Why
Words And Ci 詞 (辭) Are
Not The Same
(Phonographs
vs. Logographs)
Phonetic Languages
(Latin,
Sanskrit/Brahmi, most modern languages) :
letters
= phonetic symbols
(sounds)
—→ words = have meaning, represent ideas
拼音文字
聲音符號
有意義,表示觀念
例子 Examples : b, ö, å, ß, ð,
ñ, Ω, и, ㄓ,
ガ
例子 Examples : boy, créée
Logographic Languages
(Chinese, Japanese, Korean) :
字 characters = logographic / ideographic
glyphs —→ 詞 (辭) = more specific /
combined ideas
表意文字 /
象形文字
特定意思 / 組合觀念
例子 Examples : 象,江 /
日,月
例子 Examples : 電話,玄學
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* Phonetic symbols represent sounds, and logographs represent ideas
Thus, letters can be combined in nonsensical combinations (“zysaqrt”),
but logographs
intrinsically always have meaning at least on an
individual level.
However,
logographs can represent a wide variety of ideas,
and especially
when combined with the widespread use of homonyms,
determining
the meaning of a graph can become extremely
difficult.
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Ancient
Languages which seem to have developed from Logographic to
Phonetic:
Sumerian
Cuneiform 蘇美的楔形文字
Egyptian
Hieroglyphics 埃及的象形文字
Mayan
Hieroglyphics 馬雅的象形文字