A Study Of Character Formation Involving Unitary Root Graphemes Signifying Terrestrial And Celestial Features And Natural Phenomena

In spite of their great number,the formations of Chinese characters are usually motivated.However,no Chinese-English learner’s dictionaries provide information about character formation,whereas Chinese dictionaries that provide this information,due to the limitation of their macrostructures,are not convenient for teachers and students to access it.This study defines the unitary root grapheme as the smallest meaningful or pronounceable written sign capable of deriving characters,and distinguishes pictographic,ideographic and phonographic signs.From the perspective of compiling a new type of intermediate Chinese-English learner’s dictionary,this thesis identifies the unitary root graphemes signifying terrestrial and celestial features and natural phenomena in Band 1 of the General Service List of Standard Chinese Characters,determines their functional class,describes the evolution of their forms and structures,and investigates the perception of the world by people who invented those characters.From among the 3500 characters in the list,this research has identified 16 graphemes signifying terrestrial features,i.e.土,厂,石,田,回,山,少,水,丘,自,阜,谷,周,川,永,and 州;2 signifying celestial features,i.e.日 and月;and 7 signifying natural phenomena,i.e.云,雨,申,气,欠,风,and 火.Etymologically,all these graphemes are pictograms.This study reveals that these 25 graphemes partake in the formation of 788 characters,23%of the list.Functionally,3 of these graphemes,i.e.水,日,and 雨,serve only as pictograms in 347 characters;18,i.e.土,厂,石.田,山,少,丘,阜,谷,川,永,州,申,月,气,仌,风,火,serve as phonograms as well as pictograms in 474 characters;4,i.e.回.,周,自,.云,are only used as phonograms in 12 characters.The above statistics show that pictograms are predominant in the formation of Chinese characters,having derived 722 characters containing at least one pictographic element,which account for 21%of the wordlist.Meanwhile,the function of phonograms can by no means be neglected,not only because 4 pictograms are borrowed only as phonograms,but also the great maj ority of pictograms can serve both as a semantic element and as a phonetic element in character formation.This study has also found that most of the characters with the grapheme 日 are related to time.Some of them,such as莫,朝,晨,昏 and昔,show that people who created them described time through spatial relationship.Characters with the grapheme 水 are commonly used to depict agricultural production and handicraft.Most of the characters containing 土 signify building materials,石represent tools,and 火 are related to cooking.This thesis provides information in English about character formation for the above characters for the intermediate Chinese-English dictionary.