Re: Why my conlangs SUCK!!!

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 19:51:02 -0500, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
wrote:

>Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that
>(1) the pronunciation component
>is outdated, much as English orthography is, and
>(2) it only applies to Mandarin,
>so is no help for the many other Chinese langauges
>that use the same writing system?
The "hinting" phonetic components of Chinese characters are quite
conserved and stable despite diachronic and cross-country phonological
mutations which are quite consistent, so that the phonetic components are
still quite useful for Chinese languages other than Mandarin, and in
different epochs.  Even in Japanese "On"-read Kanji, they are quite
useful, even though the "On" readings are an amalgamation of different
pronunciations taken from various Chinese languages.  This "phonetic"
system is really a "subtle hint system" used in conjunction with non-
phonetic idea-oriented radicals.

--Viktor




http://purl.oclc.org/net/tonguesea