ON THE CHINESE SYSTEM OF WRITING. 17 



This, says Dr. Marshman, is to be attributed to the permanent perspicuihj of 

 the characters which he calls xat' s^o'x/iv, the Chinese language. This is a 

 strong fact, if true to the extent that it is represented. I fear, however, that 

 there is in this a great deal of exaggeration. 



Very little is known in this part of the world, and in Europe, respecting 

 those dialects. It is said that a vocabulary of that of Canton has been printed 

 at Macao or Serampore, (I do not remember which,) but it has never made its 

 way to this country, at least that I know of. The indefatigable Mr. Medhurst 

 has given us, as I have said before, a copious dictionary of the dialect of 

 Fo-kien, but I do not feel myself competent to compare it with the pure Chi- 

 nese, or, in other words, with the mandarin dialect; I leave that to your 

 learned correspondent, who is skilled in both, and I shall content myself with 

 stating facts, extracted from the works of the most approved authors. 



Dr. Marshman, in his Clavis Sinica, or Grammar of the Chinese Language, 

 has a chapter entirely devoted to the dialects of the Celestial E mpire. In that 

 chapter, p. 560, he clearly describes the general character of those dialects, and 

 their differences from the mandarin dialect, or pure Chinese. " Besides," says 

 he, " the difference of pronunciation, the modes by which the colloquial dia- 

 lects are varied are generally three : the introduction of words which have no 

 characters; the use of words to which certain spurious characters are affixed; 

 and the application of certain characters in a sense not given them in the 

 dictionaries. The variations observable in the Canton dialect" (which, by the 

 by, is the southernmost province of the empire, while Petchelee, in which 

 Pekin is situated, is the northernmost) "do not affect the substantives; these, 

 as well as most of the verbs, are the same as in the mandarin dialect, except 

 as varied by a corrupt pronunciation. The principal variations are in the pro- 

 nouns." 



These differences are very trifling; and it appears, also, that they consist as 

 much in the alteration, substitution, and misapplication of the characters as in 

 the spoken language. The greatest difference appears from Dr. Marshman's 

 statement to be in the pronunciation; and that, if carried to the extent which 

 is insinuated, would, in fact, prevent all oral communication between the inha- 

 bitants of the different provinces, and reduce them to the necessity of con- 

 versing in writing as well as they could. But, according to the relation of a 

 learned English missionary, who is worthy of the highest credit, that difficulty 



VII. — E 



