China And South Korea Numerals Used Comparative Study

Chapter I IntroductionNow, we cannot live with numerals, which, along with the social development, are playing a more and more important role in our life. People who lived a very simple life in the early stage of the human history did not need numerals to express or distinguish things or phenomenons. However, later, with more and more things being created, people began to need numerals.China and South Korea are neighbors with continuing communication. The early culture of China has great influence on that of South Korea. The Chinese numerals as well as related culture were introduced to South Korea. However, to coordinate with different languages and different environments, the numerals are used in different ways in these two countries. Therefore, studies on the culture of numerals have never stopped from early on.In China, from Wang Li’s Modern Chinese Grammar, which includes the Chapter of Numerals, nearly all following grammar books mention numerals. In recent years, some people such as Zhou Cailian (2002) have made studies on numerals from different perspectives. People represented by Ye Shuxian (1998) have also made in-depth study on the culture about numerals and published related monographs. Other people like Wang Xiaohong (2006) have made studies on the application of numerals.In South Korea, wide discussions on whether to classify numerals into an independent part of speech are still going on, since numerals in Korean are special. Even so, in students’grammar books, numerals are in separated chapters. Since Korean belongs to the phonetic writing system, it’s hard to distinguish any single numerals in the written Korean. So, there is neither so rich culture nor so many research achievements about numerals in South Korea as that in China. Referring to the application of numerals, studies from the perspectives of economics and art have been made. So far, there have not been any achievements made in study on the application of numerals by linguistic methods.Shen Zhenyu, author of the Comparison of Chinese Names with Korean Names, which made inductive research on the similarities and differences between the surnames and first names of the people of the two countries, also made comparative study on the numerals of the two countries (2010)The paper is based on the profound Chinese culture about numerals to make comparisons of the application of the numerals in the daily life and the economic circle of the two countries, hoping that it will be helpful for promoting communication between the two countries.Chapter Ⅱ Comparison of essential characteristicsThere should be no objection to that numerals can be classified into an independent part of speech in the Chinese language. So, the discussions mainly focus on their scope and classification. However, in South Korea, the discussions mainly focus on whether numerals should be made independent and different from other parts of speech. It indicates that numerals in Korean have the same characteristics with those of the other parts of speech.A numeral is a symbol used to represent a number. Arabic numerals are universally used in the world today. While, numerals as part of speech of a language have the features of the language so that they are not universal symbols. Quantity is a way to express properties of things, such as size. Numbers are infinite, while numerals as part of speech are limited. To express infinite numbers with limited language, the numerals should be productive and rule-based. In these aspects, it is the same in both Chinese and Korean.In terms of pronunciation, the tone of a Chinese word may be modified in different contexts. However, the written forms of all Chinese numerals but "二"(Two) will not be changed due to the pronunciations of the words before and after them. In Korean, however, both pronunciation and written form of a numeral may be changed due to the pronunciation of the words before and after it or the objects to express and the ways of expression. In terms of reading, both Chinese numerals and Korean numerals can be read in the way of four-digit segmentation, namely using ten thousand as unit.When expressing quantity and order, both Chinese language and Korean language have their own characteristics. Numerals in Chinese, with wide range of functions, may combine with morphemes to express the quantity and order without any change. There are almost the same expressions of quantity and order in Korean. The difference is that there are specific ordinal numerals in Korean. In both kinds of languages, numerals may be used together with numerals, nouns, verbs and adjectives. To sum up, in terms of essential characteristics, numerals in both kinds of languages have more similarities than differences, which are even negligible.Chapter III Abstract meaning of numerals"O"(Zero):It is also a symbol in the oracle bone inscriptions, where has nothing to do with number"0"."O"was originated in China, while "0" was invented by Indian."O"and "O"are two different symbols. The Chinese character“零”(zero) originally did not mean "0". Among the Chinese numerals, only the concept of“零”had a slow development. Tang Jian (1994) believes that "O" first appeared in the Daming Calendar made in1180, while“零”was first used in the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, there is no culture about "O".“一”(One):It has been connected with philosophical thoughts since the very beginning. It has the abstract meanings of "initial","biggest" and "all".“二”(Two):It symbolizes the heaven and the earth as well as the separation of the heaven and the earth. It has derogatory abstract meanings, such as "betrayal"and "division". However, it also has some positive meanings in the Chinese culture, which embraces that good things are in pairs. This can be proved by the symmetry of the Chinese characters and words and phrases, which tend to be in two or four syllables.“三”(Three):The Chinese people believe that“三”has the meanings of "a lot"and "big". So, there are the concepts that many people should include at least three people and a herd of animals should include at least three animals. It is widely used in daily life to express things and phenomenons that are big, powerful and in large numbers.“四”(Four):It is one of the numerals that are widely used to express directions and time. It is also welcomed because it has the meaning of things in pairs. The most representative application of "四" is the Chinese four-character idiom. However, its capital form "肆" has the meaning of "a kind of penalty execution", which makes it disliked sometimes.“五”(Five):It has symbolic meaning due to the theory of "yin-yang and five elements", which explains the change and development of the world. Therefore, the culture about "五" was established.“六”(Six):It has the meanings of "success" and "good luck", which were originated from the Eight Diagrams, in which pure "yin" was indicated by the diagram with“六六六”.“七”(Seven):It has close relationship with the lunar cycle and the cycle of human life. That’s why it is frequently used in the memorial ceremony at funerals. So, it is always connected with "death".“八”(Eight):It was originally granted the derogatory meaning of "division" and "separation".“九”(Nine):It is the last and biggest single number, symbolizing supreme.“十”(Ten):It is the base of the decimal system and has the meaning of "perfection" and "completion". For example, each person have ten fingers.In addition,’“十二”(Twelve),“十三”(Thirteen),“三十六”(Thirty-six),“七”“十二”(Seventy-two) and“一O八”(One hundred and eight) are all numerals with lucky meaning."Thousand","Hundred" and "Ten Thousand" have the meaning of being "long" and "in extremely large numbers and sizes". Generally,"一" represents the beginning of life;“二”represents the development of life in contradiction;"三" represents the internal development of life;“四”represents the external development of life;“五”represents the combination of internal and external development;“六”represents the successful development after the combination;“七”represents the life circle;“八”represents death;"九" represents ancestors in heaven;“十”represents perfection of life.The Korean culture about numerals is mainly based on the Chinese culture. The difference is that it embraces more odd numbers than even numbers. Especially,"three" and "seven" are frequently used.Chapter IV Comparison of use of numerals in namingNumerals are widely used in daily life. They are frequently used in naming. Naming methods are related to a number of factors, including social development, economic development and cultural transmission and promotion. The culture about naming may represents the culture of an era or a region. Naming is a part of life. Let’s first come to the comparison of use of numerals in naming in formal situations.Section I Use in public institutionsThere is an example for use of numerals in the Constitution of the Communist Party of China and the Constitution of the Saenuri Party. Comparison is made in wording.In the Constitution of the Communist Party of China, numerals were in forms of Chinese characters, and only the adoption date was written in Arabic numerals, while in the Constitution of the Saenuri Party, only Arabic numerals were used. For example: In the Constitution of the Communist Party of China: Article Thirty-Four: Party cadres at all levels shall take the lead to fulfill all the obligations under Article Three(第三条)of this Constitution, and must meet the basic requirements hereunder. Partly amended at the18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and adopted on November14,2012(2012年11月14日).In the Constitution of the Saenuri Party:(?)(?)(?)(?)Comparison of use of numerals in the names of conferences shows that, the names of Chinese conferences may indicate levels of the conferences and information about the attendees, while the names of Korean conferences rarely contain numerals, usually providing less information. When expressing specific quantity, age, time and approximate number, there is no difference between the uses of the two kinds of numerals. The Chinese language has unique ordinal numerals and numeral abbreviations, while the Korean language has unique numerals expressing grades.For example: in Chinese: It will promote long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao and complete the great cause of reunifying the motherland in conformity with the principle of "one (一个) country, two (两种) systems."In Korean:(?)(?)(?)In Chinese:(ordinal numerals)In building itself, the Party must be determined to meet the following four essential requirements:First(第一),dhering to the Party’s basic line.Second(第二),persevering in emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts.Third(第三),persevering in serving the people wholeheartedly.Fourth(第四),upholding democratic centralism.In Korean:(expression of grades)(?) (?)Ordinal numerals and numerals expressing grades may be used to meet special requirements, while the use of numeral abbreviations shows the characteristics of Chinese words.Numeral abbreviations have a long history in both kinds of languages. The Chinese people like to summarize things and phenomenons with numerals better, with increasingly enriched numeral abbreviations, especially in the modern society.The publication of the Dictionary of Chinese Numerals sufficiently showed the development of the Chinese numeral abbreviations, which was especially fast this year, with a variety of opinions on them. Related works include Terms of Numerals, Numeral Names, Numeral Abbreviations, Number Abbreviations, Abbreviations with Numbers and Abbreviations with Numerals. It shows that numeral abbreviations play an important role in modern Chinese language and studies on them have been made from different perspectives.Most of the Chinese words are disyllables. Among the numeral abbreviations, most are disyllable numeral abbreviations, followed by quadrisyllable numeral abbreviations."三" and "五" are the most frequently used numerals to form up numeral abbreviations, because "三" may be used to express either "majority" or "minority" and "五" is believed to be an important numeral since the ancients believed the world is running based on the "yin-yang and the five elements". However, in Korean, a word with the meaning of number may not simply refer to a number so that it may cause various interpretations, so numerals are less used. For example,"(?)", which has the meaning of“一”，may also be interpreted as“日”，“逸”，“壹”，“鎰”，“溢”，“佾”，“馹”and“佚”in Chinese;"(?)", which has the meaning of"二", has38other meanings. Therefore, in modern times, except for some ancient and modern numeral abbreviations that have been used for a long time, nearly all the other numeral abbreviations were formed up by Arabic numerals. In the Dictionary of Standard Modern Korean, only one of the numeral abbreviations with "十" as the initial letter was made after the establishment of South Korea. Arabic numerals instead of Korean characters frequently appear in the on-line searching results.For example:in Chinese:三超(Three Over, meaning overtaking, overspeeding and overloading) and五爱(Five Love, meaning to love the motherland, the people, labor and science and take good care of public property)In Korean:(?)(Eight famous Buddhist mountains),(?)(Five oceans)(?)(十部制)(a temporal measure taken to ease traffic jam by restrict cars with the last digit of the license plate number the same with the current date from travelling on road.)Telephone number is a kind of resource administrated by national telecommunication authorities.The Chinese telephone area codes are set in the order of Beijing, Northeast China, East China, South China, Southwest China and Northwest China. In each area, most telephone numbers are selected based on regular repeat of numbers and the lucky meaning of numbers, while some are selected by business owners who want to make the phone numbers homophones of their products for promotion purposes. It is similar in South Korea, meaning that, the further away the area is from Seoul, the larger the area code is. The Korean people also want to choose lucky numbers, which, however, may have different meanings with that in China due to the difference in the cultures of the two countries. In China, phone numbers with "8" are the most popular, while in South Korea, the numbers with "1004"(which sounds like "angel") are the most popular. For example:in China:133-3333-3333(sold at a price of1.82million yuan)8819-9919(which sounds like that dad wants wine and uncle wants wine—the reservation number of a restaurant)In Korea:1670-1670(sold at a price of KRW300million, equal to about1.6million yuan)2424(which sounds like i-sa-i-sa,"i-sa" meaning "move"—the last four digits of the phone number of a moving company) Management of telephone number in the two countries are different from each. In China, lucky phones numbers are auctioned by communication companies, while in South Korea, lucky numbers are used by communication companies to attract more customers (phone numbers are sold and bought between individuals).Section Ⅱ Contrast of use of numerals in names of people and places All numerals were once used as family names of the Chinese people. However, most scholars now believe that only quite a few of numerals are still used as family names. Such use of numerals can be proved by historical documents. It is an old tradition to use numerals in the names of people, either those in history and those in modern times. Some people were named with "伯"(Bo, meaning the eldest),"仲"(Zhong, meaning the second),"叔"(Shu, meaning the third) and "季"(Ji, meaning the youngest) as well as the "five elements" that indicate ranks.In South Korea, only quite a few of numerals are used as family names. Numerals also appear in people’s first names. Influenced by the Chinese characters indicating ranks, South Korea has been using such kind of characters in a stricter and more enriched way since the16th century.Characters indicating ranks based on the five elements ("金"(metal),"木"(wood),"水"(water),"火"(fire) and "土"(earth)) Characters indicating ranks based on numerals Characters indicating ranks, including numerals, are used in names in China for distinguishing people of the same generation by ranks, while such characters are used in South Korea to distinguish people of different generations. Study on use of numerals in geographic names mainly focuses on those in Beijing and Seoul.Similarities:“三”is the most frequently used numerals in geographic names in Beijing (17%) and Seoul (32%), showing the unique charm of "三". Numerals used in geographic names have nothing to do with order but are related to the number of something in the surrounding areas or the distance away from some point. Multiplicative numerals are used in geographic names due to their symbolic meaning. For example,"千"(one thousand) is used in the geographic names in Beijing and Seoul to express things in large numbers.Differences:In Beijing, the use of“三”in geographic names is just a little more frequent than the use of the other numerals such as“五”(12%) and’“八”(12%) in geographic names, indicating that the naming of a place is related to the traditional culture about numerals. In addition, some derogatory numerals were used when naming some places, showing that these numerals had close relationship with the surroundings. More numerals with symbolic meaning are used in the geographic names in Beijing than that in Seoul, reflecting the development of the Chinese culture about numerals. In Seoul, there is no names with“六”and“百”as initial characters, since“六”has derogatory meaning in the Korean culture, while“百”is not used maybe because there is no object to be exaggerated in the surrounding areas (only“千”is used). There is a place called“万里”((?) in Korean, meaning ten thousand miles), but it was not used as a multiplicative numeral but as part of the name of the person who once had lived there.Chapter V Comparison of numeral applications in economic activities Section I Comparison of applications in column namesThe column name actually falls in the naming scope. However the above paragraphs examine the naming not close to the economic interests. The column name of the radio and TV stations has direct bearing to advertisement and other economic activities and therefore we have it discussed here.At present TV is more popular than radio. So we choose the China Central Television (CCTV) and KBS to examine the use of numerals in the naming of columns. One is the national television station of China and the other is partially held by the government of South Korea. Both have certain authority. The CCTV uses both Arabic numerals and Chinese numerals with which the former refer to the specific quantity while the later is generally used in an abstract sense. As Arabic numerals are signs not belonging to the Chinese language, they shall not be used in the column name. Using Arabic numerals is to emphasize the uniqueness or specific quantity while using Chinese numerals for some specific numbers is because in some occasions it is not suitable to use Arabic numerals (for example“三”(three) in“三农”(San Nong)"(agriculture, farmer and countryside)). Using Chinese numeral is also related to the traditional numerals of China. Arabic numerals could not completely demonstrate the contents of the Chinese numerals. For example, Bai Jia Jiang Tan (Lecture Room), here Bai (hundred) does not refer to specifically "one hundred" but many experts and scholars. Here the numeral does not specify the actual quantity."Yi"(one) is used the most, totaling12times."Yi", like the other numerals, when using Arabic numeral1normally refers to a specific person, e.g."News1+1" refers to an announcer and a special commentator or an expert, aiming at attracting audiences to the insightful report. Using Chinese numerals is normally for the abstract meaning, for example "Yi Xian" means the frontline, the first scene or the first-time report. In addition, the column name also can reflect the duration of the program. For example "News30’" is30minutes’ long news report. There are also other ways to indicate the broadcasting time, for example "Morning Sports News" and "Culture at Noon". The numerals used in the column names of CCTV are frequently used ones in daily life, no special ones.KBS uses numerals of different forms, including Arabic numerals, Korean numerals, Roman numerals and loanwords. In most cases, the numerals used by the TV station refer to the specific quantity, irrelevant to the indication modes. It is because as a phonetic language Korean could hardly bear the numeral culture. As a result, it is not much important to use any language symbols. For example "1vs100", here the numbers refer to the number of participants, a special performer and100selected audience to compete and the winning one will be the final winner. The column name using Korean numerable is to create a relaxed atmosphere and unify the participants, for example the four participants of "Four Swordsmen" are not competitors but partners to fight together to succeed. Using Arabic numerals only leaves the feeling of confrontation. So here KBS uses the Korean numerals.There are some abstract numerals. For example "The First Way to Escape from Crisis" here "The First" uses loanwords. This column mainly introduces how to find the escape route in various crises in the modern life. Here "The First" means "the best","the fastest","the most" etc. The most-frequently used numerals are "one" and "two"."Two" has different meanings. For example "Two" in "Interview4321" refers to one of the telephone numbers;"two" in "Couple Clinic-Love and War2" refers to that the divorce rate of South Korea ranks the second in state members of OECD. The most special one is "II" in the "Dream Team II". This program was very popular from1993to2003and after10years of interruption, it was launched again in2013and obtained the unprecedented characteristics. Here II has the meaning of combination of the tradition and innovation, like in Generation II models of automobile and mobile telephone. The column names also reflect the program duration. For example "Tracking60’" is a program lasting for one hour. Some column names also contain the broadcasting time, for example KBS News12is played at12:00am, KBS News7at17:00, KBS News9at21:00. Some columns also take the forms of CCTV, for example KBS Morning Report, Good Morning, Republic of Korea".KBS also uses numerals such as "7080" that are not often seen. The column is a music program designed for people spending their youth time in the1970s and1980s. The special numerals are used to leave a warm impression and grasp the targeted audience. This reflects that the division of programs is increasingly detailed for niche audience.Commonness:both uses Arabic numerals and characters of their own language. Arabic numerals are used to reflect the specific quantity. The name of columns has numerals to reflect the program duration."One" is the most frequently used number.Differences:the number of numerable forms used by KBS is higher than CCTV; four forms are used, two forms more than that of CCTV. The numerals used for the abstract meaning by CCTV are higher than KBS. As for the special numbers, KBS uses more special numerals than CCTV does.Section II Comparison of numeral application in product brandsBrands are more valuable than products. With development of sciences and technologies, the quality of products will tend to come to the same level. In this case, brands will play a critical role in selection of a product among a number of the similar products. With increasing supplies of products and brands, it is hard to describe the product characteristics with limited words. So numerals are used to establish the brand image from automobile to cookie.The numerals used in the brands are summarized as follows, searched from the website of the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China:The table reflects that the mostly used are common Chinese numerals because the Arabic numerals and amount in words could not reflect the rich numeral culture. It is because Arabic numerals are not Chinese characters and could not carry the numeral culture. The amount in words is borrowed and has no relation to the quantity. Therefore it will cause misunderstanding to use the amount in words. For example,“肆”(Si, four) literally referred to an extreme punishment and could hardly be used in a trademark.From the list of famous trademarks published by the Trademark Office of China(from May2011to January2013),105trademarks containing numerals are selected for comparison. Except for the six numerals used in the trademarks, the others are common Chinese characters, consistent with the general conditions. In most cases,"二"is replaced with "双",reflecting that the numeral culture of China does not like to use "二" but like the symmetrical culture. The richer meaning the numeral contains, the more frequent it is used."三","百""九"are most frequently used numerals as they have several abstract meanings.In trademarks, the numerals with the meaning of "the highest" are most frequently used.“一”(one),“九”(nine),“十”(ten),“百”(hundred),“千”(thousand),“万”(ten thousand),"三"(three) have the meaning of the highest, the largest or the longest. There is little use of combining the numerals with other signs. This fact is not consistent with the result of the survey which discovered different combinations of numerals and signs in the trademarks. Special numerals are seldom used. In addition to cardinal and ordinal numerals, the specials ones include "红99","89","1872" and"3537"."3537"is using the original military factory code. The most special one is "1872", a trademark of golf course, meaning18hours and72poles, directly linked to the symbols of the sports.Many trademarks are consistent with a part of the name of the factory or company, accounting for74percent of the total.The trademark names using Korean numerals could not be collected from the website of the trademark administration of South Korea because the trademarks do not express the numerals only. Here only the trademarks with Arabic numerals are collected. However, as there are many special uses, we will not discuss here. South Korea does not rate the trademarks by well-known trademarks. Therefore only106trademarks with numerals are collected from newspapers, news, internet, reference papers.As these trademarks have too many special numerals, the use of numerals cannot be summarized. The numerals in the trademarks are mainly Arabic numerals. Only eight trademarks do not use Arabic numerals. The trademarks contain Chinese numerals, loanwords and numerals in English in combination:Korean numerals+Korean characters, loanwords numerals+Korean characters; English numerals+English words, Arabic numerals+Korean characters, Arabic numerals+loanwords, Arabic numerals+English letters, Arabic numerals+signs, Arabic numerals+Arabic numerals etc.The special numerals are frequently used, for example "No.11","LG1124"and "B612".Most of these numerals are related to sciences and can leave a scientific feeling when used in combination with Arabic numerals, for example,"Bone Institute206","46cm" and "5℃". Human has206bones; the distance leaving a comfortable feeling is46cm;5℃is the best temperature for the rice preservation. These numerals directly related to the scientific research of course leave an impression of confidence and authority.The numerals have a direct bearing to the products. For example "Pure100" means that the drink contains100percent fruit."Lemon12" means that it contains12pieces of chewing gums."187168" means that the expected height of the youth is187cm for a boy and168cm for a girl and drinking the beverage helps them grow taller.The numerals used in the trademarks contain hardly the traditional culture, but put the new meaning. The numerals1124in"LG1124"means November24is the best time to make pickled vegetables, and one could enjoy the pickled vegetable in the whole year (1),12months (12) and four seasons (4). This could be the best name for the special refrigerator for the pickled cabbage. In the trademark"ets27","7" is the lucky seven, and"2" means two times. This trademark implies that if you take the clothes of the brand, your luck will be doubled. Only a very small part uses the traditional numeral culture, like "est27". A group company normally has many trademarks with numerals, leading to frequent use of some numerals and duplication of some brands.Commonness:the naming of modern trademarks is also affected by the traditional culture and the numerals with derogatory senses are not likely used.Differences:China is affected more by the traditional culture than South Korea. The forms and quantity of numerals used in South Korea are higher than in China. China uses the numerals in the traditional senses while South Korea puts new meaning to the numerals. Few of the numerals in the trademarks of China has direct bearing to the products while in South Korea, the numerals in trademarks have direct relation to the products. In China, the number of cases that the name of trademarks is a part of the name of the factory or company is higher than that in South Korea. And in South Korea a company owns several trademarks containing numerals.Chapter VI ConclusionCommonness:currently both of the two languages recognize that numerals are a part of speech. The numerals contain certain culture and the traditional numeral culture affects all aspects of the modern society.Differences:the numerals in Korean are lack of independence. The numeral culture of Chinese language is richer. The numeral usages in modern society are of more traditional in China. In the modern society South Korea uses the numerals more creatively in a more diversified way.In the future the application of numerals in the literature, in the naming of factories and schools and advertisement and other economic activities will be examined.