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."
Interesting -- do you have the text of this story somewhere (in
Chinese characters, natch)?

I only know of a similar story, also attributed to Y. R. Chao, written
entirely with _shi_, about Mr. Shi and the ten stone lions he wanted
to kill and eat, but hadn't heard about one with _xi_ yet.

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

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