Re: VMs: Chinese thoughts [ was: languages etc]

[Dennis <tsalagi@xxxxxxxx>]

Barbara Barrett wrote:
> 
> Under 500, about 450 last time I saw a chart. But don't forget the five
> tones (so there's really over 2,000 syllables) and the huge number of
> homophones! You'd think that a syllable would have only 5 meanings but
> homophones increase this dramatically; MA for example, has over a dozen
> semantic values!  In romanization the homophones are clarified by context
> IF the tone is indicated (Pinyin uses diacritics, Yale uses numbers,
> Wade-Giles has complex spelling rules).

	Here's something I still wonder about.  One always
hears that each Chinese syllable constitutes many
homophones, and apparently the Chinese themselves think
of it this way.  However, Jacques once told me here
that Chinese syllables in fact combine into groups that
we Indo-Europeans would consider "words" - despite the
fact that in Chinese all morphemes are free.  So
meaning in fact must be determined by context.  You
might as well say that 'un' , 'like' , and 'ly' are
separate words, and that in 'unlikely' their individual
meanings are only determined by context.  

	I may be mistaken here; someone please correct me if I
am.

Dennis

PS: I LOVE the Hamptonese stuff you sent me!!!  It's
great that Mark Scott at Johns Hopkins has transcribed
the whole thing!  So all the dirty work has been done. 
More later.
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