Page:The Chinese language and how to learn it.djvu/38

 20 THE CHINESE LANGUAGE neither rising nor falling, and this it is customary to indicate by chi 1. The second, which we will call c/u 2, is pronounced in a rising tone something like an interrogative chi 2 ?. The third, in a falling tone, chfi, something like a tone of reproof with a rise at the end ; and the fourth, chi*, in an abrupt and somewhat dictatorial manner. To a Chinese, these tones come naturally, but to a foreign ear and tongue they present a great difficulty, to some an insur- mountable difficulty, and yet, unless accurately pronounced, the word is not only as discordant as a false quantity would be in Latin, but is also extremely liable to be misunderstood. If we wished to remark that we did not require chicken, we ought to say pu l yao 4 chi 1. If we said instead, pu l yao? chi 1, it would mean " do not bite the chicken," pu l yao* chi, 2 " do not be impatient," pu l yao 4 " chi* " don't shove," pu l ydo* c/ii 4, " don't want to make a note of." It is evident, therefore, that tones are a very important element in the spoken language, indeed an all important one, and neglect or misuse of these tones will land the speaker in many and sometimes awkward, difficulties. A fluent and correct speaker will play upon these tones as the fingers of a violinist play up and down the strings of his instrument, and a false tone, apart from conveying a false meaning, is like a false note in music. This tonic system plays a part also in Chinese composition. In poetry, and generally in prose composition, only words of a certain tone can occupy fixed places in a clause or line of a certain length, and any deviation from rule will set the line out of tune, though a regard for these rules is not necessary for purposes of clearness ; rather the reverse, and they can be ignored in a document of an official or business nature. A further aid to definiteness in conversation consists in the use of prefixes and suffixes in connection with certain nouns that stand alone in writing, and in the use of two or more words in speaking where one is used in writing. And here we come to the essential difference between the written and the spoken language. The former can be fairly called monosyllabic; the latter is undoubtedly syllabic. To begin with the prefix. The sound jen 2 means man, but it also means benevolence. In speaking, we distinguish the former