2014年2月19日星期三

Law of All Human Languages

My linguistic law is very simple, anyone who understand the combination of mathematics can understand it very well. Every day, what we are talking and listening is but communication by symbols. It is no different with what Morse code have done. So we just counting how many symbols are sending and receiving, then we may understand how the language works.
Linguistic law is a balance between easy to speak (expressing) and easy to remember (learning).only increase the number of sound’s species (SCAV) can get benefit of both side. For instance the compound word ‘pig-meat’ vs. individual word ‘pork’. Once we know what is pig and what is meat, don’t need any learning we know what pig-meat (compound word) is. But such word is too long for expressing, so the ancestor of English speaker invent (or introduce) a word ‘pork’. Repeated each of the words twenty times, you may realize the compound word double the time of the individual word. That is to say if a butcher repeat one thousand times the meaning of pork, using ‘pork’ will save much time and energy than using ‘pig-meat’. As thinking process is in fact speaking in mind, so the thinking speed of ‘pork’ will be faster than ‘pig-meat’. But using ‘pork’ you have to learn (remember) a new word ‘pork’, even if you know what ‘pig’ and ‘meat’ are. The current one million words of English are formed like this. The only reason that we has to learn so many words is to reduce the time and energy of expressing, without this burden. We only need to learn a handful basic words.

This phenomenon is happened in every language so I say the language law is a balance between easy to express and easy to memory. If the number of sound is unchanged, then easy to learn means shorten your life while easy to use means hard to learn.

2014年2月18日星期二

为贪官说几句话

当今的贪官是哪里来的?这是个有趣的问题。细查他们的历史都能发现,在改革开放初期,他们是顶着当年一群老顽固的压力,特立独行,有胆识,有魄力的人物。那时的中国。死气沉沉,毛的阴魂未散,人们一举手,一投足都要想一想是否违反某种精神束缚。正是这群人,顶着压力上,从而改变了整个中国的面目。当年支持他们改革的动力还是裙带关系,就是,老大有饭吃,小兄弟不能饿着。这样,老大为小兄弟壮胆,小兄弟也为老大壮胆。双方都有一个共识,那就是,不能相信法律,只能相信‘人脉’。‘人脉’是中国的传统观念,因为传统上,法律从来就没有有效地解决过什么问题。大概国家穷了的时候,狼多肉少的时候,都这样。因为社会财富仅能供应少数人过上好日子,多数人只能‘奉献’。但是,目前的中国,财富已经积累到了一定的程度。你的个人财产有几十亿,他的财产有几亿。这两者之间的差别并不大。反正你几辈子用不完。如果在其他国家,贪污的欲望几乎就没有了。可是在中国,很多大官贪污已经不是为了自己而是为了小兄弟。这样的事情就变得可笑了。如果媒体加大对于‘土豪’的讽刺力度,那么,这些人就会失去市场。在海外,任何人都不敢炫富。因为,无数的事实告诉他们,炫富一定没有好下场。既然不能炫富,那么,冒险贪污还有什么意义呢?因此,在海外,当财富积累到一定程度的时候,人们关心的是如何花钱而非如何挣钱。当一个人每天想着花钱的时候,你说他还会贪污吗?所谓花钱也是有品位的,你把钱花在名牌汽车,豪宅上面,别人照样看不起你。所以,富翁花钱往往出人意料。太空遨游只有第一个这样干的人能够赢得好的评语,第二个就是赶时髦了。投资发展高科技,你要懂才成,不是想投资就能成功的。换句话说,真正的大资本家和大财主的道德修养及生活品位都比共产党领袖高得多。当年,共产党带头打倒这些人,实际上就是破坏人类的道德观。直到今天,中国人的道德观念无法建立的根本原因还在于此。想要绕过这个根本的问题,从新建立一套道德观念。对于六十年的挫败拒不承认,可乎?

Speak Esperanto, Your Life Even Shorten

Last time, we have talked about that speak English, your life will be shorten. But speak Esperanto, your life will be even shorter. The demonstration would be easier. To prove the life of English speaker, we need combination of mathematics, but to prove the Esperanto causes your life shorter just need addition and subtraction.
If you know some words of Esperanto you may find that trying to be a semantic language, nearly all the words in Esperanto double the size of English words. If you don’t know the words of Esperanto, you may check them in an internet dictionary: http://www.lexicool.com/esperanto-dictionary-translation.asp
Filly= ĉevalidino,
Pork= porkaĵo
Let’s check the second example. In English the word ‘pork’ is one syllable, while in Esperanto is ‘porkaĵo’ three syllables. Why this happened? Because Esperanto is trying to be a semantic language, that is using self-explained words instead the normal words, the ‘ĵo’ means ‘meat’, the whole word of ‘porkaĵo’ means ‘pig’s meat’. From this we can rethink why the English ancestors introduce a word ‘pork’ to replace the compound word of ‘pig-meat’? Because the word ‘pork’ is shorter than ‘pig meat’ in pronunciation. A butcher utter one thousand times this word would save a lot of energy than utter the word ‘pig-meat’.

The inventor of Esperanto didn’t know this, so they invent a language full of semantic words like ‘porkaĵo’. The result is simple. Since most of the Esperanto words double the size of English, then throughout the life you speak Esperanto will half the information intake, during that period.

Speaking English, Your Life Will be Shorten

It doesn’t mean to say, your physic life will be shorten, but if during the same life span, you only intake half the information as other language, isn’t that mean to say you have waste half of your life?
Now, let’s demonstrate it.

One Chinese person takes a card from a deck of playing cards randomly, he asked his Chinese friend in English: ‘What this is?’ By these three words, his friend knows what the card is. While an English person asks the same question to his friend, he doesn’t know what the card is. The trick is the tone. What is tone? In YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZB9-vZFesk the girl will show you what tones in mandarin are.  The Mandarin has four tones for any syllable, then ‘what’ can be whāt, whát, whǎt, whàt. They use the first one for spade, the second one for heart, the third one for diamond and the fourth one for club, (see table below).  After this, they use the four ‘this’ for 1, 2, 3, 4, and four ‘is’ as well. 4x4=16>13, the 14 is red joker and 15 is black joker, table:
From this example, you may understand that in every syllable, the English speaker miss out 4-1=3 information compare with Mandarin speaker. Within every two combined syllables, 4x4-1=15 information missed out. Within every three combined syllables, 4x4x4-1=63 information miss out. The formula is 4n-1. Just think about, during the whole life, how many information does English speaker miss out comparing a Mandarin speaker? 

2013年11月21日星期四

United Nations Calls for Multilingualism Essay

The UN calls multilingualism essay to celebrate 70th anniversary of the UN Charter. You must be a student over 18.
If politician can’t solve the language issue, most of them seeking help for multilingualism. But I am sure the final solution is a deferent one. For there are so many people, they can’t even master their mother tongue sophistically, how can we push them to learn more than two languages?
Until now, linguist can’t understand what language science is. Without such a study no one can solve the issue of language. From the scientific eye, we know that the world’s languages are unequal. We say this not because the economic, politic and military power that support a certain language but the efficiency that decide that value of a language. In other word, some language can cause its speaker enjoy only half the information of other language. It is a matter of human life. For instance, compare the similar words between Esperanto and English, we may find that most Esperanto double the number of syllables of English. That means Esperanto speaker can only enjoy half the information of English speaker during life time, for each syllable roughly cost the same time.
The regulation of language is similar the regulation of time. Before last century, all the states of America kept their own standard time, it cause so many interstate train crash. That is to say, insist the independent of different state means human life is joke. It is the same thing of language, insist language diversity although doesn’t take your life, but it exhaust your life.
On the other hand, if in old time, without the unification of standard time, the death toll would soar up, no doubt, some dissenters would against the product of car and train. As the death toll kept going up, their proposal would be accepted, today, there will no modern automotive and train industry.
It is like the language, we have the chance to get a most scientific language. It will enable people to get the utmost information during life time. But if we insist the multilingualism, this language will never realize. That means to say, humankind will kept stay in a chaos similar the chaos that without the traffic regulation. Civilization requires everybody make some sacrifices and civilization will return everybody rich reward too. 

A unified language doesn’t mean unified cultural. On the contrary, we may say, with one efficient language we can promote multiculturalism better. An efficient language to an original language is like black and white film to modern electronic camera. The later gives more clear image than the old one. With clearer image the minority culture as well as majority culture will be promoted better.   

United Nations Calls for Multilingualism Essay

The UN calls multilingualism essay to celebrate 70th anniversary of the UN Charter. You must be a student over 18.
If politician can’t solve the language issue, most of them seeking help for multilingualism. But I am sure the final solution is a deferent one. For there are so many people, they can’t even master their mother tongue sophistically, how can we push them to learn more than two languages?
Until now, linguist can’t understand what language science is. Without such a study no one can solve the issue of language. From the scientific eye, we know that the world’s languages are unequal. We say this not because the economic, politic and military power that support a certain language but the efficiency that decide that value of a language. In other word, some language can cause its speaker enjoy only half the information of other language. It is a matter of human life. For instance, compare the similar words between Esperanto and English, we may find that most Esperanto double the number of syllables of English. That means Esperanto speaker can only enjoy half the information of English speaker during life time, for each syllable roughly cost the same time.
The regulation of language is similar the regulation of time. Before last century, all the states of America kept their own standard time, it cause so many interstate train crash. That is to say, insist the independent of different state means human life is joke. It is the same thing of language, insist language diversity although doesn’t take your life, but it exhaust your life.
On the other hand, if in old time, without the unification of standard time, the death toll would soar up, no doubt, some dissenters would against the product of car and train. As the death toll kept going up, their proposal would be accepted, today, there will no modern automotive and train industry.
It is like the language, we have the chance to get a most scientific language. It will enable people to get the utmost information during life time. But if we insist the multilingualism, this language will never realize. That means to say, humankind will kept stay in a chaos similar the chaos that without the traffic regulation. Civilization requires everybody make some sacrifices and civilization will return everybody rich reward too. 

A unified language doesn’t mean unified cultural. On the contrary, we may say, with one efficient language we can promote multiculturalism better. An efficient language to an original language is like black and white film to modern electronic camera. The later gives more clear image than the old one. With clearer image the minority culture as well as majority culture will be promoted better.   

谈谈以理性主义方法反对多元语言主义

2014221日是联合国的母语日。联合国举办大学生论文比赛。在六种参选的语言中,每种选出十人到联合国总部参观。散文要求在两千字以内,以母语写成,必须是在校生。
内容是明确表示支持或者反对多元语言与多元文化主义。
联合国将多元语言与多元文化捆绑在一起进行讨论,目的是让大家赞同多元语言主义。因为,如果你反对的话,尤其是身为大国的选手,一定会被指责为种族主义。所以,我认为,选手必须将两者分开,而且说明,分开的理由是为了更好地推行多元文化主义。只有反对多元语言主义才能为人类建成巴比塔。
进一步的,有关语言科学的内容:国内朋友请到:http://www.pkucn.com/thread-297120-1-1.html

海外朋友请到英文版:https://sites.google.com/site/chengzhongsu/linguistics