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Re: Chinese writing systems

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Sunday, November 3, 2002, 16:45
Florian Rivoal scripsit:

> Homophones or the same word, not easy to say. I would say they are the > same word in oral language, and different ones in writen language. But > isn't that saying that they are homophones?
Not really. It's an artificial non-traditional distinction introduced under Western influence. It's about as if English-speakers decided to restrict the spelling "blue" to dark blue, and use "bloo" for light blue, both pronounced the same, under the influence of Russian, which has separate words for the two. -- I am expressing my opinion. When my John Cowan honorable and gallant friend is called, jcowan@reutershealth.com he will express his opinion. This is http://www.ccil.org/~cowan the process which we call Debate. --Winston Churchill