Re: Invention of the Alphabet

Lee Sau Dan wrote:
>
> >>>>> "Harlan" == Harlan Messinger <hmessinger.removethis@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
> >>> Do you have any trouble reading Thai or Chinese? No word
> >>> divisions in either script. -- Peter T. Daniels
> >>> grammatim@xxxxxxx
> >> Am I misunderstanding you? Thai "script" may very well have no
> >> word divisions, but how can you say the same for Chinese? Every
> >> word has its own character
>
> Harlan> That's a misconception. Many words in Chinese consist of
> Harlan> multiple syllables/characters, such as Chong1guo2, the
> Harlan> name for China,
>
> Aren't Chong1 and guo2 themselves root-words? It's comparable to
> "United Kingdom". Two words used together to refer to something
> specific. Is "United Kingdom" one word? 2 words?
>
> Harlan> or ci2dian3, a word for "dictionary",
>
> Isn't <ci2> a word? Isn't <dian3> a word? <ci2dian3> is just a
> compound. Comparable to English "word list". Is "word list" one
> word, or two?
>
> Harlan> or fu2wu4yuan2, a word meaning "waiter".
>
> Again, just a compound of 3 root words. Compare that with "bus driver
> license". Is that one word? 3 words? 2 words? or what?
>
> And English doesn't mark the boundary of "book store", "bus fare",
> "washing machine" "train station", etc. with other expressions before
> or after them. How is Chinese that different? (BTW, is "washing
> machine" one word or two words? What are the criteria?)

Have you ever looked at a Chinese-English dictionary?

Single characters rarely even have a definition; the definitions are for
the two-character units listed under the characters.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx
.

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