suzmccarth wrote:

>
> --- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...>
> wrote:
> > suzmccarth wrote:
> > >
> > > --- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...>
> > > wrote:
> > > > This idea certainly didn't begin with DeFrancis -- it was
> > > > recognized by DuPonceau in 1838,
> > >
> > > DuPonceau's letter can be read here
> >
> > I'm referring to a book -- Chicago's copy was in Special Collections,
> > i.e. Rare Books, so it wasn't possible to actually read it through!
> >
> > > http://pinyin.info/readings/texts/duponceau.html
>
> Did you follow the link. I believe it really is from that book you
> mention. Here is the title.

No I didn't--

> "From A Dissertation on the Nature and Character of the Chinese
> System of Writing, by Peter S. Du Ponceau. The book was published in
> 1838 as volume 2 of the Transactions of the Historical and Literary
> Committee of the American Philosophical Society. For comments on
> this work, see DeFrancis (1984)."

--that would be the book. And probably where I first heard about it.
IIRC I've only seen it in French.

> Pinyin.info is a great site with chapters from many books -
> sometimes I read the chapter then go to the library to read the
> entire book if it is available, but not in this case. Anyway the
> letter is truly fascinating to read.
>
>
> > As I keep saying, it isn't one! It's not used for recording utterances,
> > just for recording sound. Unless, of course, some here wish to propose
> > different definitions of "writing system."
>
> I agree with you here - completely, I just wanted you to spell out
> your reasoning, I wasn't paying attention the first time around,
> (missed reading a few posts), I was thinking it wasn't a writing
> system because it doesn't reflect the sound patterns of any given
> language - but I bungled the phonetic/phonemic thing in this case,
> seduced by the name, I guess.

--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...