a frame whose subframes

are filled with terminal symbols) is as follows. A sequence of stages

is created such that stage one is always the initial symbol CHAR, and

stage two is either C n or y j • In general, stage i + 1

is developed from stage i by the replacement of an occurence of C in

stage i by any q of any rule in which p = C. When there are more than

one occurrences of C in a stage , the question of which occurrence is

replaced is determined by the subscript convention given below. The

process continues until stage i contains no occurrences of C, or equivalently, until every subframe is filled with a terminal syntactic symbol,

Note that there is a subscript on each symbol occupying a subframe

in the q portion of every rule. With each replacement of C, the sub-
scripts on C are carried along to the symbols in q, and the subscript

on the symbols in q is concatenated to the right of the subscript carried along from C. At any stage there may be several occurrences of C

with subscripts. The C with the lowest valued subscript in lexicographic ordering is the next symbol to be replaced. For instance, 111 is

lower valued than 12, etc. To determine the lowest-valued of two subscripts, the following test is made. At some position in a left to

right scan of digit positions , there will be different digits , a 1 and

a 2. The subscript containing the 1 at this position is the lowest

valued. Example of generations of terminal frames are now given.

Example 1 (for the terminal frame which corresponds to * •ja" )

Stages Authority

1. CHAR Initial Symbol Convention

2.

3.

4.

c

l

w

ll ^2

w

11

Nm

S

122

Rule II

Rule IV

Rule X

Example 2 (for the terminal frame which corresponds to A>(£ )

Stages Authority

1 . CHAR

2.

Initial Symbol Convention

Rule II

10
Example 2 (continued)

Stages Authority

3. cn

C

12

'hi C

12

5.

"ill

S

to M

112

Rule III

Rule X

Rule VI

Example 3 (for the terminal frame which corresponds to ^£_ )

Stages Authority

1. CHAR Initial Symbol Convention

'11

'12

Rule II

Rule VII

J-LL

112

'12

Rule X

Rule XIII

11
2.2 The Lexicon

The lexicon is a table with components heading the rows and component class marks heading the columns. An x at a row/column intersection

point indicates that the component heading that row is a member of the

class heading that column, and thus may replace that class mark in anyterminal frame. Note that some occurrences of x are superscripted;

these numbers indicate that a variation process is to be effected as the

component heading the row replaces the class mark heading the column.

The variation processes are stated on pages 28 to 31 immediately following the lexicon.

Lexical rules can be viewed as being of the same form as syntactic

rules, namely p

-» q , with the restriction that p is a component class

mark and q is a component. The lexicon is thus an abbreviation of a very

large number of such rules — the number, in fact, of x's in the lexicon.

Given a terminal frame, the application of lexical rules is as follows. The subscripts on Z , the component class marks5> in the terminal

frame are lexicographically ordered. The Z with the lowest-valued subscript is considered first. The column headed by Z is scanned and any

component heading a row which has an x in Z replaces Z in the terminal

frame. There is now a unique lowest valued subscript. The Z associated

with that subscript is now considered and an appropriate lexical replacement is effected. The process continues until every Z is replaced by a

component

.

If Note that the use of subscripts results in an infinite number of nonterminal symbols. We are using these only as a notation device to re- flect the history of the derivation. A detailed discussion of this

would be appropriate in a paper concerned with theoretical issues.

12
The lexicon is now displayed. The components are numbered according to the format S.T.N, where S indicates the total number of strokes

in the component , T the type of the last stroke in the component , and N

the number of the component in the sub-list determined by S and T. The

values of T are 1, 2, ..., 8 where 1 = horizontal, 2 = vertical, 3 = dot,

4- =V-like, 5 =/-like, 6 =/-like, 7 = hooked, and 8 = multi-directional.

5

5 5 and 6 differ in direction. 5 is northeast to southwest, and 6 is

southwest to northeast.

13
NUM CHAR w E N s B I F NUM :har w E N s B I F

I.I.I — 5X X x X 2.2.4 u X

1.2.1 1 X 2.2.5 \ X

1.7.1 J X 2.2.6 i X X X

1.7.2

>-» X 2.2.7 /I X X

1.8.1 U X X X 2.2.8 r X X

1.8.2 L X

5

X X X 2.3.1 u X X X X X X

1.8.3 i_ X X 2.3.2 h X X X X

1.8.4 "7 X X 2.3.3 7 X

1.8.5 < X X 2.3.4 i\ X X X

2.3.5 X

2.1.1 /- X 2.4.1 A. X X X X X X

2.1.2 Z~ X X X

5

X X X 2.4.2 *- X

5

X

5

X X X

2.1.3 -3- X 2.4.3 A^ X X x

5

X X X

2.1.4

-A- X 2.4.4 l\ X X X X

2.1.5 2 X 2.5.1 n X X X X X

2.1.6 «^ X 2.5.2 ft X X X X X X

2.1.7 I- X 2.5.3 y x

5

X

2.2.1 HX X X X 2.5.4 f

X

2.2.2

P

X X X 2.5.5 V X

2.2.3 + X X X X x

5

X 2.5.6 r X

14
NUM CHAR) W

.... 1

1 E N !• B I ' NUM CHAR w IE 1 N

J S B [ I j F

2.5.7 *• X X X

1 X X X 2.8.7 c

- X

2.5.8 1 X X 2.8.8 5 X X X X X

2.5.9 \r X 2.89 t X

2.5.10 X 2.8.10 £ X X

2.5.11 7 X

5

X 2.8.11 ti X X X X X X

2.5.12 1X 2.8.12 t. X X x x 1

2.5.13 t *

5

X X 2.8.13 L> X X X X X x

2.6.1 <l X X X 2.8.14 /5 X X X

5

X X

2.6.2

t/ X X 2.8.15 C X

2.7.1 T X X X

5

X X X 2.8.16

V-7 X

2.7.2 tr-7 X X 2.8.17 5 X

2.7.3 !l X

2.7.4 3

X X 3.1.1 ± X X X X

2.7.5 T X 3.1.2 X

2

X X X X X X

2.8.1 di X X X X X X 3.1.3 3- 2

X X X X X X

2.8.2 /L X X X

i X X X 3.1.4 -J5

X X X X X X

2.8.3 ^ X X X 3.1.5 6 X

2.8.4 tS X 3.1.6 a X X X X

5

X X X

2.8.5 n X X X 3.1.7 X X X

2.8.6 /L> X X X 3.1.8 >£- X X

15
1 NUM

r 1 CHAR W E N s B I F NUM L 1 CHAR W E N s B I F

3.1.9 s\ X

1 X 3.3.1 \ X X

5

X X

3.1.10 J& X X

J 3.3.2 H 1* X

3.1.11 *£" x X X X X X 3.3.3 £ X x 1 X X X

3.1.12 -3- 5

X X 3.3.4 n X X X X X

3.1.13 jk X 3.3.5

^

X X X X

3.1.14 K X 3.3.6 7L X X X

3.1.15 f- X 3.3.7 i X X X X

3.2.1 *? X X X X X 3.3.8 /L X X X X

3.2.2 4

5

X X X X

5

X X 3.3.9 £ X X

3,2.3 f X X X

5

X

5

X X X 3.3.10 u X X X

3.2.4 I5 X X X 3.3.11 1 X X X X X X

3.2.5 lU X X X X X X 3.3.12 0- X

3.2.6 + X

5

X X 3.3.13 T> X X X X

3.2.7

%

X

5

X X X 3.3.14 >r X X X X

3.2.8 i X X 3.3.15 ib X X X X X

3.2.9 {> x 3.3.16 f X

3.2.10 '{ x 3.3.17 /A X X X X X

3.2 J 1 t X 3.3.18 + X

3.2.12 H X 3.3.19 7 X

3.2.13 >T X

_

1 3.3.20

1 > X

16
NUM CHAR w

j E N S 1 B j I 1 F NUM jCHAR W j E 1 N j S B 1 I 1 F

3.3.21 /L, X

1 I 3.5.10 '>i 1 x

1

3.3.22 w*

., X

! E

j 3.5.11 vl/ X

3.3.23 n X 1 3.5.12 h x

3.4.1 £ X X

5j XX X X 3.6. S % X

3.4.2 £ X X 3.6.2 •• X

3.4.3 %. X

! I X X X 3.6.3 i X X

3.4.4 L- X 3.7.1 f X X X X j X

|

3.4.5 i- X 3.72 «w X

i 1 3.4.6 IX. x 3.7.3 7 X

3.4.7 %. X

4 x 1 X " 3.8.1 T>-> X X ; X

3.4.8 K X

1 1 3.8.2 £> X

1 X X

3.5.1 /I X XX 3.8.3 & X x

3.5.2 r X X X 3.8.4 & X x X X x

3.5.3 f

X X X X X X 3.8.5 & X X X

J

X

3.5.4

>

X

_ X

3.8.6 -b X X X X X

- X

3.5.5 n X 3.8.7 3

X X X

5

X X

3.5.6 r X | 3.8.8 ft x

3.5.7 ? X X

5

X X |x|_3.8.9 fu X x

3.5.8 i X 3.8.10 5 X x X

3.5.9 X ___ X 3.8.11 <8

l x X X

17
NUM

r——-I CHAR W E N

"

{ S B I F NUM JCHAR W

j E j N s B I F

j 3.8.12 5l X 4.1. 19 |-t X X X X X

4.1.20 # X

4.1.1 s| X 4.1.21 1 ^

x

4.1.2 1 X X X 4.2.1 j 4* X |x X X X x

4.1.3 r

7 X X 4.2.2 1 i\ X X X X X

4.1.4 a. X X X 4.2.3 0] X

1 4,L5 H X X X

5

X X X 4.2.4 *

x X X

4.1.6 jt

2

X X X X X X 4.2.5 tl X X X X

4.1.7 j* X 4.2.6 ft X X X X X

4.1.8 2-

2

X X X X X X 4.2.7 % X X X

4.1.9 jt. X 4.2.8 +

5

X X X

4.1.10 £. X X X 4.2.9 * X X

4.1.1

1

it X X 4.2.10 j\ X X X

4.1.12 4 X X X X 4.2.11 A X

4.1.13 + X X 4.2.12 $

1 X X X X

4.1.14 5- X X 4.2.13 * X X

5

X

5

X X

4.1.15 # X X X X 4.2.14 * X X X X

4.1.16 -e- X X X 4.2.15 H X

5

X

5

X

4.1.17 6 X X 4.2.16 -t X

4.1.18 Q

5

X X X X X X 4.2.17 + X X

18
NUM CHAR W E N s B I F NUM CHAR w E N s B I F

4.3.1 'C* X X X X X X 4.4.4 k X X X X

4.3.2 1*1 X X X

j X 4.4.5 £. X X X X X

4.3.3 *. X X X X 4.4.6 r<- X

4.3.4 $ X X X X X 4.4.7 4~ X X X X X

4.3.5 7 X X X X 4.4.8 PC

5

X X X

4.3.6 % X X X X

5

X X X 4.4.9 X- X X

4.3.7 a X X X X X X 4.4.10 i_ X

4.3.8 g. X X 4.4.11 yjv. X

4.3.9 f X X 4.4.12 X X

4

X X X

4.3.10 a X X X

1 X X X 4.4.13 *

3

X X X

5

X X X

4.3.11 9 X X X 4.4.14 /^ X X

4

X X

4.3.12 <]<• X X 4.4.15 1 X X

4.3.13 \\\% X X 4.4.16 X. X X X X X X

4.3.14 * X 4.4.17 /fc_ X

4.3.15 %

X 4.5.1 f X X X X

4.3.16 /T> X 4.5.2 f X X X X

4.3.17 n X 4.5.3 * X X

4.4.1 K X X X X X 4.5.4 M X X

4.4.2 £ X X X X 4.5.5 it X

4.4.3 A. X X X 4.5.6 i X X X X X

19
NUM

1 CHARlIII WEN r

s —

B

1 I F

L. NUM

1CHAR w EJN s B I F

4.5.7 f X

1

X X 4.8.10 r^ X

4.5.8 1

5

V x X 4.8.11 7Q X X X X X

4.5.9 * X 4.8.12 * X X

4.5.10 -y X X X

5

X X 4.8.13 * X X

4.5.11

i , f- X 4.8.14 ft X X

f 4.5.12 f X

1 4.5.13 t

X X 5.1.1 i. X X

4.6.1 %

X 5.1.2 in. X X X X

4.7.1 k X X 5.1.3 Jk. X X X

4.7.2 k X X 5.1.4 a X X X X X X

4.7.3 f X 5.1.5 JL X X X X X

4.8.1 7u X X X X

1 X X X 5.1.6 g. X X X

4.8.2 & X X X X 5.1.7 g X X X

4.8.3 £j X X X X 5.1.8 £ X X

4.8.4 & X X X X X 5.1.9 ffl X X X

4.8.5 %j X X X X 5.1.10 Mr X X X X X X

4.8.6 4, X X X X

1 X X X 5.1.1 1 £.

2

X X X X X X

4.8.7 '/u X 5.1.12 k- X X

4.8.8 fa X 5.1.13

*

X X

4.8.9

. 1 6 X X 5.1.14 jk_ X X X X

20
NUM CHAR w EN SB 1 I F NUM ScHAR r s WENi i S 1 B 1 I 1 F

5.1.15 JL

2

X XXX 1 X

J XI] 5.2.6

|"H 1 i x

1

5.1.16 --1= XX 5.27 W\ |

x X X X

5.1.17 Cf7

j x

1 1 X j 5.2.8 1*1i — 4 ~t X

5.1.18 a\ X 5.2.9 + * 1 1 1 1

5.1.19 *. X X X 5.2.10 * 1 l x

l

1 5.1.20 i

2

X X 5.2.11 ff X X

5

x 1 |x

5.1.21 4 X x X 5.3.1 £ X X X

5.1.22 G3 x x x X 5.3.2 6

x 1 |x

5.1.23 ja X

1 1 X 5.3.3 ifcj x x XX

5.1.24 & X XXX x X 5.3.4 ,1/ X X

5.1.25 * X X X X X 5.3.5 -i. X x

5.1.26 # X X x X 5.3.6 A x

5

X X

5.1.27 (2 X X X X X X 5.3.7 &> X X X

5.1.28 i X 5.3.8 A

X 1 x

5.1.29 ?

X 5.3.9 ft X X X X x X

5.2.1

•f x X 5.3.10 *

X

5.2.2 * X xTx X X 5.3. 1

1

^ XX X X X

5.2.3 + X X X 5.3.12 v^| X

5.2.4 f

X X

5

X X X 5.3.13 f*I X

5.2.5 t X X x XX 5.3.14 &.] r

21
NUM CHAR W E N s B I F NUM :har W E N s B I F

5.4.1 H X X X X X 5.5.2 f X

5.4.2 £. X X X X 5.6.1 $ X X

5.4.3 *. X X X 5.6.2 t X

5.4.4 * X X 5.7.1 & X X X X

5.4.5 /a. X X X

4

X X X 5.7.2 * X X X

5.4.6 £ X X X X 5.8.1 & X X

5.4.7 7^- X X

4

X X 5.8.2 a X X X X X

5.4.8 & X X X X 5.8.3 L X X

5.4.9 4<- X 5.8.4 h X X X

5.4.10 £. X X X 5.8.5 it X X X X

5.4.11 K X X X 5.8.6 & X

5.4.12 & X X 5.8.7 h X

5.4.13 £- X X 5.8.8 *1 X

5.4.14 & X X X 5.8.9 jtj X X

5

X X

5.4.15 k X X

5.4.16 jL X X X 6.1.1 fi X X X X

5.4.17 t- X X 6.1.2 i3 X X X X X

5.4.18 /i3

X X X X X X 6.1.3 &

2

X X X X

5.4.19 A- X 6.1.4 £ X X

5.5.1 * X X 6.1.5 i X X X X X X

22
i - NUM CHAR w

... E N

i S|B

\ I

i

!

!

A NUM jcHARj W j E | N S j B 1 I 1 F

6.1.6 JE- X X f.x 6.3.2 |/&| jx] 1 x 1

X

6.1.7 t® X X X X X 6.3.3 fik

1 X

6.1.8 # X 6.3.4 /& X X X X

6.1.9 & X X 6.3.5 s X

6.1.10 & X X X X 6.3.6 #L X X X X X X

6.1.1

1

-# X X X 6.3.7 £ X

6.1.12 A

2

X 6.3.8 X

6.1.13 ifc. X 6.3.9 %

5

X X x x X X

6.1.14 <£> X 6.3.10 k X X

6.1.15 JL X 6.3.11 & X X X

6.1.16 #7 X 6.3.12 % X

6.1.17 Jjp X 6.3.13

*

X

6.1.18 %. X 6.3.14

^X

6.2.1 % X X 6.4.1 & X X

6.2.2 £ X X X X 6.4.2 & X X X X X

6.2.3 *> X X 6.4.3 a X X X X

6.2.4 * X X X X 6.4.4 * X X X X X

6.2.5 * X X 6.4.5 k X X X

6.2.6 3

5

X X X x

5

X X 6.4.6 k X X X X

6.3.1 t

X

«___ 6.47 %L X X X X X X

23
NUM CHAR W E N S 1 6 I F — ,. NUM CHAR w E N s B I F

6.4.8 j /L| X 1 X 7.5.6 &

! X X

I 6.4.9 | ^C| X 7.1.7 M X

6.4.10 *

X X 7.1.8 £ X

!

6.4. II \%*-; X

1

'

: 7.1.9 <fc X

6.5.1 \% * X 7.1.10 it X

6.5.2 f> X X X X X 7.1.11 L x

6.5.3 f X 7.2.1 $ X X

6.7.1 & X 7.2.2 £ X x X X X X

6.7.2 L$3, X x

5

7.2.3 V X

6.8.1 h X X 7.3.1 A X X X X

6.8.2 & X x X X X 73.2 $ X X X X X

6.8.3 flttr X 7.3.3 ^pL X X X X

6.8.4 h X 7.3.4 % X X X X

6.8.5 H X 7.3.5 *

5

X X X

7 3.6 >it\ X X

7.1.1 & * X X X 7.3.7 pfa X X

7.1.2 %

2

X x X X X X 73.8 M^ X X X

7.1.3 jL X X 7.3.9 # X

7.1.4 %. X X X X X 7.4.1

^ X X X X X X

7.1.5 iL X X X X 74.2 it X X X X X X

24
NUM CHAR WEN ! SB 1 J F NUM |CHAR| W 1 E j N j S j B 1 I 1 F

7 4.3 pT 1 1 1 1 4

x xx X 8.1.6 \K X XX X X 1

74.4 [it X X X X X 8.2.1 %

1 XX1 1

7.4.5 X

1 J ii

4

X x 1 8.2.2 T X X

7.4.6 X X

1 i

1 XX I 8.2.3 ¥ X

74.7 *- X x

4

,

!

' i( 8.3.1 $7 X x x

7.4.8 * X X X x

4

i X X 8.3.2 t\ X XX

7.4.9 :A Tx

1

8.3.3 I x x

1 1 X

7.5.1 [£ X T1 8.3.4 <i? X X X

7.5.2 ^ XX

1 X 8.3.5 *fc X

7.7.1 H<i| X

.... 8.3.6 K X

1

7.8.1 A

x X

i X 1 x 8.3.7 rtJi x

7.8.2 %\ X 8.3.8 M I I i x

i

7.8.3

H r

X x 8.4. S j&

XXX X

7.8.4 il|x jx

j j J X 8.4.

2

^c

i

1 X

1 1

1 8.4.3 X

1 X

1 8.1.1 °fc

X | X |[ 8.4.4

f_

X j x i

8.1.2 ^M X X X X XX 8.4.5 # X X XX

8.1.3 * x 8.4.6 x X x X |

8.1.4 ill X X II 8.4.7 Ii

9 A X X

8.1.5 JMX j

'

I xII 8 - 7' !

1 II 1 *

X X

1 1 1 1 I 1

25
!

| NUM

r

CHAR

r- W

f I JEjN

r~n

S j B I

1 F

! NUM

f

JCHAR w E | N s B

I

I F

1 8.7.2 A

1 T

X | I0.I.I t

1 X X X

| 8.8.1

3J£ j * i 10.1.2 i X X

j 8.8.2 fh 10.2.1 ¥

X X

| 8.8.3 n X * X (j 10.3.1 % X X X X

1 1 10.4.1 & X X x

j % X X X X

||

10.4.2 Mi X X X X

j 9.1.2 JL X X X X X 10.7.1 M X X

I 9.1.3 6I X x

j X |

1 9 - ! - 4 SEIx X X X j li.i.i & X

9.1.

5

£ X X 1 1.1.2 X X

9.2.1

^

X X 1 1.2.1 * X X X

9.2.2 1 X X X 1 1.3.1 t X

5

X X

9.3.1 fit X X 1 1.4.1 A X X

9.3.2 #. X

I X X X

9.3.3 1*7 X X X X X 12.3.7 fifc X X

9.3.4 A X X X 12.8.1 h X X

1 X X X

9.4.1 *. X X X

9.4.2 7EL

4

X X 13.1.

1

SL X X X

9.7.2 M X 13.2.1 k&

X X X X

13.7.1

<c3 X X

5

X X

26
NUM CHAR w E N s B I F NUM 3HAR W E N S B I F

13.8.1 A X X

V

14.4.1 fa X X X X X

14.4.2 & X X X

15.4.1 fc X X

16.1.1 B. X X

.

27
2.3 Variation

VARIATION PROCESS 1, (BORDER)

For certain components whose base forms have ~Lj or (^

in their "eastern" portions, this process causes the BORDER variant to

assume a shape wherein L» becomes v i and La becomes L_j

VARIATION PROCESS 2, (WEST)

For certain components which have — in their "south central"

portions, this process causes the WEST variant to assume a shape wherein —— becomes

^

VARIATION PROCESS 3, (WEST)

For certain components which contain /K^ or a /j>L -like

structure, this process causes the WEST variant to assume a shape wherein y/jV. becomes 7p

VARIATION PROCESS 4, (BORDER)

For certain components which have V or V in their "south-eastern"

portions, this process cuases the BORDER variant to assume a shape wherein V or \^ become V. •

28
u

Ad hoc Variations

Number Base Form

1.1.1 —

1.8.2

2.1.2 _Z_

2.2.3 f

2 h ? V

2.1;.

3

A.

2. ii.ii /v

2.5-3 A

2.5-11 T

2.5.13 t

2.7.1 T

2.8.11* 75

3.1.1* Hw

Position

N (sometimes)

B

B

B

N

I (sometimes)

S (sometimes)

N

B

B

W

Variant

"L

?-. 7v

N,S is

I (sometimes) X

B T

B t

n

1

29
Number Base Form Position Variant F

3.1.6 D B a

3.1.12 ^- sometimes B

3.2.2 f B,W (sometimes) f

3-2.3 f B,S (sometimes) f

3.2.6 + I (sometimes) +

3.2.7 H- S #

3-3.1 ^ B %

3-1.1 A W (sometimes) A

3.5-7 r N (sometimes) f

3.8.7 3

B *]

fe.i.5

*

S

ft

ii.1.18 Q sometimes ^

ii.2.8 + E 4

U.2.13 4- N 5 S 4

k.z.iS *

B H

I M

30
Number Base Form

U.3.6 -t

hM.9 ^

U.U.iU *

ii ;.8 7

u.5.10 f

5.2.11 $

5.3.6 r%

5.8.9 $->

6.2.6 4

6.3.10 t

6.7.2 &

7.3.5 k

Position ':_-'- - z '- _

B

">

s

•«,_

S (sometimes) *

B

B y

B ;

B A,

B j -

B T

¥ %

W %

B

S (sometimes) jr

31
3 . Concluding Remarks

This grammar is an attempt to characterize component combination

from a particular point of view. The three modes of component combination which are utilized are precisely the productive ones. It is an experimental grammar and not a candidate for final success. The following

remarks are intended to evaluate the grammar as such an attempt.

First, the grammar generates all the characters in Mathews' (2)

and every other unabbreviated Chinese character that we know of. Consequently, it constitutes a very compact defining device for a large

complicated language. However, the grammar overgenerates its target

language in the sense that some permitted sequences of rules result in

the generation of structures which are clearly not acceptable Chinese

characters. In future attempts, further constraints could be imposed

along the lines discussed on page 5,ff in Rankin et. al. (4-) to reduce

this unacceptable output.

Second, the grammar preserves the distinction between component

combination and stroke combination mentioned earlier. It does this by

allowing only three modes of combination each of which operates on

spatially disjoint arguments. It disallows such operations as touching

and crossing of arguments which are characteristic of stroke combination.

There is an accompanying disadvantage to disallowing touching and

crossing because some instances of component combinatipn cannot be explained by the grammar. For example, by disallowing crossing, we preserve the integrity of "J" , which is good, but also have to treat

J*7

Barring clerical errors in the lexicon.

32
as a component, which is unfortunate, since jX and CE? are components themselves. There are quite a few "components" like j& ,

which can be further segmented into smaller components.

Third, our process of frame -embedding produces a very simple, regular class of frames. There is a disadvantage that comes with this

simplicity, however, and that is a certain lack of coverage. A fairly

large number of multi -component structures is left unexplained due to

the simplicity feature. Examples are ja£^ ( ^_ A. A )

which might require some such frame as "n

&

and jg^ (

/£_ ) as a border. Segmenting ?£-_ would require embedding in the

border subframe perhaps yielding from

one

as

Fourth, the grammar generates some output characters in more than

way. For example, s"Jh.T is generated as =?" plus .HT and also

~FjrJ plus m" . We feel that most of these ambiguities correctly

reflect the state-of-the-art of the linguistic analysis of Chinese

characters in that we are not in all cases ready to select one analysis

of a character as being correct and have the grammar suppress all other

analyses. See Rankin et.al. (4) pages 56 ff for a detailed discussion

of ambiguity problems.

Future grammars might examine the internal structure of components

in the present lexicon in order to segment them if they contain sub-

*. iis a variant form of *• component number M-.4-.13

33
structures which are themselves already in the lexicon. This would

require recognition of types of component combination which are far less

common than those discussed in this paper. In particular, this would

involve recognizing various types of superimposition and other component combination possibilities such as those underlying ^& and -p

discussed above. It is thought that one result of this work might be

the development of complex frames which would correspond to instances

of superimposition and other rare combination possibilities.

We wish to thank Stephen J. Tauber, Justin A. Walker, and Russell

A. Kirsch for reading earlier versions of this note and for making

suggestions for improvement. Special thanks go to Stephanie Siegel for

many valuable discussions of the material presented here and for many

suggestions for improving the final version. Finally, we wish to thank

Carrie L. Nuttall for typing the final version of this note.

4. References

1. Burkart, E.I., A Procedure for Decomposing Chinese-Japanese

Ideographs , University of Pennsylvania Dissertation, 1965.

2. Mathews, R. H., A Chinese-English Dictionary, Cambridge,

Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, I960.

3- Rankin, B. K. Ill, A Linguistic Study oi the Formation of

Chinese Characters , University oi Pennsylvania Dissertation, 1965

•

k- Rankin, B. K. Ill, Siegel, S., McClelland, A., and Tan, J. L.,

A Grammar for Component Combination in Chinese Characters , Washington, D.C.: National Bureau oi Standards Technical Note 296,

1966.

5>. Rankin, B. K. Ill, Sillars, W. A., and Hsu, R. ¥., On the Pictorial

Structure of Chinese Characters , Washington , D . C . : National

Bureau of Standards Technical Note 25k, 19'65

•

34
NBS TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS

PERIODICALS NONPERIODICALS

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH reports National

Bureau of Standards research and development in

physics, mathematics, chemistry, and engineering.

Comprehensive scientific papers give complete details of the work, including laboratory data, experimental

procedures, and theoretical and mathematical analyses. Illustrated with photographs, drawings, and

charts.

Published in three sections, available separately: • Physics and Chemistry

Papers of interest primarily to scientists working in

these fields. This section covers a broad range of

physical and chemical research, with major emphasis on standards of physical measurement, fundamental

constants, and properties of matter. Issued six times a vear. Annual subscription: Domestic, $9.50; for- eign, $11.75*. • Mathematical Sciences

Studies and compilations designed mainly for the

mathematician and theoretical physicist. Topics in mathematical statistics, theory of experiment design,

numerical analysis, theoretical physics and chemistry, logical design and programming of computers

and computer systems. Short numerical tables. Issued quarterly. Annual subscription: Domestic,

$5.00; foreign, $6.25*. • Engineering and Instrumentation

Reporting results of interest chiefly to the engineer

and the applied scientist. This section includes many

of the new developments in instrumentation resulting

from the Bureau's work in physical measurement,

data processing, and development of test methods.

It will also cover some of the work in acoustics,

applied mechanics, building research, and cryogenic

engineering. Issued quarterly. Annual subscription:

Domestic, $5.00; foreign, $6.25*.

TECHNICAL NEWS BULLETIN

The best single source of information concerning the Bureau's research, developmental, cooperative and

publication activities, this monthly publication is designed for the industry-oriented individual whose

daily work involves intimate contact with science and

technology

for engineers, chemists, physicists, re- search managers, product-development managers, and

company executives. Annual subscription: Domestic,

$3.00; foreign, $4.00*.

* Difference in price is due to extra cost of foreign nailingApplied Mathematics Series. Mathematical tables,

manuals, and studies. Building Science Series. Research results, test methods, and performance criteria of building materials, components, systems, and structures. Handbooks. Recommended codes of engineering

and industrial practice (including safety codes) de- veloped in cooperation with interested industries,

professional organizations, and regulatory bodies. Special Publications. Proceedings of NBS conferences, bibliographies, annual reports, wall charts,

pamphlets, etc. Monographs. Major contributions to the technical

literature on various subjects related to the Bureau's

scientific and technical activities. National Standard Reference Data Series.

NSRDS provides quantitive data on the physical

and chemical properties of materials, compiled from

the world's literature and critically evaluated.

Product Standards. Provide requirements for sizes, types, quality and methods for testing various industrial products. These standards are developed cooperatively with interested Government and industry groups

and provide the basis for common understanding of

product characteristics for both buyers and sellers. Their use is voluntary.

Technical Notes. This series consists of communications and reports (covering both other agency and

NBS-sponsored work) of limited or transitory interest. Federal Information Processing Standards Publications. This series is the official publication within

the Federal Government for information on standards

adopted and promulgated under the Public Law

89-306, and Bureau of the Budget Circular A-86

entitled, Standardization of Data Elements and Codes

in Data Systems.

CLEARINGHOUSE

The Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and

Technical Information, operated by NBS, supplies

unclassified information related to Government-generated science and technology in defense, space, atomic energy, and other national programs. For

further information on Clearinghouse services, write:

Clearinghouse

U.S. Department of Commerce

Springfield, Virginia 22151

Order NBS publications from: Superintendent of Documents

Government Printing Office

Washington, D.C. 20402
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20230

OFFICIAL BUSINESS POSTAGE AND FEES PAID

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE