Page:Essays on the Chinese Language (1889).djvu/161

147 and su and tu, but turned these into pü, and sü, and tü, and his children are reported to have inherited the peculiarity. Many Chinese cannot distinguish between h and f, calling a fêng a hung, and a huan a fan. To the people of Foochow their neighbours of Fu-ch‘ing seem to make excessive use of the gutturals and the Fu-tsing-keh-k‘ehkeh [sic] (Fu-ch‘ing-ko 福淸謌! [sic]) bewrays the man from that district. So also the Pekingese make fun of the Tientsin talk, and speak derisively of the Wei-tsui-tzŭ (衞嘴子) or Tientsin mouthers.

The next group of imitative expressions to be briefly noticed is that which is composed of child's language, comprising under this designation not only the infracta loquella made by the baby, but also that used to the baby by nurse and mother. The utterances in this class also may be said to flutter about the line which divides speech from inarticulate language, as sometimes they seem to be the link connecting mere cries with words, and sometimes they have all the appearance of actual speech. As the Chinese baby-language has not received much attention hitherto, a few remarks on some specimens of it may be useful; but it must be premised that the acquaintance with it is very limited.

Voltaire says:—"Experience teaches us that children are only imitators, that if nothing was said to them they would not speak, they would content themselves with crying." This is perhaps a little overstated, but it is a recognised truth that little children are great imitators. But their mimicking tendencies may have a value and an interest to students of language. Thus the Chinese baby says his whistle makes pi-pi, and so he calls it his pi-pi or pipe. Hence in Foochow, for example, pi-pi and in Amoy pi-a, become names for the child's whistle. This sound pi-pi is also applied to other peeping, squeaking instruments and the noises which these make. This child does not say that the dog barks but that it ou-ou, and so ou (or ngao) becomes a word for the bark of a dog, and the dog is called the ou-ou, or simply the ou. So also the cat makes mi-mi or hi-hi, and hence these are baby-names for the cat and kitten. Then as mothers in China often give animal-names to their