Re: NATLANG: Chinese parts of speech (or lack thereof)

On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 18:18:36 +0100, Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:
> Y.R. Chao gives an example of a story written entirely in 36
> characters, all pronounced _xi_ in one of the four tones. The story
> would make no sense at all when read aloud in modern standard Chinese,
> but for some who knows Classical Chinese they story reads:
> "The West Creek rhinoceros enjoys romping and playing. Every evening,
> Xi Xi [name of person*] takes the rhinoceros to play. Xi Xi
> meticulously practises washing the rhinoceros. The rhinoceros sucks
> the creek and playfully attacks Xi. Laughing, Xi Xi hopes to stop [the
> rhinoceros] playing. Too bad - the rhinoceros, neighing, enjoys
> attacking Xi."
>
> *Xi Xi are both pronounced on first tone, but are written with
> different characters. The first 'Xi' is the surname & the second the
> given name.
Here is the poem, reproduced from a scan Ray sent me:

西溪犀、喜嬉戲。
嵇熙夕々携犀戲。
嵇熙細々習洗犀。
犀吸溪、戲襲熙。
嵇熙嘻々希息戲。
惜熙嘶々喜襲熙。

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>