No. 116 Journal of East Asian Libraries

              FROM THE PRESIDENT
Names are important because they have connotations and because some people care very much
about those connotations. When asked by a disciple what an administrator should do as a first
priority, Confucius mentioned the rectification of names. He explained that if the wrong terms
were used, the situation could not be described truthfully. If a situation were not described
truthfully, nothing could be accomplished.    
( Lun yz4, XIII, iii)
& ifGwm  lgsi;  , Jvl** a    )   
As librarians we pay much attention to terms and headings, We compile thesauri and lists of
subject headings. We also establish authority files to maintain standards. Generally speaking,
common, current and neutral terms are preferable to obscure, dated and controversial ones. We
now use     Taiwan    and     Cheng, Ch   eng- kung    instead of     Formosa    and     Koxinga.   
( Unfortunately, the Library of Congress still insists on using the term     Manchuria    for Northeast
China.)
The wrong message is sent whenever an inappropriate term is used. Apparently, any language
not using the roman script is now referred to as a vernacular language by those who make
decisions in the library profession.     Vernacular    is not a neutral term. Merrium- Webster   s
CoZZegiuteD ictionary includes these definitions: 1) using a language or dialect native to a region
or country rather than a literary, cultured, or foreign language; and 2) of, relating to, or being the
normal spoken form of a language.
East Asian ( Chinese, Japanese and Korean) languages are literary and cultured. In the context of
Chinese literature,     vernacular    is used to describe popular literature, fiction in particular, of the
late imperial period in contrast to traditional, literary literature. This usage is in fact quite similar
to its usage in the west. The early German and English Bibles are usually described as
the vernacular versions vis- a- vis the Latin version. Yet very few people today would call
German or English vernacular languages, and most Germans and Englishmen would be offended
if people from other countries were to describe their languages as vernacular.
Why can   t we refer Chinese, Japanese and Korean simply and properly as non- reman languages
and non- roman scripts? We should aim at adding non- roman language data to our library
databases such as name authority files, but these should be described correctly. A vernacular
language is not a foreign language, so this usage of describing East Asian languages as
vernacular may not be Eurocentic but it certainly is sending a wrong message that these
languages are exotic if not non- literary and non- cultural. People may think that there is no
urgency to deal with these peripheral non- essential data, and place their inclusion in ILS as low
priorities.
Tai- loi Ma
President, CEAL
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