Moses Clark White

“ It is generally believed that the system of tones was invented to compensate for the paucity of syllables, or single words, in the spoken languages, or dialects, of the numerous kingdoms of Eastern Asia, which have long since been consolidated into the one vast empire of China. ”

“ There are in the Fuh Chau dialect but ten vowel sounds, and they are generally reckoned as only nine, and the elementary consonant sounds are only ten, hence the number of syllables must also be small. Many combinations of consonants found in other languages are unknown to the Chinese, and the structure of their language is unfavourable to the formation of many polysyllabic words. To compensate for these restrictions upon the formation of words, they have adopted the use of a variety of tones to distinguish ideas expressed by what we should call the same word. ”

“ The written language governs the style of poetry. The most ancient Chinese poetry was irregular, composed of an even number of lines, consisting of a nearly uniform number of monosyllabic words in a line, subject to rules of rhyme and alliteration ”

“ The structure of Chinese poetry may be illustrated by diagrams, using the open circle to represent smooth tones, the shaded circle for harsh tones, and the circle with one half only shaded, to represent syllables which may be smooth or harsh at pleasure. ”

“ Nü2, thou, or you, is the common form of the pronoun in the second person. I [pronounced as in machine] is used for he, she, it, they, or them. Pronouns, like other words in the Chinese language, may be either singular or plural, as best suits the connexion. Nëng5, man, is often appended to pronouns, as the sign of the plural; as Nguai2-nëng5, or, Nu5-nëng5, we, or us; Nü2-nëng5, you; I-nëng5, they.
Ki5, the sign of the genitive case, may be placed after any of the pronouns, in the same manner that it is used after nouns. For the possessive case of pronouns, other forms are often used ”

“ The primary syllables formed by joining each initial with all the finals, will be seen in the following table.
Each of the syllables in the preceding tables is susceptible of seven variations of the tone in which it is enunciated. Some of the tones affect the orthography, while others do not. Under each word thus formed may be arranged several characters having independent significations; and thus it happens that a single word in the spoken language is made the symbol to express a number of ideas essentially different from each other. ”

“ To foreigners learning the Fuh Chau dialect, a thorough knowledge of this system of initials and finals, and the eight tones, is of great importance.
The student should constantly refer the pronunciation of every word to its place in this system, till he can analyze each spoken word, giving its proper initial and final, and point out its proper tone as readily as he can spell any word in his mother tongue.
Slight variations in the pronunciation of Chinese words are noticed among different Chinese teachers. ”

“ Chinese poetry has advanced by degrees to the condition in which
it is seen in at present. Modern poetry commonly consists of either five or seven words in a line. Of these two kinds, that of seven syllables (words) in a line is the more common. There are also verses of three, four, six, and nine words, or syllables, in a line; but the ordinary poetry is written in measures of either five or seven syllables.
In poetry there are recognised only two distinctions of tone, namely, the 平 ping, or smooth, and the 仄 cha4, or harsh tones. ”

“ If we say in English two piece men, as the Chinese do when speaking English in the Chinese idiom, it sounds no more uncouth to us than lang7 nëng5 (literally two men) does to the Chinese, who say lang7 ka2 nëng5, for two men, using the clasiifier ka2 between the adjective lang7, two, and the noun nëng5, men. The combinations, a flock of tongs, a drove of wights, a kernel of twine, a prig of land, wound sound no more uncouth in English, than corresponding errors in the use of Chinese classifiers ”

“ The words for father, mother, &c., with which it is joined, are also titles of respect and honour, and not literal translations of our terms; yet one who fails to use them will often appear uneducated. ”

“ The twelfth and sixteenth finals are regarded by some teachers as having the same alphabetic sound, (the initial consonant, of course, is excepted,) but most persons observe the distinction given in the table. The characters arranged under the twenty-fifth final are pronounced by many persons residing within the walls of Fuh Chau, like those under the twenty-third. The vowel of the eighth final is pronounced by some teachers like the sound of i in machine, while others give it the sound of i as in pin. ”

“ When either of these words is used before an active verb to give it a passive signification, it becomes the principle verb, and the words denoting the action or suffering received or endured, become verbal nouns in the accusative case.
There is another form sometimes used, namely, Nguai2 k’ëüh4 I p’a4, I permitted him to strike; that is, I was struck by him. In some few cases this form has acquired by usage, something like a passive signification; as, Nguai2 k’ëüh4 lò2-tia p’a4, I suffered the officer to strike; that is, I have been beaten by the officer. ”

“ Adjectives commonly precede the nouns which they qualify; as keng5 sang, a high hill; uong5 ngu5, a yellow ox; ngai5 nëng5, bad men. The adjective may also be placed after the noun, the substantive verb being understood, in which case the adjective becomes a predicate. Such forms are more common than in English, as the substantive verb is more readily understood, and needs not to be so frequently expressed; as, nëng5 ngai5, the man is bad ”

“ Këng, a day’s work, is used without a classifier, and perhaps some others. The round numbers for twenty, thirty, forty, &c., one hundred, two hundred, on thousand, one myriad, &c., can be used before many nouns without classifiers; but these are rare exceptions to the rule, that Every noun must be accompanied by its appropriate classifier, when taking a numeral adjective before it.
The classifiers are called uah8 che7, living words; because they give life and precision to discourse. ”

“ The same system serves for writing decimals, as the character placed below the line determines the place of units. ==Pronouns.== The words used to perform the office of pronouns, in Chinese, are varied to suit the comparative rank of the speaker and hearer.
When a person speaks to an equal, or when a man of rank speaks to an inferior, the proper personal pronoun Nguai2 is used, but this is inadmissible in addressing a superior. Nëng5-ka, I or we, is commonly used when speaking to equals; it is, however, a circumlocution, but is in common use for the first person. ”

“ But in many instances, the accusative precedes the verb in the imperative mood, as chü pong3 chü-ka3, book place book-case; that is, place the book in the bookcase. This construction is very common, though not always adopted.
The dative and ablative cases are often used without any distinguishing mark, though they are sometimes preceded by a preposition. The genitive case of nouns is formed by adding ki5, his, hers, its, or theirs, after the noun, as sung5 ki5 nëng5, ship’s men; that is, sailors, or boatmen; Tüng kuoh4 ki5 nëng5, Central kingdom’s men; that is, Chinamen. ”

“ In verses of five words (syllables) no attention is paid to the tones of the first and third. The second and fourth ought to alternate; that is, if the second is a ping tone, the fourth ought to be cha4, and vice versa. The second and third lines ought to be the reverse of the first, and, by consequence, the fourth verse resembles the first. In verses of seven syllables, the tones of the first, third, and fifth may be selected at pleasure. The tones of the second and fourth words should alternate, and the sixth should correspond with the second. ”

“ Tüng kuoh4 nëng5, men of China; Kuoh4 hò7, nation’s title, or national title. But in such cases, the noun in the genitive may generally be regarded as an adjective, qualifying the following noun.
Gender. – The gender of nouns is indicated by words denoting male and female, either directly or indirectly, as nang5, male; and nü2, for female. These are general terms, applicable to any living beings, and are placed before the nouns which they qualify. These terms are but seldom used in speaking; they belong more properly to the written language.
Table of finals, modified by the tones. ”

“ Two or more words are often united to describe an object which has no simple name. They form regular compound nouns, and are of frequent occurrence. Kiang2, a child, or a small specimen of nay object named, is often affixed to nouns to form compounds; as nëng5 kiang2, a human child ”

“ For human beings, nü2 ing5 is used for woman, in the most genteel society; but the common terms for man and woman are derived from a singular circumstance in the history of the ancient kingdom of U5-chü, of which Fuh Chau was the capital. The kingdom of U5-chü was subjugated by the Tong5dynasty, and tradition says, that all the men were destroyed, and that the women were compelled to become the wives of their captors, (called Tong5 men,) who immediately occupied the kingdom of U5-chü, which, thereafter, became a part of the great Chinese empire. ”

“ In the use of the duplicate forms for one and two, some care is required, for while we can say eh4 seh8, or ne7 seh8, for ten and twenty, we cannot say süò8 seh8, lang7 seh8, neither is it admissible to say sü`o͘8 pa4 eh4, süò8 pa4 ne7, for one hundred and ten and one hundred and twenty.
The system of abbreviated numerals used in business transactions is easily made to represent concrete numbers, as inches, feet, and poles ”

“ When all the tones now enumerated are arranged together, the 上聲 siong7 siang, primary tones, are always arranged before the 下聲 ha7 siang, or secondary tones, as follows, viz.:
1. 上平聲 siong2 ping5 siang; primary smooth tone. 2. 上上聲 siong2 siong2 siang; primary high tone. 3. 上去聲 siong2 k’ëü3 siang; primary diminishing tone. 4. 上入聲 siong2 ih8 siang; primary abrupt tone. 5. 下平聲 ha2 ping5 siang ”