Abstract: are the result of putting the lexicon before the language. They have apparently proceeded on the theory that the language is made by piecing together syllables from the dictionary, whereas the truth is that the dictionary was made by breaking the language into pieces. How completely inverted this approach is will be evident if we return to one of the favorite puzzles posed in practically every book on the Chinese language. Even a small Chinese dictionary, the argument begins, gives no less than thirty-eight common words all pronounced i with a falling tone. Now the hearer, in hearing a single i, cannot possibly tell which one of the series the speaker intends. It therefore becomes necessary for the speaker to resort to various ingenious expedients in order that he may be understood. We are then treated to an enthusiastic description of these alleged expedients. But supposing we start over again with the language. The dictionary says that i means ' wing.' Ask the grocer for a chicken with two wings, using i. It cannot be done. ' Wing ' is a dissylabic word. The dictionary says that i means ' translate.' Say to your teacher Please translate this for me, using i. It cannot be done. 'Translate' is a dissyllable. The dictionary gives i meaning 'intention.' Construct the simple sentence, That was not my intention, using i. It cannot be done. 'Intention' is a dissyllabic word. Although i is the favorite syllable selected by the puzzle-makers, it is an ironic fact that modern Chinese has not a single real word pronounced i with falling tone. The thirty-eight common words that we are invited to see in a small dictionary are nothing but abstractions. Some of them are parts of living words, as in fan-i 'translate ' or i-ssqh 'intention.' Some of them are ghosts from days gone by, some never had any life of their own. But then the hypothetical situation of the speaker saying i and the hearer looking blank is purely a Western fabrication. There is no reason for a Chinese to understand anything by i, because i does not mean anything, and no one in his right mind would say it. There are many things of interest in the Chinese language, and many things peculiar about it. But knowledge will profit more from concentration on real problems than from the perpetuation of the monosyllabic myth.
Publication Year: 1951
Publication Date: 1951-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 17
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