Why is Mandarin a backward language? There are many homophones, many ambiguities, and not vivid enough
Why is Mandarin a backward language? There are too many homophones in Mandarin, the expression is not clear, and it is easy to cause ambiguity, and it is often necessary to explain which word it is.
For example, an arrow and a sword, an arrow and a sword, this is indistinguishable. Can you hear the difference between "he died by the sword" and "he died by the arrow"? Without context, it is impossible to understand. However, not every sentence has context.
Also, you may not be able to hear the "cut off" and "minus" cut down, especially the "cut off" and "minus". For example, "cut out this piece of paper, how many more" and "cut out this paper, how many more", you can't easily tell the difference.
There are also table legs and corners, and Mandarin can't be spoken clearly. For example, "He hit the leg of the table" and "He hit the corner of the table", can you tell the difference?
In addition, it is also difficult to distinguish between the index finger and the ten fingers. For example, "his index finger is injured" and "his ten fingers are injured" are not audible at all.
Therefore, when we talk about these words, we often have to explain them in passing.
However, these words are differentiated in many dialects.
Cantonese has 6 tones, 4 more than Mandarin, and there are very few homophones, which are much less than Mandarin.
However, although Mandarin is backward, it is indeed simple and easy to popularize. We vigorously promote Mandarin with the aim of reducing communication costs and improving communication efficiency.
However, many words cannot be expressed in Mandarin, and must be expressed in dialects, which is the charm of dialects.
Another is to read metrical poems, which are very awkward to read in Mandarin. If you use Hunan dialects, Cantonese, Hokkien and other dialects, it feels much better and catchy. For example, "Early White Emperor City" feels particularly good to read in Cantonese. Especially for metrical poems with phonetic characters, if the phonetic characters become Yinping or Yangping in Mandarin, it will feel very awkward. When I read ancient poems, I usually use the Anhua dialect, unless I read them to others.
Some expressions are very figurative in dialects. For example, Mandarin speaks Zhang Guan Li Dai, and our Hunan Anhua dialect says "cow eggs stretch into the crotch of a horse". Coarse is a little thicker, but it is very vivid, and it is easier to understand than Zhang Guan Li Dai.
There is also the fact that it is far-fetched, and we call it "pulling from Mashan to Doushan" in Anhua. Come to think of it, hemp and beans are completely unrelated, how can they be pulled together?
Got the wrong object, or found the wrong person, we call it "carrying water to find the wrong wharf". For example, if you are angry with your wife, but you lose your temper at your child, the child says, "You have found the wrong dock for carrying water!" If you have the ability, you can find my mother! ”
It is said that a person is very busy, and the Anhua dialect has a saying that "the front foot hits the back foot". There is also a more vivid one, called "no urine can be dried", which is a bit vulgar.
When it comes to a hurry, use "thunder and fire". Just imagine, is there anything more urgent than thunder and fire?
In my impression, the Anhua dialect does not have the word neighbor, but speaks of the upper and lower houses. Anhua, Hunan Province is hilly, and the houses between neighbors are often not on the same level, so the upper and lower houses refer to the neighbors. For example, someone says, "I know this person, follow me up and down." ”
If you compare two people from different eras, Mandarin is called "Guan Gong vs. Qin Qiong", and our Anhua is called "Zhang Fei kills Yue Fei, killing all over the sky".
For example, if you say that it won't rain today, how do you say it in Mandarin? It's nothing more than that there will definitely be no rain today, and the Anhua dialect is "the rain will not fall on the water", isn't it more vivid and certain?
Although the dialect is superficial, it is indeed very interesting, and it retains a lot of ancient culture, ancient folk customs, and ancient sounds and ancient characters, which are worth discovering and inheriting.
(Wuhan, June 3, 2024)