Chinese Writing

Origins of Writing in China

Believed to have begun in 2nd half of 2nd millennium BC

Earliest examples of Chinese writing date to 1500-950 BC (Shang dynasty)

Inscribed on ox scapulae and turtle shells – “oracle bones”

Development of characters

Oracle bones developed into Chinese characters which have gone through several phases

Presently there are 2 completely different sets of characters: non-simplified and simplified

Simplified Chinese Characters

Adopted in the People's Republic of China in 1949

Northern dialect of Mandarin

Known as báihùa (plain language)

Not all writers wanted to adopt the new style

Traditional characters are still used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Malaysia.

Examples of traditional vs. simplified characters

Groups of Characters

There have been many attempts to group characters for learning purposes.

4 groups of characters:

Pictographs

Ideographs

Compound pictograph/ideographs

Semantic-phonetic compounds

Pictographs

Characters primarily came from picture drawings.

These were usually sketches of the most basic elements of the object

Pictographs

Ideographs

Ideographs are visual representations of abstract ideas.

Ideographs

one two three above below middle

Compound Pictographs / Compound Ideographs

Compound pictographs and ideographs combine one or more pictographs or ideographs to form new characters. Both component parts contribute to the meaning of the compound character.

Semantic-Phonetic Compound

Pinyin

Pinyin is a way to represent characters and express soundsin Chinese language using the Roman alphabet.

Difficult consonant for western people:

q - Pronounciation between "ch" and "ts"

x - Pronounciation between "sh" and "s"

r - Pronounciation between “r" and “j"z - Sounds like "dz"zh - Sounds like "dj"

Tonal Language First tone: This is the highest tone you

can pronounce in a simple and normal way. It is pronounced with a steady pitch.

Second tone: Rising pitch from low to high.

Third tone: First sinking pitch at the same time as the voice is lowered, followed by a rising pitch and stronger voice.

Forth tone: fast sinking pitch with a sharp end. Toneless: Relax in your mouth and let the tone fall where it is natural.

Neutral Tone: Flat, with no emphasis.

mā má

mǎ mà

ma

Stroke Order

General rules (many exceptions)

1. Top before bottom 2. Left before right 3. Left vertical stroke (usually) before top

horizontal stroke4. Bottom horizontal stroke last5. Center stroke before wings 6. Horizontal strokes before intersecting vertical

strokes 7. Left-falling strokes before right-falling strokes8. Minor strokes (often) last