(27-06-2025, 01:49 AM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I know from the Thai language that many prepositions are actually verbs.
Many words can be used either as a noun or as a verb, with related meanings.
Classifier words are very often nouns themselves.
Adjectives can sometimes be nouns or verbs.
Compared with European languages, the grammatical rules appear far more 'fuzzy'.
Undoubtedly, this is also true for other East-Asian languages.
Edit: some of these things also happen in English.
Example: the word 'bargain' can be a noun or a verb, but if it's a noun there would usually be an article.
Asian langauges I know of do not use articles.
Past or present participles (verbs) can usually be used as adjectives, but this is clear in their forms.
Many East- Asian languages do not inflect verbs
Again: the main objection to the Chinese theory in my opinion is the historical context. From statistical considerations I see no problem.
In typical
Chinese texts, especially in
Modern Standard Mandarin, the most common words are often
function words,
particles, and
high-frequency pronouns or prepositions — much like in other languages. (see You are not allowed to view links.
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的 (de) is by far the most frequent word in written Chinese, especially in descriptive or formal texts. It functions similarly to "of" or as a marker of possession or attribution.
Word (Pinyin) Function / Meaning
的 (de) Possessive or attributive particle (similar to 'of' or '’s')
一 (yī) One; used in numbers and expressions like "once" or "a"
是 (shì) To be (copula verb)
不 (bù) Negation particle ('not')
了 (le) Aspect particle indicating completed action or change
人 (rén) Person, people
我 (wǒ) I, me
在 (zài) At, in, on; also indicates ongoing action ('be doing')
有 (yǒu) To have; there is/are
他 (tā) He, him
Frequency depends somewhat on
text type: Literary, conversational, technical, and classical Chinese texts differ, but these words are extremely common across genres.
If you're analyzing Chinese texts statistically you'd expect
high-frequency function words to appear consistently, along with clusters of common content words. The absence of clear function words or irregular frequency patterns can indicate that a text does
not behave like natural language.
Moreover,
there are also many common Chinese phrases, just like in other languages (see You are not allowed to view links.
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Unlike individual words, these fixed phrases function as stable, recognizable building blocks in both conversation and writing. They represent an essential aspect of structure and predictability found in natural language. Their absence — especially in large amounts of text — can be a strong indicator that the text does not behave like natural language.
