Lecture4ChineseCharacters解析.pptVIP

Chinese Characters Introduction “block characters (方块字)” one of the oldest characters in the world appeared more 6,000 years ago carved on the oracle bones 3,000 years ago different pronunciations of some words same written system and grammar How Many Chinese Characters? Xu Shen His Dictionary Xu Shen (许慎) Eastern Han Dynasty 58-147 The Dictionary《说文解字》 “Six Principles (六书)” Six Principles of Creating and Using Chinese Characters (六书) pictogram (象形) ideogram (指事) compound ideogram (会意) phonogram (形声) mutually defining (转注) phonetic loan (假借) the first 4 principles: creating a character the last 2 principles: using an existing character Introduction Simplified characters: 2,238 Chinese characters Traditional characters: Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Pictograms (象形字) The characters derived from pictures. Their derivation is not always obvious after being standardized, simplified, and stylized to make them easier to write. Pictograms (象形字) Pictograms (象形字) Pictograms (象形字) Pictograms (象形字) Ideograms (指事字) simple indicatives or simple ideographs modify existing pictographs iconically direct iconic illustrations E.g. 一，二，三，本，末，刃，凸，凹，甘 Ideograms (指事字) Ideograms (指事字) Compound Ideogram (会意字) logical aggregates or associative compounds symbolically combine pictograms or ideograms to create a third character Compound Ideogram (会意字) Compound Ideogram (会意字) Compound Ideogram (会意字) Compound Ideogram (会意字) E.g. 掰，炙，跌，武，解，鸣，吠，孬，歪，岩，仙，看，采，盥，酒，戍，从，林，森，淼，众，伐，盗，信，男，妇，灶，偷 Phonograms (形声字) semantic-phonetic compounds (the most numerous category) composed of two parts: one of a limited set of pictographs, suggesting the general meaning of the character an existing character pronounced approximately as the new target word E.g. 湖，骑，钢，柱，城，房，想，架，管，芳 Mutually Defining (转注) mutually explanatory characters in Chine