Re: NATLANG/Learning : Sanskrit
| From: | Phillip Driscoll <phild@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Wednesday, August 13, 2003, 1:59 |
|---|
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jean-FranXois Colson" <bn130627@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 11:15 AM
Subject: Re: NATLANG/Learning : Sanskrit
> > If that many are needed, I'd judge the memory
> > load of this script to be greater than the famed "5000 hanzi" needed for
> > reading some level of Chinese. At least the hanzi are iconic.
>
> . . .
>
> But are you sure that the ideographs are really iconic in the present
time.
> Those characters evolved to such a point it's difficult to make the link
> between the character shape and its meanings, except perhaps if you have
> studied their etymology. ;-)
Just F.Y.I.: The term "ideograph" is currently deprecated. The
preferred term today is "logogram."
I'm not an expert on Chinese, but it's my understanding that
most Chinese logograms are compounds of basic symbols,
one of which indicates the pronunciation and the other a clue
to the meaning. One Chinese man with whom I worked told
me that he could make an educated guess of the meaning
if he encountered an unknown logogram.
This site has a good introduction to how hanzi might work
in English:
http://www.zompist.com/yingzi/yingzi.htm
--Ph. D.
Replies