The 'Chinese' Theory: For and Against

[DorotheeM]

I was not as pedantic as I could have been in my post You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. because I had not yet realized that you did not understand Chinese languages are written in words, but it does clearly show the substance of this distinction, and the dictionary entries it is based on back the premise Chinese languages are written in words. I trace how different phrases for "rooster" give rise to different spoken terms when read character-by-character, but that not all those readings produce attested phrases in every language. Of particular interest, the Classical Chinese phrase for Rooster does not exist in the prestige dialect of Cantonese. This is not an issue of pronunciation as the reading exists; it is the phrase that does not. Nor an issue that I do not understand that The Dictator was supposed to be giving character readings from the same language as The Author; I have long conceded that your method produces proper readings based on Cantonese. My contention is that Chinese is written in words, and words are not the same between distinct languages, and that Classical Chinese is one of those languages.

There are even more points to add:
- Not all texts from China of the time we should consider were written in a script we nowadays would identify as Chinese, some were, to name one, based on the mongolian script. 

- Next, there are huge differences between Wényán, the script a local copy of your book would uttermost probably have been in, and Báihuàwén, the script your local reader would have expected, at least in most parts of China, see my first remark. So much has changed: word meanings, order of strokes, (often tonality as well, just to add). He could have been able to understand Wényán, if he was well educated, but he would then struggle to find words for it. Imagine yourself reading a menu in a restaurant in, let's say, Albania. You will certainly have the idea what "Spageti" means, get a good or not so good guess on "Mish viçi me rrikë" (as you may know other languages as well). But Tavë Elbasani? You wouldn't even know how to pronounce it. And now add the assumption parts of the menu are written in the traditional Todhri alphabet. The pictures on the menu don't help a lot.  

- And finally, true, Wényán was mostly about words. One Sign, one word, that was where Chinese started - almost a strict rule with only few assumptions. But this changed partly with classical chinese, this is why there where rhyme dictionaries, helping with both syllables (Fǎnqiè) - with do not work the same allover the country, as the regional uses multifurcated. And Pǔtōnghuà, the language your AI tool uses for the sake of not knowing anything about classic chinese texts, is again totally different. Most words of today's Chinese are made of two, sometimes even three or more signs. And a lot of words from now appear to be false friends, having changed their meanings, not to say their pronounciations and a lot more. Even for these differences alone one may say that your attemps are like translating Latin using a handbook of contemporary Castellano.  I strongly recommend you to skip the usage if AI here or setup a dedicated, owned LLM for precisely your purposes. Every new website Google founds would change your outcome otherwise.


Cheers,

Doro