The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-01-20
Chinese Pronunciation Of English.

IT is one of the most curious things 10
observe how foreigners pronounce and
syntactically treat our language. Though
it is very easy to discover that there are
differences in pronunciation, it requires at
least some learning and some observation
to find out the exact points of diversity
and their causes. The Chinese, for in
stance, say "Too ool-lah," instead of 1.-TWO
dollars; -" fote," for " forty" "twa-te,"
for twenty" hun-tah," for hundred y
They speak in a manner as if they swal-
lowed something between every two syl-
lables, and even those among them who
speak English the best can only be under-
stood when the ear OF the hearer is some
what accustomed to the peculiar manner
of their pronunciation. The uneGucated
classes of Germans say " shimeley" for
chimney" They have not the sound
"ch," pronounced as "tsh," as in chimney
or chalk In their OWL language, and the
two consonants "mn" las in damn,
chimney, 0mnis s0mnus,) do not occur
in the German in words which are
often used by uneducated people. They,
| therefore, pronounce the word "chim-
ney" as near as they can come to it
| by their own German sounds, without
much troubling themselves whether they
| do it correctly or not; whilst any clas
sically educated German very soon pro-
nounces the word correctly, because he
has found the two cOnsOnants mn" in
many Latin and French words Just so
| will every American, who does not under
stand German correctly, initiate the Ger
man Nir komnat 'rdvs correct high Ger
man, NIGHTS kommt heraus), by saying MIR
kOmm raus, leaving out the st" in
"komamt," because in English the two con-
sonants "mt" seldom or never occur at
the end of a word In similar manner
the peculiarities of the Chinese language
appear in their pronunciation and self.
made syntax of the English. Before every
other, the Chinesei is a mOnosyllable
language, having no phonetic alphabet at
| ALL Every Chinese character is word
it has both sound and meaning. 1t is un-
fitted, therefore, for the adequate repre-
sentation of foreign words. In modern
| times the Chinese have invented some
new characters, by which they indicate
the names of Lord Paimerston, and
some of the foreign sovereigns
with whom they have been in com.
| munication. They, moreover, have mot
such common sounds as those of q, r, b, d.
in their language, and the short never
occurs in any of their words. In pro-
nouncing polysyllable, therefore, they
first separate it into mOnOsylables, and
leave hiatus, as it were, between every
two syllables. 1t is precisely, as we have
said, as if they swallowed something be-
tween every two syllables. If an English
word contains one of the letters which
they do have, or if two consonants follow
each other in English words, such as sell
dom follow each other in Chinese, they
try to translate these sounds by such
sounds of their own language ss seem to
them to come nearest to the foreign
sound This they also did in translating
the Holy Scriptures of the Buddhists
They, for instance, translated the name
"Buddha" into "Fo-to," and afterwards
abbreviated it in the mOnosyllable FO
which now means "the Enlightened" Ol
"Buddha" This was the nearest they
could come in writing the name Buddha
The "b" they had not, nor ha(
they any consonants to represent
the "ddh." In the same manner they
wrote the Sanscrit word "Anadana
(parables) "Po-to," and they write "Ho
kia 10" for the Sanscrit word "Vyakar
anza," which means sermon" 1t re
quired twenty years of uninterrupted
study for a man of the learning of N
Stanislaus Julien TO lind the method o
, deciphering the Chinese translation @
Sanscrit names.
!, During the few hours stay Of the CHI
nese who have just passed through thi
city, there was, of course, little time 70
the study of the characteristics of thei
, pronunciation of English in all its fea
lures. But the remarks we have mad
, may serve as a key to those who take a
r interest i'm the process of the unihcatio
of languages, and in the transformatio
. which our own must undergo in the mind
and on the tongues of the Chinese. Thos
| who may recollect other English word
: spoken by them, will in our remarks in
at least some of the causes for their p'
1 culiar pronunciation.-& Louis RepuM
) can.
/ At funeral in Brooklyn church. tf
| Io cs l.>;- lyat