The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1898-02-06
TOO MANY TONGUES
The Hopeless Completely of the Language
oil the Chinese Empire.
MANY DIALECTS ARE IN VOGUE
The Chinannn Outside OF His own
Province L. I.tke n F0rciEner-Onc
or the strnnEest Features of the
Celestial Aingtiom-OrigIn or the
diversion Dates Back to Antiquity
(New York I'rlbune.)

Ihe enormous number of widely diff
lSrinG languages and dialects spoken by
Ghina,s millions of inhabitants is one Of
the stransest features of that vast and
wonderful empire. Not only does il pre-
sent most distressing obstacle to the
foreigner who hopes to be able to make
nlnsel1 understood in his travels through
mo country, but 1t Is equally inConyen-
lent to the Chinese themselves. TO a
native n, Of the province Of Quang-Tung,
IN which Canton Is situated, the city OF
Foo-ChoW, Two Or three hundred miles
distant, would be like foreign land for
1t would be impossible for him to com
tongue common 10 them both.
Peking, the capital. is Pee-Ch:n to tho
Manndnrn. nth, the accent strong on the first
Iong-tse- Kiong. following what seems to
pc II general rule TO pronounce "a" be-
fore fore "nE' IKE short 20" in English
ond syllable OF the name, Use" Hoang-
lio is pronounced lIwong-Ho. tho last
syllable being accented. Kin-Chau and
and kow.Chow. the stress In each in
STANCE falling on the last syllable. Wei
chav Foo is N Wnyill-Way Ghee.roo Is
Shanghai Shanghai. The name Of the
Guif OF Pe-Chl-l.i Is called pch-Ciee-
Lee by the Mandarin, and that of the
Gulf of Lcao-Tong, north of it. is Laow-
Tong All these names are accented on
their last syllablcs, as is also Tnlien-
wan, the pronunciation Of which is suf-
licn Tsin is sounded like one word. Tfcn-
shin. with the accent on tho middle syl-
liable, en- Among the other important
cities OF the empire. Canton is Kong
Tong in the Mandarin dialect, pro
nnunGed in The same way as Hong
Kong, the stress on the last syllable.
The origin Of the diversity Of dialects
m China dates back so far into antiquity
that full and accurate knowledge regard
inE it is impossible. But the subject has
been carefully investigated as far as
such research could be extended, and
many interesting articles have been writ
ten thereon. According TO the SUPPOSE
lion OF the best authorities, the founders
of the Chinese Empire entered the coun-
try through TurkGstan about five thou
Sahd years ago. Their first colonies were
founded on the plain cast Of the IIoanG-
10, whittier they were followed and
pushed onward by the Turkish hor,Jns
from the country they had left. Gradu-
ally they advanced eastward and south
ward untii they had gained all the land
as far as the desert of Cobb, and the
modern coast lsovince of Chlh-I.i, in
which Pcking is situated. In their on
ward course they drove before them the
aboriginal population, which consisted OF
scattered tribes. These moved southwark
and mingled with the Indo- Chinese in
the southern part of the empire. Nothing
Is known of the pre-ChincSc history OF
the provinces of Fuh-Eicn and Qunng-
Inng. on the southeast coast, but 1t Is
known that they. with the provinces OF
Gucred by the invading Chinese in the
Third Century re. Canton was con-
qucred In the same century and IIni-
Nan about hundred years later II is
probable that the aborigincs OF these
provinces were absorbed by and adopted