汉字的象化特征

中国文字的笔画与结构是象化的,汉字的五种基本笔画就是从大自然和人本身的形象中象化而来。汉字字义的象化表现为:静则为象,动则为词。这是汉字有别于其他文字的显著特点。中国文字始终未能跟世界上绝大多数民族那样发展成为拼音文字,主要在于中国人的象化思维与象化的文字相互适应,相互作用,并融为一体,不可分割。

The role of changing imagery in the formation of Chinese characters

The strokes and srtucture of Chinese characters are imaginative and fluid The five basic strokes are derived through imaginative processes from aspects of nature and the human body.Imagery change plays a vital role in determining the meaning of characters and words.An individual character represents a certain image or concept but on its own this meaning is flexible and not fully defined.It is only when the character is placed alongside other characters to form a word that the meaning becomes fixed the meaning of each constituent character contributes and colors the meaning of the resulting word.It is the importance of imagination and flexibility in the Chinese language which sets it apart from other languages and means that it does not lend itself to romaniscation.This flexibility in language patternsalso reflecats the flexible thought patterns of Chinese people.