18 Mr. Du Ponceau o;* some Points cotinected 



Mr. Morrison, and others, represent the Chinese writing much 

 in the same point of view, of which j^ou may convince yourself 

 by referring to their works. And by way of proof, it is every 

 where repeated tliat Chinese writings are read alike by dif- 

 ferent nations who do not iniderstand the spoken idiom. 



No philosopher, that I know of, has yet attempted to reduce 

 these vague notions to a rational standard. I have stated 

 them candidl}', as they appear in the works of the missionaries, 

 travellers, and sinologists, and I must own that tliey never sa- 

 tisfied my understanding. I have taken great pains to come 

 at the real truth, and I shall now proceed to state to you the 

 result of my inquiries. 



The Chinese language, — I mean, as it is spoken ; for I do 

 not call any writing a language, except metaphorically, — is, as 

 you well know, monosyllabic ; that is to say, every one of its 

 syllables (with very few exceptions) is a word, and has a spe- 

 cific determinate meaning. In which it differs from our lan- 

 guages, which consist for the most part of unmeaning syllables, 

 or of syllables which if they have an appropriate meaning, it 

 has no connection with the words of which they make a pai't. 

 Take, for instance, the word con-^r-ma-tion ; the first and the 

 two last syllables have no meaning whatever ; the second,^r, 

 by itself, means a kind of tree ; but it has no relation to the 

 word in which it enters. It is otherwise with the Chinese 

 language ; every syllable of it is significant, and is never em- 

 ployed but in the sense of its meaning. There may be com- 

 pound words in the Chinese ; but as in our words welfare^ 

 •welcome, each of their component syllables preserve their pro- 

 per signification. 



Every one of these significant syllables or words has one or 

 more characters appropriate to it, and every character has a 

 corresponding word *. If two Chinese read the same book, 

 they will read it exactly alike, there will not be the difference 

 of a single syllable. Were it otherwise, the Chinese writing 

 would be translated, not read : notwithstanding what the sino- 

 logists tell us of the beauty of the Chinese poetry and even of 

 their prosaic style to the eye ; it is certain that the metre and 

 rhythm of their verses are addressed to the ear ; their versifi- 

 cation is measured, and their poetry is in rhyme ; and they have 

 also a measured prose f. All this is written in the pretended 

 ideographic character, word for word, exactly as it is spoken, 

 and no two readings can absolutely take place. It seems, there- 

 fore, evident, that the characters were invented to represent 

 the Chinese words, and not the ideas which these represent, 

 abstractedly from their verbal expression. 



* Remusat : Grmnmaire Chiiioise, p. 1. f Ibid.\i. 171, &c. 



It 



