THE SOUND OF CHINA

Communication is primarily a matter of sound. As human populations emerged round the world, the sounds made by the various individuals within a particular group to communicate with each other, and therefore, by some common consent referred to specific objects or ideas, became that groups language. Over a period of time various group languages developed, becoming more refined, sophisticated and subtle. As these groups encountered each other and began to interact, it became apparent that the same objects and ideas were being referenced by different sounds. Translation was possible. Individuals could learn each other’s sounds. It also became apparent that due to separations, migrations and movements of certain individuals from one group, some languages were more closely related or had similar roots, and nearly similar sounds were made to indicate the same things. Hence English - dog or hound, German - hund, Danish - hund, Dutch - hond,  Swedish – hund, Norwegian – hund, or  Latin – canis, Italian - cane, Spanish - can, Portuguese - cão, Romanian – câine.

Still nothing changes the fact that the sounds made to name things, were entirely arbitrary, and arrived at by some common consent in order to facilitate communication within a group. As groups became more complex and interactive, various forms of writing developed. 

Writing involved a far less arbitrary approach. Writing of necessity involved reading. Writing, when read would have to produce the necessary sounds in order to be understood. It had to produce the phonetics and structure with the same efficacy as the spoken word, and as a result various alphabets developed in order to reproduce the sounds of the language being written. Some languages adopted a pictorial or logographic approach, some used syllabaries and still others used phonemic orthography, or some combination of writing systems. Whatever system was used it had to reflect the sounds of the language.