Re: Continents in Chinese
- From: LEE Sau Dan <danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:02:19 +0800
"ekkilu" == ekkilu <ekkilu@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
ekkilu> Dalu Continents (Geographical/Geological)
ekkilu> Europe: Ouzhou Dalu
ekkilu> Asia: Yazhou Dalu
ekkilu> Eurasia: Ouya Dalu
ekkilu> Africa: Feizhou Dalu
ekkilu> America: Meizhou Dalu
ekkilu> North America: Beimeizhou Dalu, Beimei Dalu
ekkilu> South America: Nanmeizhou Dalu, Nanmei Dalu
ekkilu> Antarctica: Nanji Dalu, Nanjizhou Dalu
ekkilu> Australia: Aozhou Dalu
ekkilu> Oceania: Dayangzhou Dalu
Note that <zhou1> alone already represents "continent". There is no
need to repeat "da4lu4" (continent). If you do so, then you sound
"geographical/geological".
ekkilu> Zhou Continents (Geopolitical)
No. You're mixing up several concepts (homonyms), which are all
pronounced <zhou1>.
<zhou1> written with the water radical can refer to both "continent"
or "island". These are pretty geographical.
<zhou1> without the water radical refers to city. (This meaning
originates from deltas or islands formed on rivers.) This is
geopolitical.
ekkilu> Singapore: Xingzhou
ekkilu> Sumatra: Sumendala zhou
ekkilu> Borneo: Poluomen zhou, Poluo zhou
These <zhou1>s are written with the water radical: islands.
ekkilu> Europe: Ouzhou
ekkilu> Asia: Yazhou
ekkilu> Africa: Feizhou
ekkilu> America: Meizhou
ekkilu> North America: Beimeizhou
ekkilu> South America: Nanmeizhou
ekkilu> Central America: Zhongmeizhou
ekkilu> Latin American: Lading Meizhou
ekkilu> Australia: Aozhou
ekkilu> Oceania: Dayangzhou
ekkilu> Antarctica: Nanjizhou
These are also with the water radical, but refer to "continents".
ekkilu> Notes: (1) Usage of "Zhou" for Singapore and Sumatra is
ekkilu> nowadays rare. Because of the small sizes of
ekkilu> Singapore/Sumatra/Borneo,
Wrong. <zhou1> with the water radical is used a lot along the coastal
regions of China to name islands. There are lots of such <zhou1>s in
Hong Kong alone.
You're right that we use <zhou1> less often for Singapore and Sumatra
nowadays. The reason for Singapore is political: it is not just an
island, but an independent nation. For Sumatra, I think the
transliterated name <su1men2da2na4> is already to long (4 syllables!)
from a Chinese point of view. So, we don't want to make it longer by
appending the morpheme <zhou1>.
BTW, we still use <zhou1> for Borneo. (You say Borneo is small? It
is said to be the second largest island of the world, after Greenland.
This is based on the norm that Australia is too big to be called an
"island".)
ekkilu> often "Dazhou" is used to distinguish the big Zhous from
ekkilu> these small Zhous.
No. <Da4zhou1> would refer to "continents". I believe this term was
invented to translate the Western idea of "continent".
--
Lee Sau Dan 李守敦 ~{@nJX6X~}
E-mail: danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Continents in Chinese
- From: Tak To
- Re: Continents in Chinese
- From: ekkilu
- Re: Continents in Chinese
- From: Peter T. Daniels
- Re: Continents in Chinese
- References:
- Continents in Chinese
- From: ekkilu
- Continents in Chinese
- Prev by Date: Re: Maybe Illyrian, maybe Martian...
- Next by Date: Websites to practice Japanese pronunciation?
- Previous by thread: Continents in Chinese
- Next by thread: Re: Continents in Chinese
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
