52 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



Words thus distinguished from the same syllables uttered by a differ- 

 ent inflexion of the voice we may designate as tone-words. But 

 the varying ideas which the Chinese people have occasion to com- 

 municate are as numerous as those of other people in the same stage 

 of advancement. Their spoken language is subjected to considerable 

 ambiguities by its meagreness. This deficiency is, however, remedied 

 in a very great degree in the written system ; for while the number 

 of spoken words is so very small, there are not less than 30,000 

 written characters or words, which express shades of thought with 

 about the same minuteness of distinction as the vocabularies of West- 

 ern languages. Each of these written words, which we may call 

 sign-words., has then from one to perhaps twenty distinguishable 

 meanings, like the words of the Latin or English. 



" It is obvious from this statement, that for each syllabic word of 

 the Chinese language, there is an average of sixty or seventy written 

 or sign-iDords. Otherwise stated, the reader of Chinese meets with this 

 large number of written words having different significations, which 

 he pronounces precisely alike, in the same manner as we pronounce 

 Wright, right, rite, and icrite alike, though written differently and 

 signifying differently. Hence these sign-words are called homopho- 

 nous. To some extent, there is a similarity in form between the sign- 

 words which thus correspond to a single syllabic word, while beyond 

 a certain limit they are entirely diverse. The sign-ioords of the 

 Chinese language consist of single lines, or of complex assemblages 

 of lines or strokes, numbering from the single one up to fifty-two. 

 The attempt to discover the original principles of representation, ac- 

 cording to which these complex characters were composed, has been 

 the source of much perplexity to the learned, and the Chinese schol- 

 ars themselves seem to have little more than a few unsatisfactory 

 fancies upon the subject. 



" The conclusion upon which the investigation seems now to rest 

 is, that such changes have taken place in the mode of tracing the 

 lines, and such modifications of the general shape of the characters, 

 that it has become impossible to do more than catch a few very un- 

 satisfactory intimations of the existence of any original design. This 

 conclusion is deemed erroneous, and other views will be offered 

 by Mr. A. upon the subject. One important fact, however, in relation 

 to their compositioQ was early observed by the Chinese themselves, 

 and advantage taken of it to aid them in arranging their sign-words 



