The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-25
TALK LIKE THE BIRDS.
The Chinese Language Absolutely
Without Grammatical Rules.

From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
or all the systems Of vocal communist
tion known to mankind. that known as
the Chinese language is the most unique.
having peculiarites. II Is safe to affirm.
known 10 no other. What We under
stand by grammar, as recognized by all
cultured occidental nations. has really no
existence as an integral structure in the
language spoken By the subjects Of the
Celestial empire. As yet their language
Is not the unintelligibIe jargon popularity
supposed nor Is the written speech by
any means matter OF mere hierOglyph-
les, as those may conclude who receive
receipt acknowledging a bundle for the
laundry
The Chinese verb discards all gram
matical fiexibilitY ana affinity, refuses de-
clensions and acknowledges neither per
son, number. mood, or tense. There are
neither cOnjunctiOus. adverbs, first. sec
ond or third persons, no singular and plu-
raj and rarely gender. Nevertheless,
this peculiar language is more musical
than the English speech, and when spoken
by its cultured classes. has more affinity
with the vacalization of birds than can
be brought from the tones of any other
tongue. 1t is thus. then, made up largely
Of intonatiOns, undulations and repeti-
lions; pitch, key and accent being prom
inent and these in their combinations
must give meaning and expression to
their thousands OF characters.
This is made necessary by the fact that
the language has no alphabet differing
in its photographed mechanism from
all our conceptions of the necessities of
structural or grammatical integrity. But
while lacking an alphabet. this singular
language has a marvellous wealth of
symbols and the tone combinations for
their oral expression exceed that Of all
other languages combined.
II Is this that has necessitated such a
wonderful and most remarkably ampli-
fled written system, as to each tone is
attached a character and each character
made to mean just what the tone indi-
Gates. Stil. there is a rigid limitation or
restriction within which all communion
tion must confne itself. No matter in
what mood the Chinaman may be- he may
not change the accent The voice may be
in minor key or in louder, but the
stones are cast in a mold of absolute in
tieXibility and must be adhered to, or the
meaning drifts into a maze entirely in
determinable. While there are only five
tones In the Chinese voice, every word
has all Of its syllables accented and there
are p permutatiOns almost always in use
in ordinary conversation.
There are about $4,000 characters proper
known to the dictionary" of the celes-
pretends to learn all these symbols than
does the average American pretend to
learn all the words shown in Webster
Unabridged" He is a rarity among these
people who can neither read write nor
compute, Each written Chinese word has
one complicated, but yet integral charac-
ter, which may be properly spoken as a
dissyllable. trisyllable or q polysyllable.
The syllables are divided by no shorter in
tervals than are the words, and this is the
feature that makes the speech sound as if
monotOnous, and the listening outside
barbarian" is undecided whether John is
trying to tell story or is attempting to
sing a song.
But the Chnaman declares that the
Mclean man" bites Off his words and
swallows them so that they are "tele-
scoped' into an indistinguishable vocal
wreck. John never states his proposition
and then again goes over the substance.
in other words. His language has no other
words" it is his tone, rather than his
words that imparts the meaning. Neither
is there such thing as slang, vulgarity,
or profanity in the Chinese tongue.
There is a coptousness- and an elasticity
that does not call for what may be termed
the brutal forms of speech, and contempt
the most whitening as we'll as satire of
the most seorching character. can be.
and IL necessary must be, expressed in
polite terms that glisten with the finest
polish
The language is calculated to express
the peaceful and pastoral rather than
| rhythm or impassioned Oratory. While
! 1t would express the mild and media
tive Confucian philosophy, it would not
convey Napoleon's appeals or congratula-
/ lions to his soldiers, nor could a Web
ster and a Hayne have expressed with
/ such a vehicle their fervid eloquence In
/ the Senate. We cannot conceive of a
| Chinese Burke, nor Pitt, nor Clay The
! Chinese language has never risen to such
! expression for the reason that there has
| been nothing in their national career
/ to evoke the expression of the higher
| emotions, and language cannot go far
/ beyond the inspiration that demands ex-
/ preston.
The Chinese, i'll their remarkable Ian
| guage, as well as in their peculiar ma
tional characteristics, are not so hard to
I understand, when viewed in the light of
the law of development that ethnologi-
cally bears on the human species. Had
the Chinese branch of the Mongolion
race been rocked reeled and rolled in
foreign wars, had their blood been better
| commingled with almost anything some
/ what dissimilar to themselves and not
allowed to flow in sluggish inbred chan
| nels during millenniums of time, their
language, government. individual and ma
tional life would have been much i'm
proved. II would be entirely useless to
attempt to inject grammatical struct-
ures into the Chinese language. With
/ the evolution of the race the entire Ian
guage structure must be thrown away.