>X79^* on the Chinese language. 49 



To diminiih the immense multiplicity of words, 

 many curious devices must have been adopted, which 

 jwe in Europe can scarcely form an idea of. Many 

 words which we find extremely convenient for con- 

 necting and modi* ing the meaning of nouns and verbs 

 will be supprefsed in writing ; and a scope will thus 

 be given to the imagination of the reader to supply 

 these, with which we are entirely unacquainted. What 

 effect this will have upon the general phraseology of 

 the people it would be curious to trace, though it 

 must be a matter of nice and difficult investigation. 



Even European languages, in which every oral 

 word that is employed admits of being reduced to 

 writing, with the utmost facility, afford examples of 

 the total supprefsion of some parts of speech in one 

 language, which are deemed efsentially necefsary in 

 another. In Latin, for example, the word homo, de- 

 HOtes, alike, what, in Englifb, would be exprefsed by 

 man in general, by a man, or the man, as in these 

 phrases : " man is the most sagacious animal on this 

 globe ;" "« man came to me from the city;" " the 

 maa who came from the city was a fool." Yet 

 those who are acquainted with Latin think they per- ■ 

 -ceive no want here, while those who write in Engiifh 

 would think their meaning could only be guefsed at 

 if they wanted any of these words : In like manner, 

 the written Hebrew language has no vowels, though 

 we would think that our written language would be 

 totally unintelligible without them. 



But in the Chinese written language, the suppref- 

 sion of words, for the reasons already given, must be 

 much more common than in European languages, 

 VOL. -xi. c f 



