Medieval and Modern Philologies

Series | Medieval and Modern Philologies
Edited book | Contacts of Languages ​​- Contacts of Writings
Chapter | Interferenza linguistica e illusionismo grafico in Cina

Interferenza linguistica e illusionismo grafico in Cina

Abstract

The so called ‘Chinese writing system’ is only one of the various writing systems used in China, whose openness to linguistic interferences, together with its graphic flexibility, allowed it to deeply influence other writing systems in use in China. This is what happened, for instance, to the language of the Zhuang people, which represents an extraordinary case of Chinese graphic syncretism. The common belief that China has only one language ‘with many dialects’ understandable at least in their written form is hereinafter proved to be just an illusion nurtured by the typological similarities between the languages of China, and by their writing systems.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Language: it


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