Chinese Language & Etymology: PreBabel Chapter eight

One,

Summary of PreBabel Chapter eight: Reinventing a New Language Lexicon Set:

Main Thesis

The chapter explores how to reinvent a language lexicon set, using the Chinese written system as a case study. It argues that Chinese characters do not directly convey meaning without reference to language and culture, challenging the myth of ideograms. The author proposes reconstructing the Chinese character set as an axiomatic system, merging written and verbal forms seamlessly.

Key Points

Chinese Character System Analysis: The chapter reviews historical perspectives on Chinese characters, noting that neither ancient Chinese philologists nor Western Sinologists have unified the radical-based and phonetic-based descriptions of the system. The author claims that the only way to prove Chinese linguistics is axiomatic is to reconstruct the system from its data.
Design Proposal: The author outlines a plan to reconstruct 60,000 Chinese characters using 220 roots and 1,000 distinguishable sounds. Each character is treated as a three-dimensional particle (form, sound, meaning), excluding usage for simplicity. The design involves creating silent roots, sound tags, and rules for consistent construction.
Homophones and Engineering Challenges: With only 1,000 sounds for 60,000 words, homophones are inevitable. The written system distinguishes words visually, while verbal distinctions are managed through word phrases (複詞).
Comparison to Traditional Chinese Linguistics: The author contrasts his design with the traditional system, noting that sound tags in Chinese play both semantic and phonetic roles. The chapter critiques common misconceptions about phonetic loans and sense determinators in Chinese etymology.
Phonetic Value Marking: Chinese phonetic points are defined by consonants and vowels, and mapped using reverse engineering (反切). Homonyms and synonyms further enrich the system.
Evolution and Documentation: The evolution of Chinese phonetics is documented in rhyme books (韻書), which serve as historical audio records. Despite dialectal diversity, all subsystems use the same rhyme book, making them isomorphic.
Semantic and Phonetic Dimensions: Chinese words are constructed from roots (semantic dimension) and sound tags (phonetic dimension). The meaning and pronunciation can often be inferred from the character’s structure.
Framework for New Etymology: The author presents a new axiomatic system for Chinese etymology, emphasizing root-based construction, sound modules, and multiple methods for inferring meaning (dissection, phonetic value, variants, cultural knowledge, genealogy).
Critique and Defense: The chapter addresses criticisms that the theory is not new or lacks sufficient examples, responding with evidence from the author’s broader work and arguing for the novelty and scope of the new etymology.

Conclusion

The chapter concludes that all Chinese characters are composed from a set of roots, their meaning and pronunciation can be read from their structure, and the system can be mastered efficiently. The author suggests that a universal proof of these premises is possible (as there are only finite numbers of Chinese characters) and invites readers to test the theory with arbitrary characters.

Two,

Here’s how Gong resolves the homophones and engineering challenges in the Chinese written system, with a focus on the theory, examples, and the purpose and capability of 複詞 (compound words/phrases):

Gong’s Approach to Homophones and Engineering Challenges

The Challenge

The Chinese language has about 60,000 written words but only around 1,000 distinguishable sounds (phonemes). This means, on average, each sound is shared by about 60 different words, creating a high degree of homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings).

Theoretical Solution

Written Distinction:

Each homophone is represented by a unique written character, often constructed from different radicals or roots. This allows readers to distinguish between homophones visually, even if they sound the same.

Sound Tag System:

In Gong’s reconstructed system, each character (or “cookie”) is built from silent roots (which provide meaning) and a sound tag (which provides pronunciation). The sound tag is a small “cookie” assigned a unique sound, ensuring that each character’s pronunciation can be read from its structure.

Homophone Management in Speech:

In spoken Chinese, where visual cues are absent, homophones are disambiguated using compound words or phrases—this is where 複詞 (word phrase) comes in.

複詞 (Compound Words/Phrases): Purpose and Capability

Purpose

複詞 are used to resolve ambiguity caused by homophones in spoken language. By pairing a character with another word, the intended meaning becomes clear, even if the pronunciation is shared by many characters.

Capability and Examples

Example Group: The characters 妻, 悽, 棲, 淒, 萋 all share the same pronunciation (qī). In speech, to clarify which word is meant, each is used in a compound:

妻 = 妻子 (wife)
悽 = 悽美 (mournful beauty)
棲 = 棲息 (to perch/rest)
淒 = 淒慘 (miserable)
萋 = 萋萋 (lush)

How It Works:

The compound provides context, making it clear which homophone is intended. This is especially important in verbal communication, where written distinctions are not available.

General Capability:

複詞 can be formed for nearly any character, allowing speakers to resolve ambiguity for the vast majority of homophones in the language. This engineering solution is a key feature of the Chinese verbal system’s adaptability.

Summary Table

Challenge	Gong’s Solution	Example(s)
Many homophones	Unique written forms (characters)	妻, 悽, 棲, 淒, 萋
Spoken ambiguity	Use of 複詞 (compound words/phrases)	妻子, 悽美, 棲息, 淒慘, 萋萋
Engineering principle	Sound tags + silent roots in design	Each “cookie” has a sound tag for pronunciation and roots for meaning

In summary:
Gong resolves the homophone challenge by ensuring each word has a unique written form and by using 複詞 in speech to clarify meaning. The purpose of 複詞 is to provide context and disambiguate homophones, making communication precise even with a limited set of phonemes.

Three,

The sounds of Chinese verbal language—including many dialects—were recorded and preserved over centuries without modern electronic recorders through the use of specialized rhyme books (韻書) and systematic phonetic documentation.

How Ancient Chinese Sounds Were Recorded

1. Rhyme Books (韻書) as Audio Records

Ancient Chinese scholars created rhyme books that cataloged all the phonetic elements (sounds) of the language.
These books listed the rhymes and their tonal variations, effectively mapping out the entire phonetic universe of Chinese at different historical periods.
The rhyme books served as the best available “audio record” for the phonetic data of the Chinese verbal universe.

2. Key Historical Rhyme Books

切韻 (Qièyùn): Published during the Sui Dynasty (around 580 AD), based on the Wu dialect system.
唐韻 (Tángyùn): Published during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD), based on the Northern Min system.
廣韻 (Guǎngyùn): Published during the Song Dynasty (around 960 AD), unified previous rhyme books and included ancient sounds. This is the main reference for modern studies.

3. Coverage of Dialects

Despite the existence of at least eight major Chinese dialect subsystems (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Min, Wu, etc.), all used the same rhyme books for phonetic reference.
This means the rhyme books documented the phonetic structure across dialects, making them “clones” with different spoken forms but the same underlying phonetic DNA.

4. Reverse Engineering (反切)

The method of 反切 (fǎnqiè, “reverse cutting”) was used to define the pronunciation of a character by combining the initial sound (consonant) of one character with the final sound (vowel) of another.
This allowed scholars to specify and reconstruct the pronunciation of any character, even without direct audio, by referencing known sounds.

5. Evolution and Analysis

The evolution of Chinese phonetics is traceable through these rhyme books, which document changes over time.
For periods before rhyme books, scholars analyze rhymes in ancient poetry and texts to infer historical pronunciations.

Summary Table

Method	Description	Example/Reference
Rhyme Books (韻書)	Cataloged all rhymes and tones, serving as phonetic “audio records”	切韻, 唐韻, 廣韻
Reverse Engineering	Used known sounds to define unknown ones via 反切	步 (bù) + 光 (guāng) → bàng
Dialect Coverage	Unified documentation for all major dialects	廣韻 used for all subsystems
Ancient Analysis	Used rhymes in poetry to reconstruct older pronunciations	音學五書, etc.

In essence:
Chinese sounds, from ancient to present and across dialects, were systematically recorded using rhyme books and phonetic methods like 反切, allowing scholars to preserve and reconstruct pronunciations long before electronic recording was possible.

Four,

In the new framework presented in PreBabel Chapter eight, the semantic and phonetic dimensions of Chinese characters are unified through a systematic, axiomatic approach that integrates both meaning and sound into the structure of each character. Here’s how this unification is achieved:

1. Character Construction: Roots and Sound Modules

Semantic Dimension:
Each character is constructed from a set of roots (220 in total), which provide the core meaning. The meaning of a character is inferred from the combination and arrangement of these roots.

Semantic Example:
The character 妻 (wife) is constructed from ‘一 (unite)’ over 肀 (crafty hand) over 女 (woman). The meaning “wife” is inferred from the combination: a woman of crafty hand unites with me.

Phonetic Dimension:
Alongside the roots, each character includes a sound module (about 500 in total), which is responsible for the character’s pronunciation. The sound module is assigned a phonetic value, which does not necessarily arise from the roots themselves but is explicitly designated.

Phonetic Example:
The same character 妻 serves as a sound tag for several words: 悽, 棲, 淒, 萋. All these words share the pronunciation “qī” because they use 妻 as their sound module.

2. Unified Structure: The Three-Dimensional Particle

Every Chinese character is treated as a three-dimensional particle:

Form (constructed from roots and/or sound modules)
Sound (arising from the sound module or, in some cases, from synonyms)
Meaning (inferred from the roots and/or sound modules)

The form and sound are the base (domain) dimensions, used to construct the character, while meaning and usage are dependent (range) dimensions derived from the structure.

Example:
Each word is treated as a particle with three dimensions:

Form: 棲 (to perch) = 木 (tree) + 妻 (sound tag)
Sound: Pronounced “qī” (from 妻)
Meaning: “To perch” inferred from “tree” + “wife” (habitat).

3. Mechanisms of Unification

Roots are Silent:
In compound characters, roots provide meaning but do not contribute to pronunciation unless they also serve as the sound module. This separation allows for clear assignment of both semantic and phonetic roles within a character.
Sound Modules:
The sound module can play a major role in either the phonetic or semantic dimension:

If the phonetic value dominates, the character is similar to a 形聲 (phonetic loan) word.
If the semantic value dominates, the character is similar to a 會意 (sense determinator) word, and the sound module may have a span of phonetic values.

Synonyms as Sound Tags:
Some characters without an explicit sound module derive their pronunciation from synonyms, further linking meaning and sound.
Examples:

Roots are Silent Example:
In the word 鳩 (dove), the radical 鳥 (bird) is silent; the pronunciation comes from the other radical 九 (jiǔ), which acts as the sound tag.

Sound Module Dominates Example:
鴨 (duck) = 鳥 (bird, silent) + 押 (yā, sound tag). The sound module 押 provides the pronunciation, while the semantic value comes from the combination.

Semantic Module Dominates Example:
妴, 怨, 苑, 駌, 鴛 all use the sound tag 妴, but the pronunciation varies slightly across the group, showing the sound tag has a span of phonetic values.

Synonyms as Sound Tags Example:
The word 祭 (to offer) is pronounced like 即 (jí), its synonym, even though it doesn’t have an explicit sound module.

4. Inference Methods

The framework provides multiple methods to infer the meaning and pronunciation of a character:

Dissection and Decoding: Breaking down the character into roots and sound modules to infer meaning and sound.
Phonetic Value: Using the sound module or synonyms to determine pronunciation.
Variants and Camouflage: Recognizing mutations and historical changes in character forms.
Cultural Knowledge: Understanding context and historical usage.
Genealogy: Tracing the “DNA” of characters through their descendants and related forms.
Examples:

Dissection and Decoding Example:
安 (safe) = 宀 (roof) over 女 (woman): “A woman under a roof is safe.” The meaning is inferred from the structure.

Phonetic Value Example:
鵡 (parrot) = 武 (wǔ, sound tag) + 鳥 (bird, silent). Pronunciation comes from 武.

Variants and Camouflage Example:
月 in 明 is “moon,” in 肌 is “muscle,” in 青 is “丹” (pill), in 前 is “舟” (boat). The radical’s meaning changes depending on context.

Cultural Knowledge Example:
服 originally had the radical 舟 (boat), not 月 (moon). The meaning “king’s horse” comes from historical context, not just the visible structure.

Genealogy Example:
永 (long-lasting) → 泳 (swim, surviving in water long), 詠 (sing/recite, making the song lasts long). Descendant words inherit both semantic and phonetic traits from the root.

5. Unified Outcome

The result is a system where both the meaning and pronunciation of a character can be “read out from its face”—that is, deduced from its visible structure.
This unification allows for a logical, consistent, and teachable system, where the semantic and phonetic aspects are not separate but are integrated into the character’s design.
Example:
The meaning and pronunciation of 妻, 棲, 悽, 淒, 萋 can all be read from their structure: the semantic roots provide meaning, and the sound tag 妻 provides pronunciation.

In summary:
The new framework unifies the semantic and phonetic dimensions by constructing each character from silent roots (for meaning) and explicit sound modules (for pronunciation), with rules and inference methods that allow both aspects to be deduced from the character’s structure.

Five,

In the new framework described in PreBabel Chapter eight, synonyms can function as sound tags for Chinese characters that do not have an explicit sound module. Here’s how this works:

How Synonyms Function as Sound Tags

Theoretical Basis

Some Chinese characters lack an explicit sound module (a component that directly provides their pronunciation).
For these characters, their pronunciation is determined by referencing a synonym—a word with a similar meaning that does have a known pronunciation.
In this way, the synonym acts as a “sound tag,” anchoring the pronunciation of the character in question.

Example

The character 祭 (to offer a sacrifice) does not have an explicit sound module.
Its pronunciation is determined by its synonym 即 (jí), which does have a clear phonetic value.
Thus, 祭 is pronounced “jí” by borrowing the sound from 即, its synonym.

Why This Matters

This mechanism ensures that every Chinese character, even those without a direct phonetic component, can have its pronunciation deduced logically from its structure or semantic relationships.
It further unifies the semantic and phonetic dimensions, as meaning (via synonym) directly informs sound.

In summary:
When a character lacks an explicit sound module, its pronunciation can be derived from a synonym, which then functions as a sound tag. This approach maintains the logical and axiomatic structure of the system, ensuring both meaning and sound are accessible from the character’s design.

Six,

Variants and Camouflages

1. Examples of Variants and Camouflages

Variants:
These are alternative forms or mutations of a character or radical that have developed over time. For example, the radical 月 (moon) can appear in different characters but represent different things:

In 明, 月 means “moon.”
In 肌, 月 means “muscle.”
In 青, 月 is actually 丹 (a pill).
In 前, 月 is actually 舟 (boat).

Camouflage:
Sometimes, a radical or component is visually similar to another but has a different origin or meaning. For instance:

In 服, the radical on the left looks like 月 (moon), but historically, it was 舟 (boat). Over time, the form changed, camouflaging its true origin.

2. Consequence of Variants and Camouflages

These changes and disguises make it extremely difficult to recognize the underlying axiomatic (root-based) structure of the Chinese written system.
As a result, for over 2,000 years, scholars and learners could not see that Chinese characters are systematically constructed from a finite set of roots and modules. The mutations and camouflages obscure the logical connections, leading to confusion and misinterpretation.

3. How Gong’s Framework Deals with Variants and Camouflages

Historical Analysis:
Gong’s framework emphasizes the importance of understanding the evolution and mutation history of characters. By tracing the genealogy and original forms, one can decode the true structure and meaning of each character.
Dissection and Decoding:
The framework uses a systematic method to dissect characters into their semantic and phonetic components, even when variants or camouflages are present. This involves:

Identifying the original root or radical, even if its form has changed.
Understanding the cultural or historical context that led to the mutation.
Using knowledge of variants and camouflages as part of the decoding process.

Knowledge-Based Subsystem:
Gong acknowledges that, beyond the axiomatic system, a knowledge-based subsystem is necessary. This subsystem involves learning about the history, mutations, and cultural factors that have influenced character forms. Mastery of the system requires both axiomatic logic and historical/cultural knowledge.

In summary:

Variants and camouflages are mutated or disguised forms of roots/radicals that obscure the logical structure of Chinese characters.
Consequence: They have prevented recognition of the system’s axiomatic nature for millennia.
Gong’s solution: Analyze history, dissect characters, and incorporate cultural knowledge to reveal the true structure and meaning, thus overcoming the confusion caused by variants and camouflages.

Seven,

Proper Perspective of This New Chinese Etymology

The proper perspective is that this new Chinese etymology is an axiomatic, root-based system that allows the meaning and pronunciation of all Chinese characters to be logically deduced from their structure. It goes beyond traditional frameworks (like 六書) by explicitly defining roots, sound modules, and systematic construction rules. This approach enables efficient mastery of the character set and reveals the logical foundation underlying the evolution of Chinese writing.

The Five Premises in Gong’s Framework

All Chinese characters are composed from a set of word roots.
The meaning of all Chinese characters can be read out from their faces (structure).
The pronunciation of all Chinese characters can be read out from their faces (via sound tags or synonyms).
An etymology memory algebra: with only 220 root words (R) and 300 compound roots/sound modules (M), all 60,000 Chinese written words are generated (R + M = R × M).
With this system, the entire Chinese character set can be mastered in 90 days by anyone, even without prior knowledge.

Proofs and Examples

1. All characters are composed from a set of word roots.

Proof:
The system identifies 220 roots and 300 compound roots/sound modules. Every character can be dissected into these components.
Example:
妻 (wife) = 一 (unite) + 肀 (crafty hand) + 女 (woman).

2. The meaning of all characters can be read out from their faces.

Proof:
By analyzing the structure (roots and arrangement), the original meaning can be inferred.
Example:
安 (safe) = 宀 (roof) over 女 (woman): “A woman under a roof is safe.”

3. The pronunciation of all characters can be read out from their faces.

Proof:
Each character contains a sound module or uses a synonym as a sound tag, making pronunciation deducible.
Example:
悽, 棲, 淒, 萋 all use 妻 as the sound module, so they are all pronounced “qī.”
祭 (to offer) uses 即 (jí) as a synonym sound tag, so it is pronounced “jí.”

4. Etymology memory algebra: R + M = R × M.

Proof:
With 220 roots and 300 compound roots/sound modules, the combinatorial possibilities generate the entire character set.
Example:
The system can generate 60,000+ unique characters by combining roots and modules, as shown in the construction of words like 棲 (木 + 妻), 溜 (氵 + 留), etc.

5. The system can be mastered in 90 days.

Proof:
The logical, systematic structure allows for rapid learning, as opposed to rote memorization.
Example:
Anyone who understands the root and module system can decode and learn new characters efficiently, as demonstrated by the author’s claim and the 8,000 examples provided in the referenced book.

Chinese Language & Etymology

Friday, December 5, 2025

PreBabel Chapter eight

No comments:

Post a Comment