Page:Chinese Speaker (E. Morgan, 1916).djvu/392

372 same district this would often be the case, in the course of centuries. Tflke chan 占. The compound 站 had its an sound changed into tin: 店 was ended in yen: and afi， 帖 ieh: these are dialectic corruptions of a common origin, and pertain to the North. In the South the corruptions and differences affected the initials rather than the finals: thus the ch of 占 became t in 站 and n in 點. Thus we have differences from common origin of chan into cheiiy tien, nieUy tieh." ( Wieger). To sum up it may be stated generally that sounds were well def.md in the begin* ning. In course of tiinc there were corruptions. These corruptions were acceiHed and standardized by dictionaries. RADICALS. ― "Among the 214 radicals there are 28 lines, shapes or cover- ings. There are 23 inanimate objects of nature. Man and his relations occupy 23, aiul the 】)arts of the body 33. There are 15 names of animals, 13 names of plants 25 names of implements, clothing, etc., 6 names of measures, 17 immes of colours and other qualities, and 29 names of verbs. The use of simple natural shapes, such as the moutb, nose, eye, ear, hand, foot, -as well as the shape of branches, trees, grass, caves, holes, rivers, the bow, the spenr, the knife, the tablet, the leaf : these formed in addition to pictures of animals, much of the staple of Chinese ideographs. Attention should be drawn to the fact that the mouth and the hand play an exceptionally important part in the formation of the symbols. It is easy to trace the process of symbol nmking in the words used for the crenelated top of city walls, which are ya and ch, i-h both meaning teeth and both being pictures of the object." (Edkins) . The student who would investigate this subject and who desires to gain a further insight into this interesting matter should consult J. Marsh man's Clavis Sinica pp. 33-80: and the other authorities mentioned. (B) WRITING THE CHARACTER. The decomposition of character into material elements according to strokes is quite different from its etymological decomposition. The one regards the compound as made of strokes : the other regards it aa composed of simpler charaderg. The two characters 永 yung, eternal : and 衣 ？'， v?Iotit03 contain oveiy stroke used in writing. Tiie characters y""'? and i are thius forn^ed : —-