The herald., 1894-04-23
CHINESE LANGUAGE.
eoME or TIE cURlosiTiEs or THE
LEAR SPLITTING JARGoN.p

N0trS - i'frtls--No AJphAn0t ma no
rsrts q sYsssa-oams Ann ns:ag xxnns-
plea OF Chinese Talk.
Tho superficial obtarvcr often refcrg to
tAa Chinese apolsen speech 10 ,sn scar
splitting jargp,i" ana to tho written
speech as 'licrcslyp4ics " Frequknt Wis
i.ors TO any Chinese quarter" notably
q large Chinatown" like that Of Los
Angeles, viii soon become 80 familiar
with this 90 called jargon as to note that
ii is far more musical than the English
ruerch. Musicians arc authority for tho
l.atc:ucat that tho Chinese language has
more a1ilaty {whon spoken) with tho
i.c.es Of birds than with tho tones of any
ether lunguaSe. This is perhaps because
10 Chineee, having no alphabet, must
have many tone combinations to give
sho various expressions and meanings to
the thousands Of characters.
Having no alphabet, tho Chinese Ian
guagc has moro symbols than all of the
;lphabets in the universe combined, and
there are more tone combinations for the
expression of those symbols than in all
other tongues. Each tone is attached 10
character, and one character is made
to mean several different things, accord
ing to, the tone used. In Chinese the
tono gives the meaning. Aword spoken
with a falling infection means one
thing, and quite another when spoken
with rising infection. We often hear
Chnarnan, as he walks along the street
talking with his companion, utter word
in falling infection which sounds like
n-go. This means 81" He is talking of
himeelf--perhaps saying how great he
thinks himself to be- But if he drawls
out the sound long and even he IS call
ing some hoodlum a ''goose. lie gives
the falling infection to the first syllable,
and the rising infection to the last, and
in a rather musical voice. This would
be difficult feat for an American.
No matter in what mood he may be, he
may not and perhaps cannot change the
accent. The voice may be louder or in
a minor key, but the tones are as infiexi-
BILE as written words and must be SO used,
or the exact meaning is lost. All the
expressions Of human passions-laugh-
ter or sorrow-must be expressed by the
Same inflexible words and precise ac-
cents. There are only five tones in the
Chinese voice, but as every word has all
of its syllablcs accented there are 20 per-
mutations, and these are almost always
in constant use, even In ordinary convor-
sation. A question may be asked with
or without rising infection, according
to the word used.
Chinese adjectives are nouns For
"many thanks" it is "thank thank" A
"great man" is greatness man." Some
times a noun is formed of a noun and
verb, as "barber, whom they call SHAVE
head teacher" The verbs have neither
moods nor lenses, and when your laun-
dryman wishes to tell you that II have
washed" he says, II pass over wash"
Their adverbs are mostly formed by join
ing together nouns and verbs, as finish
day" for yesterday" To cook is to ''eat
rice Every noun is plural and includes
all there is of that article, unless it is
limited by tho expression lone piece" as
zone piece house." Instead of wife and
children" they asprass family and aSifsp
The word woman means "father man"
If repeated, it signifies "scolding." The
noun always remains in the same shape,
and the verb has but one form instead of
the many known to the English lam
guage. The Chinese language has no de-
clensions, subjugations, moods. lenses,
propositions, conjunctions, adverbs, first,
second and third persons, no singular
and plural, and no gender except by the
addition of few participles in rare in
stances. 1t is evidently simple and easy
to learn, one Of the simplest and most
curious things about it being, as above
stated, that every noun, unless qualified
otherwise, is plural.
There are about 80, 900 characters used
In the Chinese language proper, but the
average Chinaman no more learns all OF
those characters than the everyday
American learns the 100,0 900 words in the
English language. The Chinaman, how
ever, learns on the average more than
does an American in q similar position
In life. A Chinaman who can neither
read nor write is a rarity. Chinese is
not monosyllabio language as many
suppose, and it is impossible to utter in
Chinese any but the shortest sentences in
monosyllables.
In writing the Chinaman makes one
complicated but integral character for
each word, but that word may be prop
erly spoken in two, three or four sylla-
bles. His syllables are divided by no
longer intervals than are his words, and
that.is what makes his language sound
to foreigner like singsong jargon.
We do not know whether he is telling a
story or attempting song. The Chinese
perhaps think the same thing of an Amer
lean, who bites off his words and swal-
lows them or telescopes one into another.
Business men in this city thrown in
contact with Chinese merchants who
speak pure Chinese say that it is not diff
cult to learn. Instead Of 90 letters, not
Including the useless g., the Chinese
have 500 or 600 syllables, and these are
combined into various forms to make the
10000 words in their dictionary" These
syllables vary in meaning according to
the tone in which they are spoken or the
strokes used in writing them.-Los An
geles Cor. New York Post.
fTsa 2fo1t