Comments on: How Technology is Changing Chinese, One Pun at a Time

By: wingedtoad

wingedtoad — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 11:05:00 +0000

Harry Bull’s analysis is correct. There is an English alphabet in which c can be hard or soft, j is a fricative, v exists, etc. It is based on the Latin alphabet. Similarly, there is a Chinese alphabet, in which the Latin letters are used to represent Mandarin Chinese sounds.

At least, that can be one interpretation of the use of the word “alphabet.” If enough people use it that way, it comes to be understood as the norm. ;)

By: MisterBear

MisterBear — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 00:37:00 +0000

Under such a view, then Hanyu Pinyin is written using a Chinese alphabet, which reinforces my point that it is not written using the English alphabet. Also romanji in Japanese must be a Japanese alphabet.

By: Harry Bull

Harry Bull — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 15:32:00 +0000

actually, yes there is an English alphabet. It is a variant of the Latin alphabet, but includes characters not in Latin, such as J. There is also a French, Spanish, Italian, German and Swedish alphabet. All of them variants of the Latin.

By: Alan Shaw

Alan Shaw — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 06:23:00 +0000

This “boli” usage far predates texting, pinyin input methods, and even the Internet. I heard it when I lived in Taiwan in the 1970s.

And do you have a citation or any evidence of its derivation from “boy love”? I

By: MisterBear

MisterBear — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 04:16:00 +0000

The report refers to the “English alphabet” and “English letters”. There is no “English alphabet”. Modern English is written in the Latin alphabet, which is also used to write the other languages of Western Europe (French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, etc.). Similarly, there are no “English letters” in modern English. English is written using Latin letters. Old English had English letters: the etch, thorn, wynn, yogh, and ash. None of these letters is used in Modern English. Hanyu pinyin also does not used these letters.