Tag: Morphemes

Categories
Current Events

bàofā

bàofā (bào·fā exploding; bursting · {sending out}; issuing → [erupting; bursting/breaking out | explosion; eruption] 爆发 爆發) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

On February 24, 2022, Russia sent significant military forces into Ukraine, resulting in the largest scale open warfare in Europe since World War II. Knowing certain Mandarin expressions will help us in the Mandarin field as we hear about and talk about Ukraine in the time ahead.

The Mandarin version of the article “Russia Invades Ukraine”, recently featured on the home page of jw.org, twice uses the expression “bàofā (bào·fā exploding; bursting · {sending out}; issuing → [erupting; bursting/breaking out | explosion; eruption] 爆发 爆發)”, this week’s MEotW. As can be seen from the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus information above, saying “zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭) bàofā (bào·fā exploding · issuing → [erupting; breaking out] 爆发 爆發)” in Mandarin is like saying “war erupting/breaking out” in English.

A Verb That Can Be a Noun

While the morphemes making up “bàofā (bào·fā exploding; bursting · {sending out}; issuing → [erupting; bursting/breaking out | explosion; eruption] 爆发 爆發)” are literally verbs, “bàofā (bào·fā exploding; bursting · {sending out}; issuing → [erupting; bursting/breaking out | explosion; eruption] 爆发 爆發)” can also at times be used as a noun. For example, saying “zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭) de (’s 的) bàofā (bào·fā exploding · issuing → [erupting/eruption; breaking out] 爆发 爆發)” in Mandarin is like saying “the eruption of war” in English.

Such verbal/gerundial nouns were discussed in the MEotW post on “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)”:

One interesting thing to note about “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)” (and about “jiàoxun (teaching → [reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error] 教训 教訓)”, for that matter) is that their component morphemes seem to basically be verbs. In certain contexts, however, they are used as nouns. An example of this being done in English is that “teach” and “teaching” are verbs (e.g. “Jesus was teaching the crowd.”), but in certain contexts, “teaching” is used as a noun (e.g. “The crowd was amazed at the teaching Jesus shared with them.”). When a word is used this way, it’s called a verbal noun, or a gerundial noun. Verbal nouns are quite common in Mandarin.

Backwards and Forward

Another interesting thing to note is that in the article mentioned above, the first occurrence of “bàofā (bào·fā exploding; bursting · {sending out}; issuing → [erupting; bursting/breaking out | explosion; eruption] 爆发 爆發)” has it coming after the word “zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)” (“zǔzhǐ (zǔ·zhǐ {to prevent} · {to stop} 阻止) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭) bàofā (bào·fā exploding · issuing → [erupting] 爆发 爆發)”), but in the second occurrence, “bàofā (bào·fā exploding; bursting · {sending out}; issuing → [erupting; bursting/breaking out | explosion; eruption] 爆发 爆發)” comes before “zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)” (“rúguǒ (rú·guǒ if · {fruit → [if indeed]} 如果) bàofā (bào·fā explodes · issues → [erupts] 爆发 爆發) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭)”). The first occurrence, with some context, is like saying “to prevent war (from) erupting” in English, while the second, with some context, is like saying “if erupts war” in English.

This reminds us that while word order is sometimes reversed in Mandarin compared to English, there is also a certain elasticity, or flexibility, in how words can be ordered in Mandarin, as indeed there also is in English. (While “if erupts war” isn’t quite idiomatic (natural to a native speaker) in English, I don’t think it’s actually wrong, word order-wise—I’m pretty sure constructs with similar word order can be found in English poetry or song lyrics, for example.)

Categories
Culture Current Events

rùqīn

rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

On February 24, 2022, Russia sent significant military forces into Ukraine, resulting in the largest scale open warfare in Europe since World War II. Knowing certain Mandarin expressions will help us in the Mandarin field as we hear about and talk about Ukraine in the time ahead.

The article “Russia Invades Ukraine” has been featured on jw.org since not long after the crisis began, and the Mandarin translation of that article’s title is “Éluósī (Russia 俄罗斯 俄羅斯) Rùqīn (Rù·qīn Enters · Invades → [Invades] 入侵) Wūkèlán (Ukraine 乌克兰 烏克蘭) 🔗”. So, we can see that this week’s MEotW, “rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵)”, corresponds with the English word “invades”.

To Be Resultative…

Another way to say “invade” in Mandarin is “qīnrù (qīn·rù invade; {intrude into} · {enter | [go] into} → [invade; intrude into] 侵入)”, which has the same morphemes as “rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵)”, but in reversed order. There may be a difference between these two words, since the ABC Chinese-English Dictionary refers to “rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵)” as a verb, while it refers to “qīnrù (qīn·rù invade; {intrude into} · {enter | [go] into} → [invade; intrude into] 侵入)” as a resultative verb, in which “rù (enter; {go into}; join 入)” is taken to mean “into”, as opposed to the verb “enter”.

Or Not to Be Resultative?

On the other hand, the dictionaries I have checked re “rù (enter; {go into}; join 入)” itself, including the ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, emphasize its meaning as being the verb “enter”, and not so much as being the preposition “into” (although I think it can be used that way). If we indeed take both their morphemes to be verbs, then it would seem that the case of “rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵)”/“qīnrù (qīn·rù invade; {intrude into} · {enter | [go] into} → [invade; intrude into] 侵入)” is similar to the case of “fǎlǜ (law 法律)”/“lǜfǎ (law 律法)”.

Regarding “fǎlǜ (law 法律)”/“lǜfǎ (law 律法)”, the MEotW post for “fǎlǜ (law 法律)” had this to say:

But, Why?

If “lǜfǎ (law 律法)” and “fǎlǜ (law 法律)” both mean basically the same thing, why did the world’s Mandarin-speaking population bother to switch the order of “lǜ (law; statute; rule; regulation 律)” and “fǎ (law | method; way; mode | standard; model | {magic arts} | {follow; model after} 法)” in popular usage? Who knows? Appendix A2 of the Mandarin NWT Bible, probably wisely, does not get into the why of it, just mentioning that “fǎlǜ (law 法律)” is now the more common usage. Even if it turns out that there was a reason, it may not be what most would consider a good reason. Sometimes people are just weird, and, speaking as a Chinese person myself, that includes Chinese people—just look at some of the arbitrary ways in which Chinese characters have been designed, that have turned trying to figure out the pronunciations and meanings of unfamiliar Chinese characters into a guessing game.

Speaking of what’s commonplace or popular and why, I am reminded of this quote from William Goldman, who wrote the screenplay for The Princess Bride as well as the screenplays for several other successful, well-known movies:

Nobody knows anything…Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess

Speaking of The Princess Bride, that movie is a treasure trove of quotable quotes, including this one that serves as a precautionary admonition to us Mandarin language-learners:

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Categories
Theocratic

hùdòng

hùdòng (hù·dòng mutually; {[(with)] each other} · moving → [interacting; interaction; interactive] 互动 互動) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

One of the publications that is now recommended to be used on Bible studies is the Yǒngyuǎn Xiǎngshòu Měihǎo de Shēngmìng—Hùdòng Shì Shèngjīng Kèchéng ((Yǒng·yuǎn Eternally · {Far (in Time)} 永远 永遠) (Xiǎng·shòu Enjoy · Receive 享受) (Měi·hǎo Beautiful · Good 美好) (de ’s 的) (Shēngmìng Life 生命)—(Hù·dòng {Each Other} · Moving → [Interactive] 互动 互動) (Shì (Type 式) (Shèng·jīng Holy · Scriptures → [Bible] 圣经 聖經) (Kè·chéng Lessons · Procedure → [Course] 课程 課程) → [Enjoy Life Forever!—An Interactive Bible Course (lff)]) (Enjoy Life Forever! (lff)) book. Looking at the Mandarin title of this book, you may have wondered: What does “hùdòng (hù·dòng mutually; {[(with)] each other} · moving → [interacting; interaction; interactive] 互动 互動)” mean?

_Enjoy Life Forever!_ bk. title page (jw.org CHS+Pinyin)

(The above screenshot from jw.org shows light-coloured text on a dark background because I have set jw.org’s relatively new Appearance Settings to do so. As the related JW News article says, “some users prefer this setting because the screen is less bright. This may help reduce eyestrain, especially at night or in other low-light environments.” Most Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resources (short link: tiandi.info/pyp) also have a Night Theme available, that can be turned on or off using the ☀️/🌙 button on their web pages.)

You may surmise that “hùdòng (hù·dòng mutually; {[(with)] each other} · moving → [interacting; interaction; interactive] 互动 互動)” corresponds with the “Interactive” in Enjoy Life Forever!​—An Interactive Bible Course, and you would be right. Now, let’s take a closer look at the morphemes in “hùdòng (hù·dòng mutually; {[(with)] each other} · moving → [interacting; interaction; interactive] 互动 互動)” to see how they work in a way that makes “hùdòng (hù·dòng mutually; {[(with)] each other} · moving → [interacting; interaction; interactive] 互动 互動)” correspond as well as it does with the English word “interactive”, which means “acting upon or influencing each other”.

Morphemic Breakdown

As the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus information for “hùdòng (hù·dòng mutually; {[(with)] each other} · moving → [interacting; interaction; interactive] 互动 互動)” shows us, its first morpheme “hù- (mutually; {[(with)] each other} 互)” means “mutually; [(with)] each other”. It’s the “hù- (mutually; {[(with)] each other} 互)” in “hùxiāng ({each other} 互相) gǔlì (gǔ·lì {drum → [rouse]} · encourage → [encourage] 鼓励 鼓勵)”, which means “encourage one another”.

The other morpheme “dòng (move [→ [stir | arouse | change; alter]] 动 動)” basically means “move”. In some contexts, it means to move physically, as it does in “dòngwù (dòng·wù moving · thing → [animal] 动物 動物)”, which literally means “moving thing”, and is used to mean “animal”. (Interestingly, the English word “animal” is related to the word “animate”, which can mean “bring into action or movement”.) In other contexts, “dòng (move [→ [stir | arouse | change; alter]] 动 動)” means to move emotionally, as it does in “gǎndòng (gǎn·dòng feeling · moved | {make to feel} · move 感动 感動)”. In yet other contexts, “dòng (move [→ [stir | arouse | change; alter]] 动 動)” is used to effectively mean “change; alter”.

Breaking down “hùdòng (hù·dòng mutually; {[(with)] each other} · moving → [interacting; interaction; interactive] 互动 互動)” into its morphemes helps us to see that “hù- (mutually; {[(with)] each other} 互)” corresponds with the “inter-” part of “interactive”, and that “dòng (move [→ [stir | arouse | change; alter]] 动 動)” corresponds with the “active” (“acting [up]on”) part.

Interactive Indeed

The English word “interactive” has a particular meaning in the world of computing, which is “responds to user activity”.

Interestingly, the Enjoy Life Forever! book even has some interactivity in its paper form, with its “Lesson completed on:” and “Goal” sections allowing room for a user to write in them with a pencil or pen. This is in addition to the limited interactivity that any paper publication offers a user, such as being able to write notes in the margins or to highlight or underline text.

The Enjoy Life Forever! book in the PDF file format—a computer file format that is conceptually rooted in the world of paper—adds the ability for a user to tap/click on links to load the web pages on which the videos mentioned in the book can be played. As we move on to more computer-native formats, we find that on the jw.org website and in the JW Library app, where of course links are available for playing the videos, a user can tap/click on text fields in the “Lesson completed on:” and “Goal” sections and type text into them that will be “remembered”. Also, a user can tap/click on the checkboxes in the “Goal” section, and those checkboxes will “remember” and show whether they are checked or unchecked.

As discussed in the JW Broadcasting—January 2021 program, when it comes to the more general meaning of the English word “interactive”, “acting upon or influencing each other”, the Enjoy Life Forever! book in every format is designed to engage and involve people more than past Bible study textbooks did. It indeed qualifies as “interactive”, or as we say in Mandarin, “hùdòng (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動) shì (type 式)”.

(By the way, just as is possible on this blog, in the unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material for the Enjoy Life Forever! book, users can interactively tap/click on Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expressions to show/hide, as desired, flashcards showing English meanings, Simplified character(s), Traditional character(s) (if they’re different), etc. for these expressions.)

For convenience:

The direct link for the current generation Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.