Another Short History of Linguistics (55)

Without the limit of grammar, how simple a Chinese expression would be? We have said that to expressing is like drawing a picture. In drawing we use paint to link one pixel and another by random colours. Likewise, in language, we link one meaning and another randomly. In picture if someone order you to link two pixels under a special rule, the picture would be no good in look. Likewise in language if you could not link two meanings freely, the expression would not be easy and smooth unless by special training and you used to it, that is grammar.

Without the restriction of grammar, Chinese turned to be simpler and how it looked like? In the former post we have talked about cyclic poem that is among a circle of certain number of character, you started any character it would be a poem. Such as if you started from first character, a poem will finished at the last character and if you started from second character, another poem will finished at the first character. If started from third letters, another poem will finished at the second character and so on.

Now I am introducing another kind of expression of Chinese. It was invented by Zhao Yuan Ren 赵元任 (3 November 1892 – 25 February 1982). In 1945, he served as president of the Linguistics Society of America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuen_Ren_Chao

By one sound he could tell a story. Of course the so called one sound was distinguished by four tones.  Here is an example, the title is 季姬击鸡记

季姬Beats Chicken

Here I translate it like:

季姬 feel lonely, she find some chicken for company. That chickens are in fact pheasants from bushland. When they hungry they crow, 季姬 put some millet in a dustpan to feed them. When they are full, they jumped on季姬’s bookcase. 季姬 hate this, she shout to the chicken. The chicken is irritated, then they jumped on table. This time季姬 is irritated too, she throw the dustpan at the chicken. It goes too fast and smashed a pottery figurine on the table. As is broken into pieces, the chicken crowing under the table. In a hurry 季姬 throw a clog at the chicken, it killed the chicken. When a chicken is dead季姬 feel agitate. And I record this story as《季姬 beats chicken》.

Another story is:

石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮。施氏时时适市视狮。十时，适十狮适市。是时，适施氏适市。氏视是十狮，恃矢势，使是十狮逝世。氏拾是十狮尸，适石室。石室湿，氏使侍拭石室。石室拭，氏始试食是十狮。食时，始识是十狮，实十石狮尸。试释是事。

When you read it, the pronunciation would be like:

Shī shì shí shī shǐ
Shí shì shī shì shī shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
Shì shí shí shì shì shì shī.
Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.
Shì shí, shì shī shì shì shì.
Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shì shì.
Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shí shì.
Shí shì shī, shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.
Shí shì shì, shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.
Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī shī, shí shí shí shī shī.
Shì shì shì shì.

After Zhao Yuan Ren someone else write similar stories, and on http://www.douban.com/note/154945399/  You may find some other stories that using only one sound.