The 'Chinese' Theory: For and Against

[Jorge_Stolfi]

I'm genuinely unsure what the three questions are. I'm only tracking the one about Mandarin pronunciation in the Spring and Autumn Period, which I have given you my position on.

Maybe but you did not anwer it. 

I just answered myself the question about what Sun Tzu would have said when asked to read his own book aloud, so forget that one.  The other two wre in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.:

if a Dictator today read aloud the Rooster recipe 
丹雄鸡味甘微温主女人崩中漏下赤白沃补虚温中～
to a Cantonese speaker who does not know Mandarin or Classical Chinese, by reading each hanzi as a Cantonese syllable,

daan1 hung4 gai1 mei6 gam1 mei4 wan1 zyu2 neoi5 jan4 bang1 zung1, lau6 haa6
cik1 baak6 juk1 bou2 heoi1 wan1 zung1 ...

what would the guy miss because of the wrong syntax?   And if the Dictator instead read 

daan1 hung4 gai1 mei6 gam1 mei4 wan1 zyu2 jiu3 hai6 ji1 neoi5 jan4 ge3 bang1 zung1 lau6 haa6
cik1 baak6 juk1 zung6 ho2 ji5 bou2 heoi1 wan1 zung1 ...

which is supposed to be valid Cantonese syntax -- would the guy understand it any better?

I am quoting you saying that Chinese people do not have the written word.

No, I never said that.   You are not quoting me. (Check the dictionary for the meaning of "to quote".)  You made up that red sentence and falsely attributed it to me.

you [wrote] that there is no way to write down the word for "water" in China, only to draw a picture

No I did not write that.  Same as above.

you generously allow some people are literate

No, I did not write that.  Same as above.

and immediately undercut it by saying it would be a personal language.

No, I did not write that. Same as above.

[you are] saying that Chinese people cannot write down words

I can't even understand what that means.  But no, I did not write that. Same as above

I did not edit your position to compare Chinese writing to the drunken art of a European monarch

Now, that is true.  You did not edit that statement.  You made it up from head to tail.

nor did I draw a diagram excluding words from the definition of characters

I don't recall excluding that.  But indeed characters are not words.  Latin characters are not words, nor phonemes; they usually  represent single phonemes, but somewhat different ones for different people or different contexts.  Chinese characters are not words; they represent words -- but different words to different people or in different contexts.

The person who said those things was you and if they become objectionable when it is pointed out they mean there is no way to read and write in Chinese

This one takes the gold...