Alternatives of the sinogrammes

Same a Sinogramme can not be traced in the same way according to the country and language where it is employed (to consult Asian Langues with sinogrammes ) and according to whether the text is handwritten or printed. There exists indeed many graphic alternatives .

Local simplifications and alternatives

One can currently find three large variations for same a sinogramme:

traditional alternative (繁體字 fán tǐ zì );
alternative simplified (简体字 jiǎn tǐ zì );
Japanese alternative (漢字 Kanji ).

In addition, one can announce the case of characters suitable for the Cantonese and of tiny differences between sinogrammes handwritten and printed…

One can illustrate that for a simple example; in these three systems, the sinogramme for “dragon” traces different manner each time:

traditional character: 龍 ;
simplified character: 龙 ;
Japanese character: 竜

Le character 龍 is however also employed; let us point out also the existence of properly Japanese natures, the kokuji , which do not enter however within the framework of this article.

If all the characters are not concerned with these divergences (the majority remains common to the three systems), the existing number of sinogrammes in several alternatives can all the more require a separate training of each system (although, in practice, many users of the traditional characters are able to read the simplified characters most current, when simplification proceeds of an old reduction). In addition, some elements of natures common to the systems simplified and traditional can be traced with a light difference, which does not prevent however the reading and really does not deserve that the two C-Ws communication are indexed.

As for the Japanese alternatives, they require a specific training only for the writing and not the reading because in addition to some really illegible characters for an Chinese, mainly of simplifications specific to the kanji (like 竜, which is a Japanese simplification of 龍/龙, or 図 for 圖/图) the differences are especially about the detail and do not obstruct the reading (even for certain simplifications: the kanji 単 is written 單 in hànzì but is shown very near to simplified Chinese 单). Conversely, certain Chinese characters are not found in Japanese. Same manner, the differences remain generally tiny. For example, the character for “black” will rather trace Japanese 黒 but Chinese 黑. One should not however lose sight of the fact that separately graphically, Japanese and Chinese do not have any common point: the most notable differences will relate to especially the use and the direction of the characters. Lastly, Japanese needing less characters than Chinese to be written (thanks to its spelling-books '' kana ''), a Japanese is likely not to know to read all the characters that an Chinese uses.

To consult Simplification of the sinogrammes for more details.

Free alternatives

There existed a long time in the writing of the free alternatives of the same character, named 異體字/异体字 yì tǐ zì ( itaiji in Japan). Currently, many these alternatives (sometimes resulting from the penmanship) are not used any more but can meet in old editions. Others are of frequent use. For example, the word for “herd”, qún can be written 群 or 羣. Only the placement of the key differs (羊 yáng , “ram”, placed on the right or below the phonetic part of the idéo-sound record). Currently, 群 is preferred in the simplified system but 羣 remained in Japan and in the traditional system in addition to 群. The alternatives being often regarded as traditional characters, the simplification of the characters decided by the RPC in made disappear a great number at the same time as the other traditional layouts.

One names 俗體字/俗体字 sú tǐ zì the characters known as “vulgar” and considered as errors, sometimes indexed by the dictionaries of big size. They are generally simplifications of characters more complex than the use did not ratify.

Writing of printing works and handwritten

The printed characters can differ from the handwritten characters as for the detail of the orientation of certain features, for example, even the presence or the absence of these features:

The differences are tiny but notable and relate to there the orientation of the features (first feature traced like an oblique point, 丶, in manuscript, like a vertical line in printing works, 一; two oblique features out of V above the square of right-hand side in manuscript, 丷, but 八 in the printed version). The manuscript writing of this example is calligraphic. In the current manuscript writing, the number of features will be decreased, to obtain sometimes only one feature traversing the way of the sinogramme in the order of the traced features.

It would however not have to be believed that all the printed documents use the forms qualified here the “printed ones”: the methods of training of Chinese are often printed with printed characters imitating the handwritten characters (one sees an example of it above, with the character in bottom of the first column) so that the students learn the layouts correctly. Moreover, according to the editions and the font faces used, the alternatives can miss more or less visible even. In fact, it is not possible to give a general rule as for the use of the printed alternatives. At all events, they do not obstruct the reading.

Other alternatives

It is interesting to quote the case of the Nüshu (女書/女书), “writing of the women”, which is not really an alternative of the characters but an original manner to write Mandarin specific to the women of the county of Jiangyong, in the Chinese province of the Hunan. Now uncommon, it was inspired freely by the layout of certain characters and not constituted a logographic writing but a spelling-book of more than seven hundred Graphème S (from thousand to 1500 by counting alternatives).

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