Sound Business: The Reality of Chinese CharactersChina and Japan are in the sound business--they just don't realize it. Not the kind of sound business usually associated with prosperous Asian economies, but the Chinese characters they use by the billions every day. For centuries Chinese characters have served as a powerful symbol of the cultural divide between east and west, but all that is about to change. Sound Business: The Reality of Chinese Characters, written by MA in Japanese Studies and Chinese Philip Philipsen, presents a whole new picture of Chinese characters seen in world perspective. And this is a world that sound makes go around. Get a rare insight into the real function, usage, etymology and true origin of Chinese characters, and be prepared to lose your breath as you discover our astonishing shared heritage. Mixing past and present avant-garde Japanese, Chinese and western research, Sound Business: The Reality of Chinese Characters takes you on a journey that will forever change the way you look at Chinese characters. Join the revolution! |
Common terms and phrases
abbreviated acters Alexander 1951 ancient appear ateji binome Boltz Boodberg Cantonese character dictionaries Chinese char Chinese character etymology Chinese characters stand Chinese Language Chinese writing class of characters classical Chinese combination completely compound corresponding DeFrancis 1984 depiction derived desemanticization dynasty English examples exist explaining fact Function of Chinese glossed graph graphic form Hida & Sugawara homophonous hyōi ibid ideograph Indo-European inscriptions Japan Japanese word Jiten Jōyō Kanji kaii kana katakana Katō keisei kokuji kun-readings language large number linguistic loanwords logograph man'yōgana Mandarin Matsunaga meaning morphemes native reading Nihon Kokugo Daijiten Old Chinese on-reading oracle bone original orthograph phonetic phonetic indicator phonophoric pictograph place name polyphone pronunciation Pulleyblank 1981 represent scholars script semantic key sense Shang Shang dynasty Shi Jing Shirakawa 1984 shō signify Sinitic Suzuki Takao syllables symbol syssemantographs term ters tion Tocharian Tōdō Tokyo tree Unger verb writing system written Zhou Zìhăi