212 MifcelUma Curiofa. Vol • 1 1 L 



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Some Oiffervations and Conje^ 

 (Hures concerning the Chinefe 

 Charaders. Made by R. H, 



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Hether there ever were any Language 

 natural, I difpute not : But that 

 there have been, are, and may be, artificial 

 Languages 'tis not difficult to prove. The 

 Chinefe Court Language is faid to be of this 

 kind, invented and fpoken by the Literati 

 and Mandarines throughout the whole Em- 

 pire of China^ differing from all the other 

 Languages fpoken in it, and I conjefture it 

 to be nothing elfe but the Names of the 

 Character by which they write and exprefs 

 their meaning, arbitrarily impofed by them^ 

 as we in Europe fet names to Arithmetical 

 Figures, not as we pronounce Words writ- 

 ten with a litteral Charader. This I Judge 

 by comparing the Charaders with the Names, 

 Monofillables or Words they pronounce and 

 read them with. Nor do they afcend above 

 a Monofillabical Name, tho' the Charader 

 be compofed of many fingle Characters, each 

 of which hath its proper Senfe. and Mono- 

 lillabical Name, and though the meaning of 

 each Character , be qn ingredient in the 

 Notion of that compounded Character. 



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