Re: intrinsic advantage of Latin alphabet over bopomofo (for Chinese)??

"Peter" == Peter T Daniels <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

>> It is? Could it not be that characters represent ideas instead
>> of words?

Peter> No. If that were so, then anyone who knew the "ideas"
Peter> represented by the characters (or by any other arbitrary
Peter> symbols) could use them as a "visible language."

I know what the characters mean, and this enables me to understand
news headlines on a Japanese newspaper -- even without any minute idea
of how those headlines are pronounced in Japanese.



Peter> Why must we continually remind you that mathematics is not
Peter> a human language, and writing is not a human language?
Peter> Writing _represents_ a language,

Writing can represent ideas.


Peter> so mathematical notation is not writing, either.

Using YOUR definition of "writing", of course.


Peter> Mathematical notation is a semiotic system.

My Oxford dictionary has an entry for "semiotic:

semiotics n study of signs and symbols, esp in writing, and of what
they mean and how they are used.

Er... what does "esp in writing" here mean?



>> We have international highway signs; do those represent words,
>> or ideas? Does the sign warning about radioactivity represent
>> words?

Peter> They are ideograms. If the international highway signs are
Peter> uniform all across Eurasia, then they can be "read" by
Peter> every driver in their own language; hence, not writing.

But the drivers still need to learn what these signs mean.

So, if East Asia decided to standard on highway signs using
Characters/Kanji/Hanza, those character would suddenly become
ideographs, because they can be "read" by every driver in those
nations, and foreigners will definitely attempt to learn what those
character mean?


Funny. What is an ideograph now depends on how many people can
understand its meaning (after learning). Then how come English
spellings aren't ideographic?

Remember, you don't have to learn the English language to read English
road signs. You only need to memorize a few words. e.g. "EXIT". And
nothing prevents people not speaking English from recognizing such
words solely from the shapes, independent of any sounds or morphemes
of English. So, "EXIT" is ideographic? I think many Western tourists
in China/Japan for more than a few days have also acquired the ability
to recognize the "exit" signs by those 2 characters on such signs.
So, suddenly, these 2 character have become ideographs?




--
Lee Sau Dan 李守敦 ~{@nJX6X~}

E-mail: danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee
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