[Buddha-l] Ts'ao-ch'i or Caoxi?

[Weng-Fai Wong]

I am not sure if there is any conspiracy theory behind this but even between
communist and nationalist China, there are differences in the way they
pronounced Chinese words in Mandarin. A case in point are the words À¬»ø
(rubbish ¨C both the stuff you throw away and how you describe Japanese cars
these days). In mainland China¡¯s Mandarin, it is read as ¡°la1 ji1¡±. In
Taiwanese Mandarin, it is read as ¡°le4 se4¡±. The latter is probably the
older form because it is read in a similar way in Cantonese (a dialect
spoken by Hong Kongers whom many linguists think is older than modern
Mandarin) where it is read as ¡°laap6 saap3¡±. (I speak both so I can verify
that this is the equivalent of ¡°le4 se1¡± and not ¡°la1 ji1¡±). When and
how did it go from le4 se4 to la1 ji1 I don¡¯t know. May be some wise person
can help here.

 

Weng-Fai

 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com [mailto:buddha-l-

> bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Mitchell Ginsberg

> Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 6:38 AM

> To: buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com

> Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Ts'ao-ch'i or Caoxi?

> 

> hello all,

> Thank you, Wong Wen and Dan, for your replies. My only remaining question

> is why it is that the Wade-Giles references were mostly all to the Ts'ao-

> ch'i pronunciation and the Pinyin to the other, Caoqi (in W-G, ts'ao-hsi)?

> How did the apparent shift happen with the switch to Pinyin

> transliterating?

> Or is something else going on?

> Mitchell  ==========

> Homepage (updated February 21, 2010): http://jinavamsa.com

> See also http://jinavamsa.com/mentalhealth.html

> 

> 

> 

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