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Appendix B THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND ITS SCRIPT

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Chinese Primer
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142Appendix BTHE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND ITS SCRIPTLiving languages constantly change, and Chinese is no exception. Wordsand phrases can come and go, or alter in usage, as years and decades pass.Over centuries, even basic grammar can undergo change. But in an elementarytextbook such as this, it would be obviously inappropriate to try to teachmore than one version of the Chinese language. What we present is standardmodern Mandarin, with only occasional notes on how words and usages havevaried across time and place.At the same time, a student, even a beginner, does well to understand atleast the basic outline of the history of Chinese. What is the place ofmodern Mandarin in the Chinese family of languages? In what ways have itand its sister dialects evolved from their ancient beginnings? What changeshas the twentieth century brought? The purpose of this appendix is toprovide an outline of such information. The sections on "The ChineseLanguage," "Characters," and "Advice to the Student" are adapted, with thekind permission of Harvard University Press, from Y. R. Chaofs MandarinPrimer, pp. 3-17 and 60-71. (Any infelicities in adaptation are, ofcourse, solely our own responsibility. Our aims have been only to abridgeProfessor Chao's detailed and erudite writing to make it more understandableto the beginning American student, as well as to bring a few details up todate.) The section on "Changes Since 1949" owes a large debt to theIntroduction to Peter J. Seybolt and Gregory Kuei-ke Chiang, LanguageReform in China: Documents and Commentary (White Plains, N.Y.: M. E.Sharpe, 1979), pp. 1-27.THE CHINESE LANGUAGEOld and New Chinese. Chinese is usually regarded as one of the oldestlanguages in the world. The Chinese as spoken today by a radio announcer inBeijing (GR, Beeijing ji\^ ff* ) must be as new and unlike the Chinese ofConfucius as, say, the English heard on American radio is new and unlike the
© 2022 Princeton University Press, Princeton

142Appendix BTHE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND ITS SCRIPTLiving languages constantly change, and Chinese is no exception. Wordsand phrases can come and go, or alter in usage, as years and decades pass.Over centuries, even basic grammar can undergo change. But in an elementarytextbook such as this, it would be obviously inappropriate to try to teachmore than one version of the Chinese language. What we present is standardmodern Mandarin, with only occasional notes on how words and usages havevaried across time and place.At the same time, a student, even a beginner, does well to understand atleast the basic outline of the history of Chinese. What is the place ofmodern Mandarin in the Chinese family of languages? In what ways have itand its sister dialects evolved from their ancient beginnings? What changeshas the twentieth century brought? The purpose of this appendix is toprovide an outline of such information. The sections on "The ChineseLanguage," "Characters," and "Advice to the Student" are adapted, with thekind permission of Harvard University Press, from Y. R. Chaofs MandarinPrimer, pp. 3-17 and 60-71. (Any infelicities in adaptation are, ofcourse, solely our own responsibility. Our aims have been only to abridgeProfessor Chao's detailed and erudite writing to make it more understandableto the beginning American student, as well as to bring a few details up todate.) The section on "Changes Since 1949" owes a large debt to theIntroduction to Peter J. Seybolt and Gregory Kuei-ke Chiang, LanguageReform in China: Documents and Commentary (White Plains, N.Y.: M. E.Sharpe, 1979), pp. 1-27.THE CHINESE LANGUAGEOld and New Chinese. Chinese is usually regarded as one of the oldestlanguages in the world. The Chinese as spoken today by a radio announcer inBeijing (GR, Beeijing ji\^ ff* ) must be as new and unlike the Chinese ofConfucius as, say, the English heard on American radio is new and unlike the
© 2022 Princeton University Press, Princeton

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
  3. CONTENTS ix
  4. TABLES xi
  5. FIGURES xi
  6. INTRODUCTION xiii
  7. FOUNDATION WORK UNIT I STUDENTS 1
  8. UNIT I STUDENTS 60
  9. UNIT II. DRINK, EAT, RUN 72
  10. UNIT III. A TIMELY VISITOR 80
  11. UNIT IV. DOGGED LOCALIZERS AND DIRECTIONAL COMPLEMENTS 90
  12. UNIT V. THE NOSE JOB 98
  13. UNIT VI. WHO'S NEXT? 106
  14. UNIT VII. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER 118
  15. UNIT VIII. LOVE ME, LOVE MY CHINESE 124
  16. Appendix A PINYIN ROMANIZATION 137
  17. Appendix B THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND ITS SCRIPT 142
  18. GLOSSARY AND INDEX 173
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691227757-015

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
  3. CONTENTS ix
  4. TABLES xi
  5. FIGURES xi
  6. INTRODUCTION xiii
  7. FOUNDATION WORK UNIT I STUDENTS 1
  8. UNIT I STUDENTS 60
  9. UNIT II. DRINK, EAT, RUN 72
  10. UNIT III. A TIMELY VISITOR 80
  11. UNIT IV. DOGGED LOCALIZERS AND DIRECTIONAL COMPLEMENTS 90
  12. UNIT V. THE NOSE JOB 98
  13. UNIT VI. WHO'S NEXT? 106
  14. UNIT VII. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER 118
  15. UNIT VIII. LOVE ME, LOVE MY CHINESE 124
  16. Appendix A PINYIN ROMANIZATION 137
  17. Appendix B THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND ITS SCRIPT 142
  18. GLOSSARY AND INDEX 173
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