The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1894-09-01
CHINESE LANGUAGE.
SOME OF THE cURloslTlEs OF THE
GEAR SPLITTING JAReoN."

/
Parts Of speech-some Amusing Exam
pies of Chinese Talk.
The superficial observer often refers to
the Chinese spoken speech as an ear
splitting jargon" and to the written
speech AS "hieroglyphics." Frequent VS.
itors to any "Chinese quarter" notably
a large chinatown" like that OF Los
Angeles, will soon become SO familiar
with this so called jargon as to note that
| it is far more musical than the Engnsn
.peech. Musicians are authority for the
statement that the Chinese language mas
more affinity (when spoken with the
notes of birds than with the tones oil any
other language. This is perhaps because
the Chinese, having no alphabet, must
have many tone combinations TO give
the various expressions and meanings TO
the thousands Of characters.
Having no alphabet, the Chinese Ian
guage has more symbols than all OF tDe
alphabets 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 70
character, and one character Is made
to mean several different things, accord
ing to the tone used. In Chinese the
| tone gives the meaning. Aword spoken
with a falling infection means one
thing, and quite another when spoken
with rising infection. We often hear
Chinaman, as he walks along the street
talking with his companion, utter word
in falling infection which sounds Ike
n-go. This means Il" He is talking OF
himself-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 goose he gives
the falling infection to the first syllable,
and the rising infection to the last, and
in 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 intiexi-
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 inhexible words and Precise ac.
cents. There are only five tones in the
Chinese voice, but as every word has all
of its syllables accented there are 20 per-
mutations, and these are almost always
in constant use, even in ordinary CONVEX
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 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, 81 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 the expression lone piece" as
zone piece house" Instead of wife and
children" they express family and wife. T"
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 Ian
| 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
D 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
e otherwise, is plural.
| There are about 60, 900 characters used
/ in the Chinese language proper, but the
e average Chinaman no more learns all OF
+, those characters than the everyday
: American learns the 100000 words in the
English language. The Chinaman. how
? ever, learns ON the average more than
D does an American in a similar position
in life. A Chinaman who can neither
D read nor write is a rarity. Chinese is
a not monosyllabic language. as many
suppose. and it is impossible to utter in
Chinese any but the shortest sentences in
llOuocl
: In writing the Chinaman makes one
+ complicated but integral character for
each word, but that word may be prom.
erly spoken in two, three or four sylla.
) bles. His syllables are divided by nc
longer intervals than are his words. and
+ that is what makes his language sound
to foreigner like singsong jargon.
l We do not know whether he is telling a
story or attempting song. The Chinese
a 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 20 letters. no.
including the useless &, the Chinese
have 500 or 600 syllables, and these are
combined into various forms to make the
= CO,OOOword in their dictionary. These
!, syllables vary in meaning according Ia
!. the tone in which they are spoken or the
4 strokes used in writing them.-Los An.
!, geles Cor. New York Post.
e Starvation Among the Rich.