New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1849-11-07
BY STEPHEN PEARL ANDREWS, Esq.


BY STEPHEN PEARL ANDREWS, Esq.
,ySoUNcN0 cERTSIV OBsESI%TIoNS AND DY-
cOyERIKS RELlTING 10 me PRIMITIVE SIN
sOLfc SIGNIFyCITIOV or THE CHiNLsE CBAR-
AcTsRS Oh HRiTTEN BORDS TENDING To
ELLCIDlTE THK ORiGLN AND DETELOPNENT.
md TO FACILIrITE THE ACCtLSIrJ0N Or TH1r
REMARKABLE FYSTEN or WRITTEN T4NGLfGE
"tisa just and Fue remark Of the Rev. Mr..
Ga.zlsH" observes tao learned Mr. Daponceso
that nothing has so pa lied the learned world
m Eqrope as the Chnese'angusge,' and nos,~i tn
..andipg the soccots which.ttende9 the endeavor
Of Mr.. Doponcesu - dispel he fancifol and x.
tr.vsgant notions which ther prevailed respect.
ing II, the results OF more sser investigations
nave left this remarkable structure still az greats
puzzle a. ever
The term, the Chinese'aBgusge, 10 used in
discrimu s.ely for the spoken language employe1
by the inhabitants Of China ,s,he great national
form Of speech, and for The srilfen system by
which the spoken language ia represented. Both
are equally curious and sliAo remote from the or
binary analoges Of other languages, while as
between themselves they stand a. the opposite
extremes from each other IN point Of deysI pmen at
The spoken language of China 10 ex.essively
msager, consisting Of 40 more than four fandred
and fifty words--a monosy llables-wthOut CON.
position and perfectly destitute oil intisIioIs or
grsmm aticsl forms Of any sort FOR number. render
person, mode or tense. The written Language, on
the other hand, though without an Alphbet, is
sbundanty copious, consisting OF no less than
thirty thousand characters. expressive OF Rsrly
60 great a variety of idea as the yocsbularie, Of
the most most cultivated languages OF Europe.
Itisa matter of course that any description ST
brief and summary as the preceding should admit
Of considerable nodGca alton in details. 1t ia not
stricy true, for example that all the spoken words
ofthe language are monosyllsbles, few having
two or three vowel-sounds, pronounced quite dis
tinctly from each other. SO the number OF words is
rather apparently than actually so very limited
there being in fact what amounts to composition
Of words though both the genius Of the spoke Il
language and the system of writing have pre-
vented it from appearing such and by the use Of
the remarkable system Of intonations vi ich be
longs 70 the Chinese Cochin Chinese. Siamese
and other languages Of that family the monOsyl'
liable elements themselves are augmented to
about twelve hundred
In a similar manner, the number oil written
characters which constitute the effective body of
the language admits Of various estimation. In
GLIDING duplicates, obsolete and variant forms,
there are in all not less than sixty thousand char
aeters, while, on the other hand, knowledge Of
only ton thousand is regarded as making tho
rough Chinese scholar and five thousand will
cover all which are necessary for general course
Of reading apsr. from technical " rks, aud even
three thousand are enough for some styles.
The wonderful discrepancy between the mum.
Der OF the spoken words and that OF tho written
characters by which they are represented, results
from the fact that the spoken words being 81 very
lew, each one has great variety of sisni6catons
which are distinguished from each other in spec ch
by the connexon of the sentence, and by other
special contrvances, while in writing, each lis
tinot adjudication is represented by different
character. This is illustrated in English by the
different methods of exhibiting to the eye tho
written words rite right. torigM and 'crIfe, all Of
which represent precisely the same spoken utter.
ance or ,cord, but in different signi locations.
The Chinese characters vary in complexity from
one up to fitytwo distinct strokes OF the pencil.
The more complex characters are made up OF com
binations OF the more simple characters, so that
there are bet cen one and two thousand oharsc-
ters only out Of which all the others are formed,
and which may therefore be regarded as the ele-
mentary portion of the language.
Among these elementary characters there are
few which are obvi. usly pictorial or symbolic Of
the objects or ideas which they represent cspt'
cially as they appear in their more encen, forms
Thus, the characters TO- the san aud moon, and e
few of the most familiar objects, have retais ed SO
striking likenc. to their original design as to be
recognized on all hands. But the number of such
Is extremely small
The same narrow circle OF examples is adduced
by each successive writer to elucidate as matter
OF curious observation the manner in which the
Chinese written system had its origin, and the
subject is then abandoned as fraitess OF any rrac.
teal utility in acquiring or understanding the Ian.
susge, II is the universally accepted belle that
the great mass OF the characters nave undergone
such radical changes of form during the immense
period of years which has elapsed since the in
venttcn that il quite hopeless TO attempt 20 lie.
cover any satisfactory know edge Of the primitive
idea which presided over their formation. The
learned world has settled quietly down into the
conviction that all who would learn Chinese mus.
submit to the necessity Of committing slowly aud
lsboriously TO memory successive thousands Of
purely arbitrary characters, as the Chinese them
selves have done for many ages-a task which is
truly HercuIean. and which its barely possible 10
sehieve, unless it is begun in infancy and con.
tisued through the best period ofhfe.
think | am now able to demonstrate that this
beliefis erroneous, and to furnish a clue which
will lead not only to more philosophical aud
pleasant, but to a far more rapid and thorough
method OF acquiring this remarkable language.
few preliminary remarks upon the history,
varieties and characteristics of Chinese wrtinc,
In addition TO what has been said will i, is hoped,
enable even those least addicted to this Kind of in
curry to understand clearly and oteseuty the
nature and somewhat of the importance Of the
discoveries which believe am making in this
department, OF scientific investigation.
IL is relsted in the Chinese traditions oil ne
very esries, times, that the first settlers OF he