On "loan characters" vs wrong characters

[Ruben von Zwack]

I am just reading 常用汉字图解 / The Composition of Common Chinese Characters, an Illustrated Account, (北京大学出版 1997). For quite some characters, like 臣 or 限 apparently you can trace the pictograph or ideograph from Bronze or Oracle-Bone inscriptions until this day. But there are as equally many entries that read, just to give a few random examples:

- "(...) In the Later Seal Character, however, the character 疾 becomes a phonetic component (...)"

or:

- " (...) hence, 讯 originally meant "to interrogate a prisoner of war (...) In the Later Seal Character, it becomes a phonetic compound and the original meaning is lost."

or:

- "The character 块 was originally an ideograph (...) and lumps of sooil is its primary meaning. But it has changed into a phonetic compound later. For example, the variant in the Later Seal Character has 土 (soil) as its radical and 鬼 as its phonetic. (...)"

 

So either you don't count Later Seal as proper Characters, or ... or I don't understand what this whole argument is about.

 

When I was a newb (like, half a year ago), I used to make some loud and sweeping generalisations about Simplified versus Traditional too. But some balanced words by Renzhe made me pause and listen. When you get into an argument situation, it's up to you whether you prefer to thump your fist on the table, raise your voice and insist you're right, or listen and actually expand your knowledge.

 

PS - apologies if this post shows up multiple times, my internet connection is acting up.

[renzhe]

But some balanced words by Renzhe

That will be a first haha!

[Hwong_DsiKiem]

"Writing conveys meaning, not phonemes

The main criticism of many purely phonemic reform proposals is that written language is not a purely phonemic analog of the spoken word."

- Criticisms of English spelling reform.

[陳德聰]

Can you relate that to the discussion... I fail to see your point of comparison. Also, what kind of a quote doesn't have an attribution to an actual person? What is this?

[renzhe]

It's a random quote from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_spelling_reform