1. 中文字是怎么形成的？
How Did Chinese Characters Form?
• Methods used to record language
用来记录语言的方法
• The very first characters:
– Pictogram 象形字
– Simple Ideogram 指事字
• Combining existing characters:
– Compound Ideogram会意字
– Semantic-phonetic compound形声字Made by
Alan Chien
6. People Female Son Mouth Nose Eye Hand Toe(Foot)
Horse Tiger Dog Elephant Deer Goat Silkworm Turtle
Sun Moon Rain Lightning Mountain Water Rice Wood
Jar Caldron Bow Arrow Thread Booklet To divine Omen
Oracle
Bone
Script Modern
Script
12. 总而言之…
In Conclusion…
• Design requirements of a written language
– Recognized and used by many
– Can be reproduced easily
– Symbolize what it describes in some way
– Can convert to and from verbal language
Pictogram
象形字
Simple Ideogram
指事字
Compound Ideogram
会意字
Semantic-phonetic compound
形声字
Presented by Alan Chien
16. 常见问题
FAQ
• How do Chinese people type in computer?
– As far as I know, 4 main input methods were developed for typing Chinese, in
chronological order: CangJie 仓颉 (HK), bopomo ㄅㄆㄇ (TW), pinyin 拼音
(CN), and handwriting 手写(all). CangJie仓颉 and bopomoㄅㄆㄇ require
special keyboards with Chinese symbols next to letters; CangJie仓颉 requires
user to memorize and input 4 key features of a character in order to type it.
Bopomoㄅㄆㄇ uses special phonetic symbols to spell the sound of a
character. Pinyin拼音 uses alphabet letters to type out character’ sound,
which a US keyboard could manage. Handwriting手写 method was made for
touch sensitive tablets, so people can just write and input Chinese words with
mouse, stylus, or finger. Each input methods have their own variations and
grammar detection built into them to make them “smart” and choose the
right character out of all the characters with the same sound. No, we don’t
have an extra large keyboard with a few hundred thousand keys on them.
17. 常见问题
FAQ
• What’s the difference between Simplified and Traditional Chinese?
– Just as their names suggest! Over the past millennia, several attempts have
been made to standardize and reform the Chinese characters due to their
abundance in variations. Simplified Chinese happened to be the latest
attempt from the Communist Chinese government. The major complaint over
it is that it simplified many characters beyond recognition of its original forms,
making the trace of etymology difficult, and cause the language to lose
cultural heritage. But many advocated for its use in the beginning because it
made learning Chinese easier, and raises the literacy rate for China mainland’s
then-impoverished population. Now, Traditional character is still used in
Taiwan and some Cantonese population. It is rumored that following the rise
in education level, China may use Traditional characters again in the future.
Though evidence of this is only seen in studies of Chinese language and art in
college level and above. Note that many other Asian cultures, such as
Japanese and Korean, also borrow Chinese characters from time to time, but
with their own standards and attributes, such as character form, stroke order,
pronunciation, definition, grammar usage, and syntax usage.
18. 常见问题
FAQ
• How does inflections work in Chinese? (Typing it and speaking it)
– Mandarin uses 5 tones: CangJie 仓颉 input method doesn’t use tone marker during input, and
kids in Hong Kong learn the tones by imitating adult speakers, without visual aids. In fact,
people in Hong Kong learn Chinese without the aids phonetic symbols at all, which is the most
traditional way of learning Chinese. Bopomoㄅㄆㄇ input method uses no marking for the
first tone, then ˊ, ˇ, and ˋ next to its bottom-most vowel symbol, then put ˙ on the top-most
symbol for syllables with neutral tone; inputting tone when typing is usually required. This
phonetic system was actually first developed by scholars from Hong Kong, but it is only used in
Taiwan. Taiwan also has many Pinyin systems of its own, but the lack of one official system
delayed their spread, and eventually, China’s Pinyin 拼音 system overshadows all the other
systems. Pinyin 拼音 uses ̄, ˊ, ˇ, ˋ, and no marking for the fifth/ neutral tone. These markings
usually appear over vowels, denoting the change in pitch. These markings usually only appear
in educational texts, because English keyboard don’t have a way to input them quickly. Some
Pinyin 拼音 input method may ask user to input number 1 to 5 , or “space” instead of tone
markers, while most simply ignore them. The way these Pinyin 拼音 markings are drawn
symbolize the exact way the pitch would change when you pronounce them, if you draw the
pitch change on a 5-lined music score sheet. Unlike European languages, these marks don’t
change the vowel’s pronunciation. Cantonese uses similar idea in pronunciation, but more
tones. Note that all the inflection marks are left out in this presentation to avoid confusion.
19. 常见问题
FAQ
• The pictures of Ancient Chinese people had weird body parts, why?
– Some were meant to describe famous ancients with certain traits: court scribe
Cang Jie 仓颉 had 4 eyes and 2 pupils in each because he was very observant.
Emperor Fu Xi 伏羲 had snake, or dragon tails because it was either a birth
deformity, or a symbol of holiness given by people of the time. Shen Nong 神
农 had velvet antlers (picture not shown), possibly due to his role as pioneer
botanist and farmer. The pictures are meant to spark interest in Chinese
mythology, as there are actually a lot more back story to each figures
mentioned here.
• Are there other forms of Chinese characters?
– Yes, Xu Shen 许慎 actually classified Chinese words into 6 forms in total; so
aside from the 4 mentioned here, there are also borrowed characters 假借字,
and transformed characters 转注字. These 2 are left out due to their
ambiguity in definitions and rarity in examples, which has sparked quite the
controversy in the field of Chinese linguistic. If you plan to look these up
yourself, note that the English terminologies may change, but the Chinese
terminologies will stay the same.
20. 常见问题
FAQ
• What are the differences between Mandarin and Cantonese?
– Mandarin and Cantonese are both dialects of Chinese. Mandarin is a dialect originated from the
Northern China, and has been used as China’s official spoken language through out most of its
history. Though inhabitants of each region still prefer the use of its own dialects, the push for all
Chinese people to master Mandarin as primary dialect has been fairly successful. Cantonese is
another Chinese dialect, that is mostly spoken by inhabitants of Southern China, such as Guang Zhou
and Hong Kong. Over the past few hundred years, many waves of immigrant came out of Southern
China, led to a huge Cantonese speaking Chinese descents all over the world. Because they are
outside of China, so they are mostly unaffected by China’s push on Mandarin usage. Though the
increasing number of Mandarin speaking Chinese immigrant overseas has led to Cantonese
immigrant descent to show interest in learning Mandarin. Like many other major dialects in China,
speakers of 2 different dialects can hardly understand each other, despite the fact that they all use
the same written language. The major cause of difference is in each dialect’s preferred use of words
, pronunciations, use of phrase/ idioms, and syntax. Over the years, in an attempt to differentiate
from the Communist China and to develop unique local culture, speakers of non-official dialect
accentuate the linguistic features of their dialects by using many written characters and expressions
that are not usually used in Mandarin Chinese. This phenomenon is especially common in
Cantonese, and is starting to become popular in Taiwan.
