A one-syllable article () is a type of
constrained writing
Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern.
Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form.
D ...
found in
Chinese literature
The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...
. It takes advantage of the large number of
homophones in the Chinese language, particularly when writing in
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...
due to historic sound changes. While the
characters used in a one-syllable article have many different meanings, they are all pronounced as the same syllable, although not with the same
tone
Tone may refer to:
Visual arts and color-related
* Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory
* Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color
* Toning (coin), color change in coins
* ...
. Therefore, a one-syllable article is comprehensible in writing but becomes an incomprehensible
tongue twister when read aloud, especially in
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
pronunciation. In other regional dialect pronunciations, all syllables may not sound alike.
Notable examples
*
Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den (), by
Yuen Ren Chao
Yuen Ren Chao (Chinese: 趙元任; 3 November 189225 February 1982), also known as Zhao Yuanren, was a Chinese-American linguist, educator, scholar, poet, and composer, who contributed to the modern study of Chinese phonology and grammar. Chao ...
* (), by He Yuanwai
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
See also
*
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
*
James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher
External links
The story of a lion eating a pig() Over 600 characters
Constrained writing
Chinese literature
Chinese language
Language games
Homonymy in Chinese
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