Hani-English, English-Hani Dictionary

This is tlie first Hani-English • English-Hani dictionary to be published. Compiled over a period of five years, it contains nearly 30,000 entries in total. There are some 1.3 million Hani people living in Yunnan Province, in the extreme Southwest of China. Their language is a member of the Loloish (Yi) branch of the Lolo-Burmese subgroup of Tibeto-Burman family of languages.

The introduction to the dictionary provides a basic description of the culture
and the language of the Hani people. An extensive bibliography of English, Chinese
and Hani books and articles on Hani is included. The alphabetization of the
dictionary follows the English alphabet, which makes it easy to use.

Illustrations of some words are given when the full force of the words cannot be
adequately translated into English. In many cases, page numbers where the word can be found in various Hani books are given, so that the reader can see the word used in context.

The dictionary contains twelve appendices which include: a comparison of the Hani and Akha orthographies; a story of the dragon and the son-in-law (in Hani and English); Hani genealogies; Hani names of 56 ethnic groups in China; Hani names of provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions;words for sounds as the Hani hear them; Hani terms of endearment; set negative phrases; a sample of Hani proverbs and riddles; the Hani concept of time; and four-syllable elaborate expressions.