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From: cu216@torfree.net (Allen Kichiji Kabayama)
Subject: Re: Cantonese Romanization
Message-ID: <EE3Gru.CK9.0.queen@torfree.net>
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Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 18:59:54 GMT
Lines: 24

Keith Swayne (languages@bc.sympatico.ca) wrote:
: Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~} <sdlee@cs.hku.hk> wrote in article
: <7f7mefd3pn.fsf@phoenix.cs.hku.hk>...
: > >>>>> "Courtney" == Courtney  <vplp@hkstar.com> writes:
: > 
: >     Courtney> Cantonese is just a spoken language.
: > 
: Incorrect. Cantonese is the only Chinese dialect outside of Mandarin which
: does have characters to represent its own unique words.
Also incorrect.  Go to a karaoke bar and look for any disc marked tai2yu3
or tai2min3 and you will see plenty of examples of special characters.
So Taiwanese (v. of Fujian) definitely has characters to represent its
own unique words.

Courtney was probably referring to the fact that except when quoting
dialogue, Chinese *usually* write with Mandarin grammar and vocabulary.
This is analogous to the use of Latin in the Roman Empire, but in my 
opinion, NOT to the differences in written and spoken English, as was 
suggested by a previous poster.

--Allen.
-- 
---
Allen K. Kabayama                        E: cu216@freenet.toronto.on.ca
