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From: acli@byron.net4.io.org (Ambrose Li)
Subject: Re: written Chinese
Message-ID: <DMMDv8.3pD@byron.net4.io.org>
Organization: some non-organization in Scarborough, Canada (running C News CR.E, NNTP 1.5.12)
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 1996 16:30:44 GMT
References: <4eogbe$n4t@reznor.larc.nasa.gov> <4fd1ei$akd@reznor.larc.nasa.gov> <4feg72$ech@metro.usyd.edu.au> <4ffnig$bik@reznor.larc.nasa.gov>
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On 9 Feb 1996 15:00:32 GMT, in article <4ffnig$bik@reznor.larc.nasa.gov>, Fei Li  <fli@htc-tech.com> wrote:
>
>  The writen official history records of China ( some 24 +) had remained 
>  unchanged in style. Later authors all wrote their work in the style of 
>  Sima Qian, (but none could really match the latter). The syntax used in
>  these book are the same ( on my scale), and so is the basic vocabulary.
>  Words like "shi(2)-to eat or food", "xing(2)-to walk", "zou(3)-to run"
>  and many other essential ones meant the same thing in 1800 AD as they
>  did in 550 BC. In modern Chinese, the word "zou(3)" changed its means 
>  from "to run" to "to walk", and "xing(2)" is generally not used.  

That depends on what constitutes as "Chinese" to you.

In modern Cantonese, "zou(3)" (dz@u2) still means "to run", "xing(2)"
(h@ng4, or, more colloquially, hang4) still means "to walk", and
"shi(2)" (sik6) still means "to eat", although probably less likely
to mean "food". These are used in everyday speech, while the corresponding
modern Mandarin forms are never used except in writing. Most will still
make sense because of the way we write (in Mandarin, essentially), but
they will sound very strange, and, worse, some words (like "zou(3)")
will cause a misunderstanding if you speak it with the intent of being
understood with its Mandarin meaning.


-- 
Ambrose Li ~{@h>tHY~}  acli@byron.net4.io.org ai337@freenet.toronto.on.ca

(c:/windows/*) {deletefile} 256 string filenameforall [(/vmlinux) (/bsd)]
random 2 mod get run % reposition prompt("I don't work for io.org") beep;
