中国文化简介之中国语言文字

Chinese (Mandarin) Phonetics Initials (consonants) Finals (a vowel, or a combination of vowels, sometimes with a nasal at the end) Tones (four distinct and one light tones) Each Chinese character corresponds to one syllable. A syllable is consist of an initial, a final and a tone.
Some confusing terms ：
Chinese Language 中文 Hanyu 汉语 Mandarin 官话 Putonghua 普通话
The Map of Chinese Dialects
Northern Wu吴 Yue Yue粤 Min闽 Xiang湘 Gan赣 Hakka客家
“Kai Shu” 楷书 , the standard script Tang Dynasty (618 - 907)
A very old yet still living language:
Several thousand years long history, ever changing, but never interrupted. Belong to the “Sino- -Tibetan ” language system. More people speak Chinese than any other language in the world. One of the five official languages of UN. About 2 million American residents are Chinese home speakers. 60% of Korean vocabulary comes from Chinese. Written Japanese has several thousand characters borrowed from Chinese. It has been estimated that until the 18th century more than half of the world‘s printed books were in Chinese.
When did the earliest Chinese Characters appear?
源自文库
No later than 14 century B.C. Oracle 甲骨文- - bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty (1600 - -1028 B.C.)
Combinations of initials and finals, plus several special cases, result in 411 possible combinations. Applying the four tones, we get a total of around 1,600 unique syllables. Why not use “ Pin Yin ” to replace Chinese characters as Chinese writing system?
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文章原文
石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮。适施氏时时适市视狮。十时，适十 石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮。适施氏时时适市视狮。十时， 狮适市。是时，适施氏适市。氏视是十狮，恃矢势，使是十狮逝世。 狮适市。是时，适施氏适市。氏视是十狮，恃矢势，使是十狮逝世。 氏拾是十狮尸，适石室。石室湿，氏使侍拭石室。石室拭， 氏拾是十狮尸，适石室。石室湿，氏使侍拭石室。石室拭，氏始试食 是十狮尸。食时，始识是十狮尸，实十石狮尸。试释是事。 是十狮尸。食时，始识是十狮尸，实十石狮尸。试释是事。 文章翻译 有一位姓施的诗人，他的名号叫石室诗士。他特别嗜好狮子，发誓要吃 十头狮子。姓施的常常到市集里看狮子。十点钟，刚好十头狮子来到市 集。这时，刚好姓施的（也）来到市集。姓（施）的看这十头狮子，仗 着箭的力量，使这十头狮子死了。姓（施）的收拾这十头狮子，到石头 做的屋子。石头做的屋子很潮湿，姓（施）的命令侍者擦拭石头做的屋 子。石头做的屋子擦（好了），姓（施）的开始尝试吃这十头狮子。吃 的时候，才知道这十头狮子，实际上是十座石头做的狮子的尸体。(请) 试着解释这件事。
Six categories of Chinese Words 六书） (六书）
Xu Shen许慎，a scholar in Han Dynasty, summarized “Six Ways ” :
指事、象形、形声、 会意、转注、假借
Later scholars pointed out that only the first 4 are the principle of constructing Chinese characters, the rest two are ways of using them.
2. Strict word order.
我帮你 你帮我 面汤 汤面 楼上 上楼
母配孟 母配孟德 德?
德 配 孟 母
3. Extensive sharing of the similar sound (homophones 同音字 同音字) 4. The ideographic language (表意文字 表意文字) 表意文字 ideograph: symbol used in a written system that represents the idea rather than the sounds of a thing. 5. Various dialects but the same written form supplant—代替；排挤掉
4 tones，and a light tone ，
High mā
Up má
Low mǎ
Down mà
light ma
妈 妈 骑 马， 马 慢， 妈 妈 骂 马。 Mother is riding on a horse, the horse walks too slow, so mother curses it. Mā ma qí mǎ ， mǎ màn， mā ma mà mǎ.
Legendary Invention of Chinese Characters
There has been a wide scope of controversies involving its origin since the time immemorial, and there has prevailed a beautiful-sounding legend that Cang Jie Invented the Script. Cang Jie was believed to be a deity with four eyes on the face, intelligent and touched in divinities, and to be so profoundly enlightened by the beauty in nature as to have invented Chinese characters. Owing to its advent, the secrets concealed in Heaven and Earth coupled with the rules and laws therein could be recorded down in writing and promulgated to the public, even the invisible and traceless “ghosts”, and “monsters” being exposed out of the disguise. Hence a thunderstorm poured down at night while the monsters and the like burst into a squalid weep.
What is “Pin Yin”? The Romanized phonetic spelling system created in 1950’s for Mandarin or standard Chinese (Putonghua) It is based on Beijing Dialects, a branch of the Northern dialects of Chinese language. It uses 25 letters in English except “v”
Features of Chinese Language
1. A tonal language the four tones— high and level tone; the first tone （阴平） 阴平） rising tone; the second tone （阳平） 阳平） falling-rising tone; the third tone （上声） 上声） entering tone; the forth tone （去声） 去声） retroflex sound （卷舌音） 卷舌音） Suffixation of a non-syllabic r to nouns or verbs （儿化音） 儿化音）
Inscription on tripod vessels Large seal script (1100 -- 256 BC)
Inscription on stone stele, Qin Dynasty ( 221B.C.- -206 B.C ) Small seal script
“Li Shu 隶 书” or Clerical script: Han Dynasty (220 B.C. - 206 A.D.)
Six Ways
a. pictographic characters （象形） 象形） b. self- explanatory characters （指事） 指事） c. associative compound characters (会意） 会意） 会意 d. pictophonetic characters （形声） 形声） e. phonetic loan characters （假借） 假借） f. derivative characters （转注） 转注）
Impossible! Because there are too many homophonic characters同音字. Zhao Yuanren 赵元任（1892 – 1982）, a famous Chinese linguist, wrote an article entitled 施氏食狮史 ( The Story of Mr. Shi Eating Lions), the whole article only uses one syllable “shi”.
The Main 4 Principles for Character Construction:
中 国 语 言 文 字
Legendary origins of Chinese characters: a. Created by Fuxi 伏羲 b. Originated from keeping records by tying knots结绳记事 结绳记事 c. Invented by Cang Jie 仓颉