Chinese Characters Across Asia : How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese

Zev Handel

ISBN 10: 0295753021 / ISBN 13: 9780295753027

Editore: University Of Washington Press Mär 2025, 2025

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Neuware - A fascinating story of writing across cultures and timeWhile other ancient nonalphabetic scripts-Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Mayan hieroglyphs-are long extinct, Chinese characters, invented over three thousand years ago, are today used by well over a billion people to write Chinese and Japanese. In medieval East Asia, the written Classical Chinese language knit the region together in a common intellectual enterprise that encompassed religion, philosophy, historiography, political theory, art, and literature. Literacy in Classical Chinese set the stage for the adaptation of Chinese characters into ways of writing non-Chinese languages like Vietnamese and Korean, which differ dramatically from Chinese in vocabularies and grammatical structures.Because of its unique status in the modern world, myths and misunderstandings about Chinese characters abound. Where does this writing system, so different in form and function from alphabetic writing, come from How does it really work How did it come to be used to write non-Chinese languages And why has it proven so resilient By exploring the spread and adaptation of the script across two millennia and thousands of miles, Chinese Characters across Asia addresses these questions and provides insights into human cognition and culture. Written in an approachable style and meant for readers with no prior knowledge of Chinese script or Asian languages, it presents a fascinating story that challenges assumptions about speech and writing.

Codice articolo 9780295753027

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Chinese Characters Across Asia : How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese
• Editore: University Of Washington Press Mär 2025
• Data di pubblicazione: 2025
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0295753021
• ISBN 13: 9780295753027
• Rilegatura: Taschenbuch
• Condizione: Neu
• Dimensioni: 224 L x 148 A x 19 P (millimetri) 224 millimetri di larghezza per 148 millimetri di altezza per 19 millimetri di profondità
• Peso: 378 grammi

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

A fascinating story of writing across cultures and time

While other ancient nonalphabetic scripts—Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Mayan hieroglyphs—are long extinct, Chinese characters, invented over three thousand years ago, are today used by well over a billion people to write Chinese and Japanese. In medieval East Asia, the written Classical Chinese language knit the region together in a common intellectual enterprise that encompassed religion, philosophy, historiography, political theory, art, and literature. Literacy in Classical Chinese set the stage for the adaptation of Chinese characters into ways of writing non-Chinese languages like Vietnamese and Korean, which differ dramatically from Chinese in vocabularies and grammatical structures.

Because of its unique status in the modern world, myths and misunderstandings about Chinese characters abound. Where does this writing system, so different in form and function from alphabetic writing, come from? How does it really work? How did it come to be used to write non-Chinese languages? And why has it proven so resilient? By exploring the spread and adaptation of the script across two millennia and thousands of miles, Chinese Characters across Asia addresses these questions and provides insights into human cognition and culture. Written in an approachable style and meant for readers with no prior knowledge of Chinese script or Asian languages, it presents a fascinating story that challenges assumptions about speech and writing.

Informazioni sull?autore

Zev Handel is professor of Chinese linguistics in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington. He is author of Sinography: The Borrowing and Adaptation of the Chinese Script and associate coeditor of Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics.