Lesson 8 Partial-Pictographs 部分象形

Lesson 8 Partial-Pictographs 部分象形

The picto-phonetic method of creating characters uses the combination of a phonetic component and a semantic component to construct a character. The phonetic indicates the pronunciation of the character, and the semantic component indicates the meaning. The combination of the two parts together thus provides both the pronunciation and meaning of the character.

The picto-phonetic method of creating characters uses the combination of a phonetic component and a semantic component to construct a character. The phonetic indicates the pronunciation of the character, and the semantic component indicates the meaning. The combination of the two parts together thus provides both the pronunciation and meaning of the character.

In the character 蝗([huáng] locust), for example, the phonetic 皇[huáng] tells us that the character is pronounced [huáng]; the semantic component 虫([chóng] insect) tells us that 蝗[huáng] is a type of insect. The semantic component and phonetic together give us an insect whose name is pronounced [huáng]—a locust. Another example: the phonetic of the character 吐([tǔ] to spit) is 土[tǔ], indicating that the character is pronounced [tǔ], while the semantic component is 口([kǒu] mouth),indicating that the meaning of 吐[tǔ] has something to do with the mouth.

The picto-phonetic method of creating characters breaks through the restrictions binding the purely meaning-dependent pictographic, indicative and associative methods. This method was historically a great step forward in the development of Chinese characters. The picto-phonetic method makes it easier to create large numbers of new characters to express all kinds of concepts. For example, by adding various radicals to the phonetic component 胡[hú], one can create many new characters with the same pronunciation [hú] yet with different meanings:

胡 + 氵 (water)=湖([hú] lake)

胡 + 艹 (grass)=葫([hú] calabash)

胡 + 犭(dog or other animal)=猢([hú] monkey)

胡 + 米(rice)=糊([hú] paste)

胡 + 虫(insect)=蝴 part of蝴蝶([hú dié] butterfly)

胡 + 王(jade)=瑚 part of珊瑚([shānhú] coral)

Similarly, by adding various different phonetic components to the semantic component 木([mù] wood, tree), one can create many different characters semantically linked to wood or trees.

木+干[gàn]=杆([gǎn] flagpole)

木+丈[zhàng]=杖([zhàng] walking stick)

木+才[cái]=材([cái] lumber)

木+支[zhī]=枝([zhī] branch)

木+风[fēng] =枫([fēng] maple)

木+乔[qiáo]=桥([qiáo] bridge)

木+娄[lóu]=楼([lóu] building of several stories)

木+曹[cáo]=槽([cáo] trough)

The invention of this picto-phonetic method opened up a limitless horizon for the development of Chinese characters. It gradually became the dominant method for creating characters, while the other three methods gradually ceased being used. This process may be observed statistically. Of the characters used in oracle bone inscriptions current before 1000 B.C, only about 20 percent were picto-phonetic. In 许慎Xu Shen's 《说文解字》Shuo Wen Jie Zi (ca. 100 A.D), more than 80 percent of the Characters listed are picto-phonetic.

Two points on the topic of picto-phonetic characters deserve our further attention.

1) Relative positions of semantic component and phonetic components.

Being able to recognize the relative position of semantic component and phonetic within a picto-phonetic character is essential to efficient study of this type of character. There are general rules governing the position of semantic component and phonetic, though not without some exceptions. The basic rules are as follows:

Rule1: Semantic component on the left, phonetic on the right:伙,请,城,描,吐,油,峰,狮,饭,弦,奶,骑,绣, 珠,桐,轮,牦,曝,肝,烤,砖,睁,钟,秧,蝗,鲤,踩,靶.

Exception: Semantic component on the right, phonetic on the left:和,政,期,邱,鹦,顶,锦,剩,欣。

Rule2: Semantic component on the top, phonetic on the bottom:花,芳,岗,字,宾,爸,竿,筷,窃,窖,罟,露,零.

Exception: Semantic component on the bottom, phonetic on the top:盒,装,驾,忍,堡,烫,背,熬.

Rule 3: Semantic component on the outside, phonetic on the inside:固,围,阁,阀,匪,匾,历,廈,屏,氧,赶,魉,衙,衷。

Exception: Semantic component on the inside, phonetic on the outside:闷,勉,辩.

In the majority of picto-phonetic characters, the semantic component and the phonetic are easy to distinguish. In some picto-phonetic characters, however, it is very difficult to identify which is which. In the latter case, one may consult a reference book which deals with the origin of individual characters.

2) The function of semantic component and phonetic.

When each picto-phonetic character was originally created, the phonetic component was an accurate indicator of the character’s pronunciation, and the semantic component was an accurate guide to meaning. However, owing to the changes that have occurred over long periods of development in language and writing, phonetics and radicals have both to a great extent lost their ability to represent pronunciation and meaning exactly. It is very important to be aware of this when studying picto-phonctic characters.

Because of the changes in the pronunciation of the language that have occurred between ancient and Modern times, most phonetics have lost their ability to indicate pronunciation precisely. The degree of accuracy to which the phonetic indicates the pronunciation in Modern picto-phonetic characters may be divided roughly into four levels:

Completely accurate:湖,拌,鲤,蝗,伙,城,珠.

Fairly accurate:妈,背,笨,饭,花,字,装.

Bearing certain relations to the present pronunciation: 宾,灯,渡,狼,奸,精,酒,洞,摆,矿,炉.

Absolutely unrelated to the present pronunciation:江,海,怀,槐,挥,凉,猎,路,埋,迈.

The semantic radicals originally bore only a general relation to the meanings of individual characters; they were not equivalent to the meanings of the characters of which they formed a part. Over time, moreover, the meanings of the characters have changed, expanding and shrinking continually. The result is that the radicals of modern picto-phonetic characters have only a weak and very limited ability to convey character meaning. The degree of accuracy with which a semantic component expresses the meaning of its character may be divided roughly into four levels:

Represent a meaning category into which their character fits:鲤,蝗,柏,铜,氧.

Have a direct relationship with the character’s meaning:浸,淀,扔,扶,杖,饭.

Have an indirect relationship with the character’s meaning: 冷,城,助,满,粒,字.

Have no relationship with the meaning of the character:演,给,笑,答,错,范,独,较,理,落.

Another Partial-Pictographs method of creating characters combines two or more, ideographic symbols to form a new character. The relationship between the several component symbols produces the new meaning. Consider for example the character 采, composed of a hand above a tree. The juxtaposition of the two implies the meaning, “to pick fruit”. Another example is the character 伐, Composed of a lance to the right of a person. The blade of the lance is cutting off the person’s head, indicating the meaning — “to cut off”.

There are two main types of methods. The first type is called “associative characters of identical parts”. These consist of the same symbol repeated to express a new meaning. A few examples:

Ancient Form Modern Form Explanation
 pictograph1706 Two people, one in front of the other, means “to follow”.
 pictograph1724
Two feet, one in front of the other, means “to walk”.
 pictograph1726
Fire on top of fire means “to blaze; hot”.
 pictograph1738
Three stones together means “a pile of stones”.
 pictograph1735
Three trees together means “many trees; forest”.
 pictograph0706
Three suns together means “glittering”.

The second type of associative characters is called “associative characters of different parts”. These consist of different symbols joined to express a new meaning. This type accounts for the majority of associative characters. A few examples:

Ancient Form Modern Form Explanation
 pictograph0707 旦      
A sun just over the horizon means “dawn”.
 pictograph0708
The sun setting amid thick grass means “dusk”(the original meaning of this character).
 pictograph0709 Water above a dish implies water overflowing; “overflowing” is the original meaning of 益.
 pictograph0710 A hand holding a stick, with a cow on the left, means “to herd”.
 pictograph0711 A person to the left of a tree implies someone leaning against a tree; the meaning of the character; is “to rest”.
 pictograph0712 A hand, on the right, has a grip on a person; the character means “to reach, catch up with”.
 pictograph0713 A bird on top of a tree means “to gather”, as birds gather in a tree.
 pictograph0714 A mouth to the left of a bird means “to sing, call, cry out”.
 pictograph0715 A person (left) and a hand holding a club (right) inside a house. Beating and killing people inside a house implies the meaning, “bandit”.
 pictograph0716 Grass is spread out for insulation inside a house, while ice can be seen underneath. The person in the center is cold, and “cold” is the meaning of the character.
 pictograph0717 聲(声) Beneath a stone chime (left) and a hand holding a small mallet is an ear. When the stone chime is struck, sound is heard; “sound” is the meaning.

Associative characters created later in the evolution of the writing system include:尖(small 小 on top and big 大 on the bottom: “tapering”), 劣(less 少 strength 力: “weak” or “inferior”), 卡(not above 上 and not below 下: “to wedge, get stuck”), 辦(two hands 手 dividing 分: “to pull apart with the hands”),and 冇(the character 有 “to have” minus two strokes: “not to have”).

The associative method of creating characters is a great step forward from the pictographic and indicative methods. While both pictographic and Fragment-Pictograph Characters are single element characters, associative characters are compound characters. The associative method combines a few simple symbols with definite meanings to create characters with new meanings. This method is clearly much more flexible and adaptive. The characters created by the pictographic and indicative methods for the most part represent concrete nouns; the associative method, however, can be used to create characters for verbs and adjectives with abstract meanings. Because associative characters are originally somewhat abstract, their meanings and usages can often be expanded. The character 鸣, for example, was originally used only to mean “to call” with respect to birds, but over time its meaning has been expanded to apply to any animal (e.g. 马鸣, “a horse whinnies”) and even to inanimate objects (e.g. 雷鸣, “the thunder crashes”). Because of this flexibility, associative characters are more numerous than either pictographic or Fragment-Pictograph Characters. Of the 9,353 characters in Shuo Wen Jie Zi, about 1,200, or 13 percent, are associative characters.

Although it is far more productive than the pictographic or indicative method, the associative method of creating characters is unable to leap outside the system of pure ideographs, or meaning symbols. This fact imposes many limitations on its productivity. Concrete objects which can be represented by a picture are of thousands of forms, and most of them are highly complicated. Merely using meaning symbols when creating characters inevitably presents difficulties. For example, the character 寒 analyzed above combines the symbols for “house”, “grass”, “person” and “ice” to express the simple meaning “cold”. If “cold” is so difficult to represent, how can more abstract and complex concepts be represented? As a society’s economy and culture progress and develop, material objects increase in number and complexity, and the language used to talk about these things must develop accordingly. In writing, purely ideographic symbols soon become unequal to the task of representing all these objects. At this point, a society is compelled to turn to the sounds of its language to develop its written language further. A new and more scientific method of creating characters then appears, known as the picto-phonetic method.


Latest Articles