dialects

Characters are combined to form words while most of the characters themselves can be considered as single character words. The commonly used 3,111-5,111 characters can easily create 51,111, 51,111 or even more words. In Chinese, there are a lot of two-character words & four-character idioms. If Chinese scholars wish to classify them as fangyan ("topolects"), that is their prerogative, & Western linguists should not interfere. So long as fangyan & "dialect" are decoupled, there is no reason that the proposed English usage should cause any disturbance among speakers of Chinese language(s).

Chinese characters have a lot of homophones. It is not uncommon that when they type in the pinyin of one character, they end up with a list of dozens or even hundreds of characters for they to choose from. Therefore, when they say a one-character word, people might wonder which character they are talking about. That is probably why we have so a lot of two-character words in Chinese. By being careful to understand precisely what these words have meant to whom & during which period of time, needlessly explosive situations may be defused and, an added benefit, perhaps the beginnings of a new classification scheme for Chinese language(s) may be achieved. As an initial step in the right direction, the author proposes the adoption of "topolect" as an exact, neutral translation of fangyan

Sometimes, though a character is complete in meaning by itself, we still add another character to make it a two-character word. An example will be 桌子(a desk or table, pronounced as zhuo). The 桌 by itself is already conveying the same meaning as 桌子. A meaningless 子 is added to make it sounds differently from other characters with the same pronunciation as 桌. A lot of two character words are formed similarly. The four-character idioms or set phrases usually allude to some historical events or legends & are rich in cultural contents & historical moral values.

Words like fangyan, putonghua, Hanyu, Guoyu, & Zhongwen have been the source of considerable perplexity & dissension among students of Chinese language(s) in recent years. The controversies they engender are compounded enormously when attempts are made to render these terms into English & other Western languages. If we call Swedish & German or Marathi & Bengali separate languages, then I believe that we have no choice but to refer to Mandarin & Cantonese as two different languages. At the very least, if diplomatic or other considerations prevent us from making such an overt statement, we should refer to the major fangyan as "forms" or "varieties" of Chinese instead of as "dialects".

Unfortunate arguments have erupted, for example, over whether Taiwanese is a Chinese language or a Chinese dialect. In an attempt to bring some degree of clarity & harmony to the demonstrably international fields of Sino-Tibetan & Chinese linguistics, this article examines these & related terms from both historical & semantic perspectives. I am fully cognizant of the fact that the proposals set forth in this article have potential political implications. It is for this reason that I wish to state most emphatically that my suggestions apply only to English usage. I am making no claim about how the Chinese government or Chinese scholars should classify the a lot of languages & dialects of their country. My only plea is for consistency in English linguistic usage.