Re: Coincidence between Chinese dialects and European languages?

[sllee <sllee@asiawind.com>]

Si-Hon,

Thanks for your mail. Please note that I don't want to say Hakka affected 
English or vice versa.  I am just curious that such the sound for 
representing certain very common objects is  astoundingly similar. There 
should be some mother language in historical period that linked these 
together.

You are welcome to join our discusssion in the Hakka forum. You don't 
have to be Hakka to join. In fact Hakka is only a form of ancient Chinese 
culture. So, if you are interested in this spect, please do join us. I am 
forwarding this mail to the forum, so you can also see the mechanism of 
posting. Just write to fhakka@asiawind.com.

SL Lee
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On Fri, 22 Nov 1996, Si-Hon Su wrote:

> Hi, Ms. Lee:
> 
> 	I am sorry for bothering you. I have read your paper about Hakka
> language. In the paper, you talk about the Hakka language's effect on
> English. I think it may be right, but I have a little bit more discovery
> of similarities between Chinese languages and perhaps some European
> languages (because I only know English and a little German). I am, of
> course, a Chinese, a Cantonese, and living in Taiwan, and my wife is a
> Hakka ngin, so I sometimes compare those languages' pronuciations for fun. 
> 
> 	Now, I hope you can take a look.
> 	
> 	I have to make some definitions at first:
> 			       /
> 	a. /tj/ stands for / t| /
> 			     /	
> 	
> 	b. /yu/ stands for / u umlaut, German /
>                               _  
> 	c. /d3/ stands for / d<	/	 
> 			      /	
>  
> 	d. /y/ stands for /j/
> 		
> 1. We are sure that English often uses nouns as adjectives to
> modifiy the following nouns. This looks like Chinese languages' usage.
> 
> 	adj + n --> 	n + n or
> 		    	n's + n or
> 		    	ns' + n	  	
> 						                		
> 2. ch in English or German can be pronuciated like /k/ or /tj/ or /h/ or
> 	/hi/ (only in German) 
> 						              	
> 	stomach /k/, teach /tj/, Bach /h/
> 
> 	In Chinese languages: e.g.
> 
> 	(guest) /k e/   for Mandarin and southern Hokkienese 
> 	        /h ak/  for Cantonese and Hakkanese
> 			      		 	
> 	(go   ) /tj yu/ for Mandarin
> 		/k  i/  for s. Hokkienese or Hakkanese(?)
>    	        /h ui/  for Cantonese	
> 
> 3. di in English can be pronuciated like /di/ or /d3i/
> 	
> 	immediately /d i/ or /d3 i/
> 			  
> 	In Chinese languages: e.g.
> 	
> 	(bamboo) /d3 ok/ for Cantonese
> 		 /d ik/  for s. Hokkienese
> 		 /d3 u/  for Mandarin
> 		 /d ik/  for Hakkanese(?)
> 	
> 	Actually, this difference is also Mandarin and the other dialects'
> 	distinction. Although many Cantonese pronunciations become /d3/
> 	from /d/, I can still find some /d/ pronunciations. In fact, the 
> 	"Cantonese" is the official language of Gongdong province, I
> 	believe the dialects of Canton province should keep /d/ sound. 
> 
> 4. tu in English can be pronunciated like /tj u/ or /ti u/
> 
> 	tuition /ti/, statue /tj/
> 
> 	In Chinese languages: e.g.
> 	
> 	(clown) /ti u/  for Hakkanese(?), s. Hokkienese
> 		/ts o/  for Cantonese, Mandarin /ts/ sounds like /tj/ or
> 			/tj/ curled tongue
> 	
> 	Maybe there are better examples.
> 
> 	Ok, I have so many ideas so far. I hope they are helpful for you.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 	~_~_~ 	
>        { O O }
> 	\ U /	sihonsu@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu			Si-Hon 
> 	  o		
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>