Chinese is NOT picture writing! - History of Writing Systems #5 (Determinatives)

Video

John Horgan
by NativLang
published on 12 October 2017

Watch this ancient Chinese scribe figure out how to use a fixed set of characters to write limitless words in his language. How? By combining meaning writing (logographs) and sound writing (rebus)!

The result is a set of helpful hints called determinatives, because they help you determine the meaning of a pronunciation character. Determinatives show up in Mayan, Egyptian and other ancient writing systems. In Hanzi (Chinese) and Kanji (Japanese) they're called radicals, simply because they narrow down the root meaning (the "radix") of the written character.

While we're visiting China, we'll stumble across an unexpected tension: should writing be easier for the reader to read or for the writer to write?

Oh, and why don't we go a step further? What if we pat Chinese characters on the back, say "nice try" and take our scripts ALL THE WAY to pronunciation writing?

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APA Style

NativLang, . (2017, October 12). Chinese is NOT picture writing! - History of Writing Systems #5 (Determinatives). World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/video/1296/chinese-is-not-picture-writing---history-of-writin/

Chicago Style

NativLang, . "Chinese is NOT picture writing! - History of Writing Systems #5 (Determinatives)." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified October 12, 2017. https://www.worldhistory.org/video/1296/chinese-is-not-picture-writing---history-of-writin/.

MLA Style

NativLang, . "Chinese is NOT picture writing! - History of Writing Systems #5 (Determinatives)." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 12 Oct 2017. Web. 11 Dec 2023.

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