Re: Continents in Chinese

"ekkilu" == ekkilu <ekkilu@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

ekkilu> English has the two words "home" and "house": one with the
ekkilu> human element and the other one without. Just because
ekkilu> Chinese has a single term <Jia> for both, doesn't mean
ekkilu> that the English speakers will merge their two terms,
ekkilu> ever.

Wrong. <jia1> is "home", with human element. If you want to refer to
the physical building, you say <fang1zi> (house).


>> When this compound word is in turn used to build a longer
>> compound, we drop the <da4> to make the compound concise. So,
>> <ou1luo2ba1> (Europa) + <da4zhou1> (continent) becomes
>> <ou1luo2ba1 zhou1> (Europe), which is routinely abbreviated as
>> <ou1zhou1>.

ekkilu> Routinely abbreviated? Give me a break. Find me a single
ekkilu> map where it is not abbreviated. If you cannot even find a
ekkilu> map where it is not abbreviated, you have to accept the
ekkilu> fact that it was never even an abbreviation. And bear in
ekkilu> mind that many maps often are official documents, hence
ekkilu> abbreviations are not allowed.

What's the Chinese way of saying "the 7 continents", then?



>> <Zhong1> translates "Central". <Mei3zhou1> translates
>> "America".
>>
>> What's wrong?

ekkilu> Read the link I gave to
ekkilu> you. http://www.lygtzy.gov.cn/dzzk/kpzhch/gjdl/2759.html
ekkilu> In the last paragraph, Latin America is explicitly
ekkilu> mentioned as a Dazhou.

But the name is still <la1ding1 mei3zhou1>. Now, you should explain
to me why the suffix is just <zhou1> instead of <da4zhou1> in this
name, if it's not a routine abbreviation?


BTW, this page consistently misuses the <zhou1> without water radical
to write the Chinese translation of Oceania. The credibility and
authority of this page is doubtful.



ekkilu> So America is a Dazhou, that is, America is a continent?

Yes.

ekkilu> I thought you said there are only seven continents
ekkilu> according to you, this must be your number eight, then?
ekkilu> Are you saying

Seven. Six if you consider S/N America to be one continent. Five if
you further consider Europe and Asia to be one continent. Four if you
further insist that Australia is the biggest _island_ rather than a
continent. ...


ekkilu> (a) America is not a continent because it's not on the
ekkilu> list of 7 continents

It is, if you consider it to be the result of MERGING S. and
N. America. But then, you don't have 7 continents, but 6. Hence, if
you want a list of SEVEN (a magic number) continents, you have to
split America into N. and S. America. So, by definition, "America"
alone cannot be on the list of SEVEN continents.


ekkilu> (b) Beimeizhou, zhongmeizhou, Nanmeizhou are derived from
ekkilu> Meizhou, which comes from the abbreviation of Yameilijia
ekkilu> and Dazhou, which means America is a continent

Wrong. You're applying the wrong rule.

New Zealand's <bei1dao3> (north island) and <nan2dao3> <south island>
are also named using this pattern. That doesn't mean those are just
the southern half (or northn half, respective) of one single island.
Rather, the name shows the mutual relationships between the two
islands.


ekkilu> (c) So America is a continent (d) But it cannot be a
ekkilu> continent, loop back to (a)

Whether "America" is a continent or two is a debatable topic.


ekkilu> So America is a Dazhou, or not? You are in deep dilemma,
ekkilu> right?

No. I always think the concept of "continent" is not well defined.
The boundary between "continent" and "island" is like the boundary
between "language" and "dialect". It's a controversial subject.


ekkilu> You get into all these chicken-and-egg existential
ekkilu> problems because you insist on using English's terms and
ekkilu> concepts to analyze Chinese.

No, if you're capable of jumping out of the loop of binary logic.
Don't attempt to classify everything, into merely "black" or "white".
There are many things that are in the grey area. Whether "Asia" and
"Europe" are two continents or one is already on example.



--
Lee Sau Dan 李守敦 ~{@nJX6X~}

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

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Continents in Chinese
    ... ekkilu> Europe: Ouzhou Dalu ... need to repeat "da4lu4" (continent). ... Look, "Zhou" is a Chinese ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Continents in Chinese
    ... ekkilu> Beimeizhou Dalu, ... ekkilu> designate a modern concept like "continent" with the same ... ekkilu> Poluozhou and Aozhou to designate Borneo and Australia, ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Continents in Chinese
    ... ekkilu> Europe: Ouzhou Dalu ... ekkilu> North America: Beimeizhou Dalu, ... island, but an independent nation. ...
    (sci.lang)
Loading