54 GLOSSOLOGY. 



Italian of the East. The language of the European Gypsies is said 

 to differ but little from those of northern India. 



4. The Chinese Language, is by far the most important of the 

 asyntactic, or, as Adelung terms them, monosyllabic languages, of the 

 east ; and it is one of the most ancient languages known. The 

 written language, according to De Guignes and Morrison, contains 

 214 keys, or elementary characters ; from which, all the others, more 

 than 13,000 in number, are derived. These keys are evidently of 

 hieroglyphic origin ; often having more than one meaning, and some- 

 times more than one character : and each of them represents a word, 

 usually of one syllable. Of the specimens given in Plate L, the 

 characters yih, shih, khow, keuen, jih, yooh, and jin, are keys, or 

 elementary characters ; although shih would seem to be naturally de- 

 rived from yih ; from which we may see how arbitrary are these 

 distinctions. Again, we observe that the characters khow, the mouth, 

 and keuen, a dog, being combined, express the idea of barking; 

 but the corresponding word, fey, has no such resemblance to these 

 words, as the compound character has to its keys. There are two 

 different characters for the same key, keuen, a dog ; and these two 

 characters combined, express the next word in the plate, hia t straight 

 or narrow ; showing also how arbitrary are some of the derivations. 



While the written language of the Chinese is said to be very rich 

 in combinations, the spoken language appears to be extremely barren. 

 Thus, according to De Guignes, there are five different characters, 

 each pronounced ho ; eight, pronounced ho ; seven, pronounced ho; 

 nine, pronounced ho ; and seventy characters, each pronounced ho ; 

 making in all 99 characters, having the same pronunciation, varied 

 only by the accent ; and nearly all of them having widely different 

 significations. To designate proper names, the Chinese select cer- 

 tain characters, called Hing-ching, which they use phonetically, as 

 representing certain sounds : and the characters belonging to one 

 name, are, it is said, sometimes written in a cartouche, as in the 

 Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Chinese write their words in columns, 

 from the top to the bottom of the page; beginning on the right side.* 



Many scholars have supposed the Chinese characters to be ideo- 

 graphic, representing ideas independently of sounds ; but Mr. Du- 

 ponceau has shown, we think conclusively, that they are lexigraphic; 

 each representing a word, by means of its pronunciation ; as much 

 as do the European languages. The other languages of this family, 

 are the Cochin Chinese, Tonquinese, Japanese, and other minor 

 dialects. The Cochin Chinese use many of the Chinese characters ; 

 but often to express different words, both as regards the sense, and 

 the pronunciation. The Japanese language is said to use a select 

 number of the Chinese characters, introduced in the year 733, but 

 applied to the original Japanese words ; which are as different from 

 the Chinese, as English words are from French ; though both written 

 with the same character. 



* The last column of Chinese characters, on the left side of Plate I. (No. 13), 

 is the inscription on the tablets at the door of the Chinese Museum, in Philadelphia. 

 For the honor of possessing this splendid collection, our city and country are indebted 

 to the liberality of one of their most enterprising and patriotic merchants ; Mr. Dunn. 



