12.Chinese-Character-and-Language

Ideograph&PictographRichinSenses－ChineseLanguage&CharactersinaUniqueStyleQuestions1.HowimportantisChineselanguageintheinternationalcommunity?OfficiallanguagesintheU.N.:English,French,Spanish,Russian,Arabic,ChinesePercentageofworldpopulationspeakingthatlanguage:Chinese20.7%,English6.2%,Spanish5.6%,Arabic3.8%,Brazilian(Portuguese)3.0%,Russian3.0%,Japanese2.3%,German1.8%,French1.4%Widelyusedinothercountriesorregions:English115,French35,Arabic24,Spanish20,Russian16,German9,Brazilian(Portuguese)5,Chinese5IsitdifficulttolearnChineselanguage?I.SquareChineseCharacterTheChinesecharacters,neatandpeculiarinappearance,occupythesamespacinginprintedpaper,whetherdrawnin“一”(one),“二”(two),“了”(already)and“又”(again)withoneortwostrokes,orcopiedin“骤”(assembly)and“罐”(jar)withovertenstrokes.Thecharactersdiversifyinposture.Forexample,“田”(fields)“非”(not)inuprightandsquaretype,and“戈”(dagger-axe)“夕”(night)and“瓦”(tile)incrookedandaskewstyle,allareprintedoutinidenticalsize.Withrespecttothistrait,therefore,Chinesescriptisfigurativelyreferredtoas“SquareCharacters”.legendsaidthatCangJiInventedtheScript.CangJiwasallegedlybelievedtobeadeitywithfoureyesontheface,intelligentandtouchedindivinities,andtobesoprofoundlyenlightenedbythebeautyinnatureastohaveinventedChinesecharacters.ThelegendarystoryadvertisednoneotherthanthegreatinventionofChinesescript.Asamatteroffactitwasnotcreatedbyanydeityandhadundergonearemoteprocessinembryo.Comparedwiththeothersystemsofscripts,Chinesecharactersemergedearlywithanover4,000-yearhistory.arrowheadedcharacters(cuneiform):anancientwedge-shapedscriptusedinMesopotamiaandPersiaHieroglyphSixwaysofwordformationAfteritsbirthChinesescriptcoursedthroughsuchroutesasthepictographs,theindicativecharacters,theassociativecharacters,thepictographic-phoneticcharacters,thereferentialcharactersandthephoneticloancharacters.Whatismeantbythepictographs?HavingevolvedfromhieroglyphtheyclaimedtobetheearliestscriptsystemasacornerstoneofChinesecharacters,conveyingcertainconnotationsbymeansofconcreteimagesofthings.Thefollowingfivecharacters“水”(water)“月”(theMoon)“目”(eyes)“车”(chariot)“马”(horse)arethepictographsdelineatedfromvisibleobjects.Theindicativecharactersresemblethepictographs;howeverthefirstlaysemphasisonexplanationsandthelatteronshapesofobjects.Thecharactersbearingresemblancetoobjectsaredefinedaspictographs;andthosebearingnoresemblancetoobjectsbutexplainingthesensesareindicativecharacters.Taketwoinstancesof“上”(up)“下”(down),theywereportrayedas“┴”“┬”inthesmall-sealscript,aChineseancientstyleofcalligraphy.旦Theassociativecompoundsaremadeupofovertwoindependentsigns.Forinstance,“武”(weapon)comprising“止”(stop)and“戈”(dagger-axe)waseverannotatedbysomephilologiststomean“tostopwarwithdagger-axes”.卡，東Thepictographic-phoneticcharactersarealsocoinedoutoftwosegments,oneforgraphs,theotherforphonetics.Take“湖”(pool)forexample,thethreedotsrepresenttheimageofapool,“胡”usedinbeinghomophonicofthesoundofapool.铜Themutuallysynonymouscharactersrefertoapairofcharactersthatmayhavecrossreferencetoeachotherinconnotation,suchas“考”(examination,old)and“老”(old).Thephoneticloancharactersaretheborrowedhomophones,suchas“西”resemblingaswarmofbirdsperchingintrees,whichwaspreviouslymeant“栖”(thebehaviorofbirdsperchingintrees),laterwasloanedtoexpress“west”indirections.Asregardsthehistoricevolution,thecoinagegoverningChinesecharactershasvariedtremendouslyoverthepastmillenniafromtheearlypictographsinvoguetothepictographic-phonetic-connotativescriptsystem.FeaturesofChineselanguage1).Chinesescriptfallswithinideographinnoimmediatecontactwithpronunciation.Thesquareformscanofferadirectreflectionupontheinternallanguagecode.theWesternscripthasevolvedfromthehieroglyphtothealphabeticlinearsystem,whichonlyservesasthesymbolofthelanguagesignssothattheexchangebetweenvariedthoughtsmustbefulfilledinthemediumofphonetics.Languageandscriptbelongtothetwodifferentsignsystems;thesolereasonwhythelatterexistsliesintheexpressionoftheformer.Forinstance,“忍”(endure)iscomposedof“心”(heart,mind)and“刀”(knife),themeaningbeingdistinctandthorough;“人”(man)symbolizesaheroofgiganticstaturewithtwolegsonlandandaheadagainstthesky;and“梦”(dream)dramatizesamansleepinginwoods(林)atnight(夕),allvividandperceivableimages.2).TheWesternscriptsarecataloguedtobethealphabeticandtheChinesematchtobethesyllabic.Chinesecharactersappearinasimplesyllabicpattern,onecharacterembodiedinonesyllable.ThankstoplainsyllablesChineselanguageaboundsinhomonyms.Andthenthetunesareemployedtodistinguishbetweenthecharacters.3).RespectingtheconnotationtheWesternscriptsseemabstractandrationalwhiletheChineseconcreteandperceptible.Chineselanguagerevealsanextremesimplicityofthinking,concretenessofimageryandeconomyofsyntacticalrelationships.TheWesternscriptsdosointhatthereisnoinherentcoordinationavailablebetweenthesignsandtheinformation.ItisnotastonishingthattheWesternscriptsaregenerallycharacteristicofincomprehensibility.OnthecontraryChinesecharactersareequippedwithgraphsandconnotations,takingonconcreteimageswithaconspicuousapprehens