scholarly journals THE NATURE OF THE CHINESE SCRIPT

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-101
Author(s):  
Jin Xiaolei ◽  

This paper introduces the nature of the Chinese script, with the focus on its origin and development, the main four kinds of creation methods, the basic strokes of Chinese characters and the significance of its radical structure. The author believes that Chinese characters are the carriers of the script, phoneme and meaning as well as of the grammatical structure of the Chinese language. Hence, the Latin alphabet for the Chinese phonetic system cannot replace Chinese character, and learning Chinese character is very important for foreign learners. Finally, the author gives a mnemonic of the basic rules for stroke order that facilitates learners' memory and helps them write characters correctly and quickly.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Weiwei Zhang ◽  
Manliang Li

Over the past decades, subjects concerned with the Chinese character “zhi之”, i.e. grammatical structure, in ancient Chinese language, have been widely explored. This paper conducts a research from a new dimension: the Cardiff Grammar, an integral part of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) which is famous for its “problem-oriented theory”. In order to shed light on the semantics and syntactic functions of “zhi之” in the Chinese nominal group, this study examines five distinctive nominal groups involving “zhi之” with elaborate tree diagrams which are presented in each of the following sections. Through the contrastive study, we find that the Chinese character “zhi之” has some various functions in different situations: as genitive element (g), as modifier trigger (mtr), as selector (v), as qualifier introducer (qint) and as deictic determiner (dd).


PMLA ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 693-700
Author(s):  
Jing Tsu

In 1909 Wu Zhihui, a proponent of esperanto and well-known anarchist of Twentieth-Century China, predicted the future of global languages. Though the nationalization of the Chinese language was still pending, Wu expressed concern not for its imminent standardization but for its eventual global viability. The outlook was not rosy: Not only is the Chinese language not phoneticized, it is also not easy to typeset or index. This is a tremendous obstacle to the dissemination of civilized modernization and the governance of all things…. Looking up Chinese characters takes great effort indeed. Regardless of the index system and classification scheme, it is very difficult to memorize them. Moreover, there are too many characters…. Western writing has one great advantage, which became clear as the greatest disadvantage of the Chinese language only with the advancement of machine technology. A typewriter can be used with Western scripts but not with the Chinese language…. Sooner or later the Chinese script has to be abolished.(51, 36, 37, 52; my trans.)


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Wang

AbstractThis study investigated the effects of single and dual coded instructional methods using computer-based multimedia on Chinese character learning. 42 college students with no prior knowledge of Chinese language were randomly assigned to a single coded group (text-only and animation-only) and a dual coded group (animation plus text and animation plus narration) to learn 12 concrete (pictograph) Chinese characters and 12 abstract (ideograph) Chinese characters. The results showed there was a significant difference between the single coded and the dual coded instructional methods and there was also a main effect in the character type. In addition, the findings indicated that within the single coded group, there was a significant difference between two character types and a significant difference between two single coded methods with the animation-only method leading to better achievement score than the text-only method. For the dual coded group, the results revealed a significant difference between two character types as well and a significant difference between two dual coded methods with the animation plus narration method outperforming the animation plus text method.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingsheng Li ◽  
Xiao Li

The uniqueness of Chinese makes Chinese language a hotspot in language learning. In view of the problem of wrongly written character teaching in Chinese language teaching, it provides a simple, convenient, and efficient input method of wrongly written characters and realizes a dynamic generation and editing system for wrongly written Chinese character font, which solves the problems of real-time edit, coding, and input of wrongly written character in editing process using dynamic editing technology, and provides a convenient input method of wrongly written character in editing, printing, typesetting, and the research of digital Chinese language teaching. This method can also be used in dynamic editing, generation and processing of ancient variants, Oracle bone inscriptions, Bronze inscription, folk combined characters, and other fonts.


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 212-229
Author(s):  
Tze-Wan Kwan

One might think that the European verb “to be” can find no counterpart in archaic Chinese. This paper starts with two sidetracks on Heidegger and Benveniste, which prepare us a broader horizon in dealing with the notion of “being.” It is indeed conceivable in the four Chinese characters shi 是, zai 在, cun 存 and you 有. These notions are discussed with the help of corresponding archaic Chinese script tokens. This so-called fourfold root explains why it is precisely these characters that have become the most widely used Chinese translations for the notion of “being.”


Author(s):  
Lee Chai Chuen ◽  
Nor Azrina Mohd Yusof

There is no doubt that knowing Chinese gives graduates a competitive advantage. The ability to communicate fluently in Chinese has long been a requirement for Chinese employers, particularly those looking to do business in China's e-commerce market. Non-native learners must master four fundamental abilities in order to become literate in the Chinese language: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Previous research has found that writing Chinese characters is frequently the most difficult task for both non-native and native learners. The issue arises during the process of learning Chinese characters and excessive use of gadgets, while online learning inspires both researchers to create a Chinese educational board game dubbed the LiSCReW Family Board Game (LiSCReW). LiSCReW is an acronym for Listen, Speak, Count, Read, and Write. The purpose of this study is (i) to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of the LiSCReW for learning Chinese characters; and (ii) to share non-native learners' perspectives and experiences while playing LiSCReW during a one-day exhibition at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor Campus. To facilitate playtesting and evaluation of the board game, a total of 22 students from UiTM Johor were conveniently selected. The findings indicate that the LiSCReW board game is an effective educational tool for learning Chinese characters. The results show that respondents are more confident in recognising Chinese characters (90.9%), pronouncing Chinese characters (68.2%), reading Chinese characters (54.6%), and applying the Chinese characters they learned while playing LiSCReW to their Chinese test (77.2%). The findings can be used to guide future research into the empirical testing of Flow Theory's applicability among a large number of respondents.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-138
Author(s):  
Eun Young Jang ◽  
Heung Soo Park ◽  
Yeon Sil Jeong

This study attempted to try out Chinese-character education centering on experience and learners away from existing lecture-centered, teacher-centered education. For this purpose, problem-based learning (PBL) was proposed as one of the Chinese-language ability-enhancement measures for Korean learners of the Chinese language, and in order to examine the effect, we attempt to use the PBL tasks in the ‘Chinese-language reading’ class at a university for basic Chinese-language learners and analyze the results. PBL is a teaching-learning method in which learners focus on learning by using problems. In this study, we attempted to use PBL for the group work format. In this way, we can confirm that the class using the PBL has many advantages, such as improving learning ability and problem-solving ability, and strengthening cooperation. In addition, it was found that PBL is worthwhile to try because it is effective in inducing learning motivation, improving attention and interest in Chinese-character learning, improving learning attitudes of learners, and developing self-directed learning abilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-51
Author(s):  
Jeong-A Jo

This study aims to examine the common features and differences in how the Chinese-character classifier ‘ ben 本’ is used in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, and will explore the factors that have affected the categorization processes and patterns of the classifier ‘ ben 本.’ Consideration of the differences in the patterns of usage and categorization of the same Chinese classifier in different languages enables us to look into the perception of the world and the socio cultural differences inherent in each language, the differences in the perception of Chinese characters, and the relationship between classifiers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-153
Author(s):  
Jeong Yeon Sil ◽  
Jang Eun Young ◽  
Park Heung Soo

This study examines why and how Chinese characters spread into Korea. It subsequently conducts a comparative analysis of Korean and Chinese children’s textbooks with a focus on Yu Hap from the perspective of the acceptance and acculturation of Chinese characters. It also explores how commonly used the characters in Yu Hap are, and the text’s learning value as one of Korea’s children’s textbooks. Yu Hap is very significant as the first written language textbook published in Korea. A comparative analysis of the characters used in four children’s books published in Korea found that the characters in Yu Hap are very common, and the text has a high learning value. Approximately 50% of the characters in San Bai Qian and Yu Hap are the same, showing that both China and Korea had similar perceptions of the characters in common use. A very significant proportion of characters overlap in Basic Chinese Character for Educational Use, List of Common Words in Modern Chinese, and Yu Hap; this supports the idea that the same characters have continued to be used from ancient times to the present day.


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