Comments: LINGUISTICS PARADISE.


He hails from the Mainland (the province of Fujian, according to his profile) but the site employs traditional, complex characters. Wonder why that might be. When I first saw the excerpt of text on your own site LH, I just assumed that the author was from the renegade province.

Posted by ken teoh at April 25, 2005 09:27 PM

Ken teoh,

That Dongniu 冬牛 (the name indicated in his profile, probably his given name, his blogger mousename being 'Titang jun' 涕淌君) uses unsimplified characters is not really surprising, since his readership is not limited to Dalu. This allows him to reach Taiwanese, Hong Kongese and overseas Chinese scholars who are more used to fanti than jiantizi.
Moreover, researchers who work in the Mainland have all to read and write so-called traditional characters, overall if they deal with ancient matters or wish to publish in Taiwan or Hong Kong. Standard editions of classical texts (Zhonghua shuju or Shanghai guji) are all in traditional characters, as well as some modern studies (in fact, this is not limited to academic culture, as proved by fantizi lyrics included in pop music records and the whole TV/VCD/DVD/KaraOK culture, in which simplified characters are in minority).
Actually, the fact that he is from (lives in?) Fuzhou gives him only more reasons to write in fantizi, given the history and culture (common dialects, Japanese occupation, etc.) shared by the Province of Fujian and the territory (to keep it neutral) of Taiwan.

Posted by Jimmy Ho at April 26, 2005 08:01 PM

Incidentally, the blog's name (only three posts so far, but it does look promising, though I cannot vouch for the hardcore linguistic part) reminded me of the way I dubbed guoxue.com, one on the first links I put on Zhengming 正名's blogroll: Sinologists Paradise.

Posted by Jimmy Ho at April 26, 2005 08:08 PM

Thanks for your attention to my linguistics studying blog.

I write in traditional Chinese characters simply because I prefer them to simplified ones. If you know something about the Chinese phonology, you will see how the government had ruined the pith of Chinese.

Posted by 牛冬 at May 4, 2005 01:15 PM