ABSTRACT
A note from Ken Goodman: As I discuss in Chapter 1, there are some very common misconceptions about the Chinese language and how it is written that are echoed even in the writing of authorities on language. Mostly these misconceptions result from a Darwinian view that written language has gone through an evolution from pictorial representation to the “modern” alphabet. Partly they come from those who believe that reading and writing must always involve phonics. Yet Chinese writing has survived for many centuries and serves its many users quite well. Yueh-Nu Hung shows here how the system works, and in the process provides evidence to dispel these myths. She also provides information about how the system is learned by Chinese children.
