Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)

From: Peter T. Daniels (grammatim_at_worldnet.att.net)
Date: 03/29/05 

Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 23:02:43 GMT

Comm wrote:
>
> "Lee Sau Dan" <danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de> wrote in message
> news:87d5tiaa7n.fsf@informatik.uni-freiburg.de...
> >>>>> "Comm" == Comm <no@spam.com> writes:
>
> > It's absurd that you define what is "one word" in language A by basing
> on the writing system of language B.
>
> You still fail to grasp the simple idea. Using a total monotone, no
> emphasis, no modulation of pitch at all, like a B movie robot voice, if I
> say in English, "I object to that object being in my kitchen," it is
> perfectly understandable. You can NOT use a monotone in Chinese at all.
> "Will I be subject to queries involving that subject?" Said with no raised
> voice to imply question, said in a total monotone like a robot voice - it is
> STILL understandable in English and clearly understood to be a question.
> You can NOT do that in Chinese.

Why do you keep pointing this out? Do you feel that this is a flaw in
the Chinese languages?

Yet somehow it doesn't keep more than a billion people from
communicating quite successfully.

> Comm> English is not, even if people modulate their speech when
> Comm> they talk.
>
> > You do modulate your speech with more than a dozen vowel sounds.
>
> I don't have to modulate anything. I can speak in a robot voice, in fact,
> one person I know who had throat operation has a machine that makes words.
> It sounds funny, but it is 100% understandable. There is no emphasis on
> words, like OBject or obJECT, there is no tone, not even a raised tone to
> imply it's a question. It's 100% understandable.

What LSD has been trying to get you to understand is that the tones in
Chinese are exactly as functional as the vowels in English. Your
equivalent sentence would be "Will ih bih sibjict tih quihriz invilving
thit sibjict?" Or, to take your "ma" example, "Ma, ma ah mock ma mockah
maass mahv mahr marralah?

> Comm> The few examples like OBject and obJECT are very few. Book
> Comm> is Book, no matter if I sing it or not. Not so in chinese.
> Comm> Ching. How many ways can "ching" be said, how many tones?
> Comm> How many different meanings?
>
> > And in how many ways can "second" be pronounced? Or "read"?
>
> Maybe you are just not capable of understanding something very simple.

Splork. (BTW I don't see what his example "second" is supposed to
indicate.)

> >> What you're saying is as ridiculous as saying that "bet",
> >> "bat",
>
> Comm> "bit", "beat", "boot", "bite", "boat" are ONE WORD
>
> Uh, if I said that, I left out the word NOT. Bit beat boot bite boat are
> NOT one word, but you can say them in a robot voice monotone and be
> understood in English.

Why are you unable to understand that ma1, ma2, ma3, and ma4 are as
different in Mandarin as bet, bit, bat, beat, and boot are in English? 

-- 
Peter T. Daniels                       grammatim@att.net

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)
    ... You can NOT use a monotone in Chinese at all. ... said in a total monotone like a robot voice - it is ... > Comm> they talk. ... > Maybe you are just not capable of understanding something very simple. ...
    (sci.anthropology)
  • Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)
    ... emphasis, no modulation of pitch at all, like a B movie robot voice, if I ... said in a total monotone like a robot voice - it is ... Maybe you are just not capable of understanding something very simple. ...
    (sci.anthropology)
  • Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)
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  • Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)
    ... > on the writing system of language B. ... Comm, you are starting to saound a bit self-righteous and arrogant ... Chinese speaker; English is no where near as tonal so you can. ...
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  • Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)
    ... > on the writing system of language B. ... Comm, you are starting to saound a bit self-righteous and arrogant ... Chinese speaker; English is no where near as tonal so you can. ...
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