Blair, Hugh
(Edinburgh 1718-1800 Edinburgh) : Geistlicher, Schriftsteller, Professor of Rhetoric Edinburgh University
Subjects
Index of Names : Occident
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Literature : Occident : Great Britain
Chronology Entries (1)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1783 |
Blair, Hugh. Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres [ID D27181]. Er schreibt : With regard to inflexions of voice, these are so natural, that, to some nations, it has appeared easier to express different ideas, by varying the tone with which they pronounced the same word, than to contrive words for all their ideas. This is the practice of the Chinese in particular. The number of words in their Language is said not to be great ; but, in speaking, they vary each of their words on no less than five different tones, by which they make the same word signify five different things. This must give a great appearance of music or singing to their Speech. For those inflexions of voice, which, in the infancy of Language, were no more than harsh or dissonant cries, must, as Language gradually polishes, pass into more smooth and musical sounds : and hence is formed, what we call, the Prosody of a Language… Of this nature also, are the written characters which are used to this day throughout the great empire of China. The Chinese have no alphabet of letters, or simple sounds, which compose their words. But every single character which they use in Writing, is significant of an idea ; it is a mark which stands for some one thing or object. By consequence, the number of these characters must be immense. It must correspond to the whole number of objects or ideas, which they have occasion to express ; that is, to the whole number of words which they employ in Speech : nay, it must be greater than the number of words ; one word, by varying the tone, with which it is spoken, may be made to signify several different things. They are said to have seventy thousand of those written characters. To read and write them to perfection is the study of a whole life, which subjects learning, among them, to infinite disadvantage ; and must have greatly retarded the progress of all science. Concerning the origin of these Chinese characters, there have been different opinions, and much controversy. According to the most probable accounts, the Chinese writing began, like the Egyptian, with pictures, and hieroglyphical figures. These figures being, in progress, abbreviated in their form, for the sage of writing them easily, and greatly enlarged in their number, passed, at length, into those marks or characters which they now use, and which have spread themselves through several nations of the east. For we are informed, that the Japanese, the Tonquinese, and the Coroeans, who speak different languages from one another, and from the inhabitants of China, use, however, the same written characters with them ; and, by this means, correspond intelligibly with each other in Writing, though ignorant of the Language spoken in their several countries ; a plain proof, that the Chinese characters are, like hieroglyphics, independent of Language ; are signs of things, not of words… We have one instance of this sort of Writing in Europe. Our cyphers, as they are called, or arithmetical figures, 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. which we have derived from the Arabians, are significant marks precisely of the same nature with the Chinese characters… |
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Bibliography (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1783 |
Blair, Hugh. Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres. (London : Printed for W. Strahan, T. Cadell ; Edinburgh : W. Creech, 1783). https://archive.org/details/lecturesonrheto31blaigoog/page/n9. . |
Publication / Blair1 |
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