Daily gazette and comet. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1856-186?, 1860-01-07
The Language Of the Chinese.

The Chinese
What ia their languageY This
has neither COniugatiUn nur deulen-
sion. neither alliVps nor termina-
ton, neither syliabies nor alpha
bet, but is composed Of symbols or
characters numbering lrrty thons-
and Many of these have in com
mon the sane sound. urdisliu-
guished by the ear, but each has -
separate Specification, tpcnghi1Cd
by the eye w sume eases, the
same character has n variety "
signIications,an without change
ol form, may be used either "a -
nom or verb, ndvetb ~ adjective.
The original mode Of recording
facts was by means If the kuuttcd
cords lIwengtr, ~, ancient SOY
efeign, of ohe 1T his statesmen,
has the credit If having originated
the Chinese written language,
twenty seven hundred years before
Christ lie is said to have drriv-
rd his first idea uf the invention
hy observing the various forms in
nature and cndeavufing 80 initiate
them. H. this way some siS hun
drrd symbols were formed. in which
n resemblance may be traced he
tween the appearance Of the char
acter and the thing signiIicd The
second class seems ~ have been
formed Ivy combination of char
acters, whose signilicancy hal been
settled aud 80 combined "a to con
vey an idea by the union, AS. for
example, the sun aud moon united
was made to signify brightness (;
The Sun above the horizon used Tor
morning the mind, with lost plac-
ed over IT, signifies To- forget man
and word side by side signify sin
cpre three ears and mouth unit
ell signify to Islander three ears
and heart united signify timid /.
women placed unde n cover ev-
presses tranquility. The reason
for many Vt the combinations is to
~ less apparent, though il ia pre-
sumed that in the authors mind
they were not arbitrary. The whole
forty thousand characters and more
are arranged in two hundred and
fourteen classes, each Gloss mar
shalled under one root Ur radical
which forms q component part ul
each character IN It's class. This
facilitates the labor of finding any
given character IN the dictionary,
as we look for its Specification
The symbols are also arranged
ins family groups, which lessons the
tax upon the memory ot the stu
dent still he has to- learn the
sound aud Specification of these
furty thousand enblems of thought
IA much as man has tO learn the
names and character of forty thuus-
aud men to whom he WAS before n
strange. And as an old friend is
sometimes passed unrecogpizcd,
when seen in new position. 80
one of these old characters you
have known for years. when unex-
peCtedly met in some new place F.
his face may seem familiar, but you
fail to call to- mind his name on his
occupation, or his former history
This is an unwieldly instrument
for the transmission of Thought. and
II requires n long apprenticeship 60
learn how 10 use it, but on the och
or side of the equation il offers n
cencelling consideration u the fact
that it is intelligible to 50 latgc n
potion Of the human race. The Ri.
bic translated, or Christian books
printed, in this language, may he
read by the millions ol China. the
people ol Cochin China. "a we'll "a
10y the Corcans, Lewchpans. Japan
csc, aud multitudcs in the sur
rounding countries of Siam. Boruco,
the Straits ot Malacca. not ~ speak
Of those who have cmigratcd t.
l5urmah. India aud California. No
one language was ever understood
by 40 mauy mon; no language is
is ~ purely It's own, and ao unlike
every othcrr No living language
can claim such high antiquity and
hoary headed vcncration. IL Ia the
oldest language now spoken, aud
excepting the Hebrew. it is, per
haps. the most ancient written Ian.
| ,,.1 M.