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Classical Languages of India and China

Classical Languages of India and China. Implications of phonetic vs. pictographic languages in cultural evolution. Linguistic Groups. Oral Languages. Written Languages. total (spoken by at least 1,000,000 persons) India - 461 (32) China – 299 (13) Japan – 15 (2)

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Classical Languages of India and China

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  1. Classical Languages of India and China Implications of phonetic vs. pictographic languages in cultural evolution

  2. Linguistic Groups Oral Languages Written Languages • total • (spoken by at least 1,000,000 persons) • India - 461 (32) • China – 299 (13) • Japan – 15 (2) • Hindi as primary – 21% • Mandarin as primary – 70% • Japanese as primary – 95% • Sanskrit - phonetic • Chinese - pictographic • Japanese – phonetic/pictographic

  3. Sanskrit:The Phonetic Roots of Indic Languages

  4. Sanskrit (Devanagari) • the 50 aksaras (indestructibles) • Phonetic logic: 14 vowels are first, followed by 36 consonants

  5. India: An Oral/Aural Culture • primacy of the spoken word • the living word over the dead letter • emphasis on the sound over the meaning • being in the presence of God(s) and teachers (darśan)

  6. The Hindu Tradition: Spatial Dimensions

  7. Chinese:A Diverse Spoken Language Chinese dialects • Cantonese and other regional dialects (8 / 13 / 8,000 ?) • "Mandarin" Chinese:  the "common" dialect 普通話 (putong hua)

  8. Written Chinese A Common Written Language Xiang 客家話 Hakka 湘語 粵語 吳語 Cantonese Minbei Wu 贛語 閩北語 Gan 普通話 Mandarin Minnan 閩南語 漢字

  9. a common written language, regardless of pronunciation 我不會講廣東話 • wǒ bù huì jiǎng guǎng dōng huà • ngo5 m4 sik1 gong2 gwong2 dung1 waa6*2

  10. Mythical Origins of Written Chinese Cang Jie 倉頡 (minister to the Yellow Emperor) “observing the footprints of birds and beasts” ... 文 culture writing civility discovering “culture” in “cosmos” Sculpted bronze figure, Library of Congress , 1939

  11. The Pictographic Basis of Chinese Characters Oracle bones from about 1400 BCE

  12. Typology of Chinese Characters • Pictographs • Ideographs • Lexigraphs: Meaning-meaning Combinations • Phonetic Lexigraphs: Sound-meaning Combinations

  13. 1. Pictographs 日ri sun/day 月 yue moon/month 田tian field 口kou mouth 水shui water 人ren person

  14. 2. Ideographs 上shang up/above 下xia down/below 中zhong middle/center 一yi one 二er two 三san three 凹ao concave 凸tu convex

  15. 3. Lexigraphs: Meaning-meaning Combinations 日 (sun) + 月 (moon) is 明 (bright) 女 (woman) + 子 (child) is 好 (good) 乃 (breast) + 子 (child) is 孕 (pregnant) 手 (hand) over 目 (eye) is 看 (look) 手 (hand) with 手 (hand) is 拜 (worship) 人 (person) in the 山 (mountain) is 仙 (immortal) Three 木 (trees) is a 森 (forest) Three 蟲 (insects) in a 血 (bowl) makes 蠱 (poison) When you die, thousands of bugs stream from your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth! -- especially used by wives and other (bureaucratic) subordinates

  16. 4. Phonetic Lexigraphs: Sound-meaning Combinations 水 (water) + 羊 (yang) is 洋 (ocean) 火 (fire) + 登 (deng) is 燈 (lamp) 金 (metal) + 同 (tong) is 銅 (copper) 雨 (rain) + 允 (yun) is 雲 (cloud)

  17. Kangxi Zidian 康熙字典 Character Dictionary of the Kangxi Reign Period (1716) 49,030 characters Literacy: 2,000 University degree: 5,000

  18. Chinese Romanization Systems of romanization: (representation of a word or language with the Roman [i.e. Latin] alphabet)

  19. Advantages of a Pictographic System? • in the face of dialectical diversity • in the face of geographical extent • in the face of temporal/historical scope

  20. Aural-Spatial vs. Visual-Temporal Orientations • India Sound 3 dimensionality Presence Seeing and hearing • devanagari(gods as origin of sound) • cultural disunity of a phonetic language system • China Image 2 dimensionality History Textuality • characters (gods as origin of script) • cultural unity of a pictographic language system

  21. Note: What you need to know for the first exam General Concepts and Ideas (partial list) • de 德 (power, virtue in Confucian sense) • Tian-ming 天命 (the Mandate of Heaven) • three obediences (women’s roles) • xin 信 (reliability, trustworthiness) Chinese Characters for Recognition (partial list) • 禮 (li: rites, propriety)        • 仁 (ren: co-humanity, benevolence) • 孝 (xiao: filial piety) • 恕 (shu: reciprocity) • 道 (dao: the “Way”)                   

  22. Note: What you need to know for the first exam General Concepts and Ideas (partial list) • de 德 (power, virtue in Confucian sense) • Tian-ming 天命 (the Mandate of Heaven) • three obediences (women’s roles) • xin 信 (reliability, trustworthiness) Chinese Characters for Recognition (partial list) • 禮 (li: rites, propriety)  • 仁 (ren: co-humanity, benevolence) • 孝 (xiao: filial piety) • 恕 (shu: reciprocity) • 道 (dao: the “Way”)   

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