44
Chi- New Or-
Morrison's
Canton
No. nese. thography.
Orthography.
Dialect.
Names of the Eighteen Provinces
JAN
Medhurst's New Fukien Orthography. Orthography.
405 玉 yu
409 yuh
yuk
gëük giok,
406 日 yue
407 yuč
üt
wat
wát,
407 元 yuen
408 yuen
ün
gwân
gwán
408 Zyun
410 yun
wan
yîn
‹in
409 用 yung
yung
yung'
411 yung yung
Respecting the tones and aspirates a few words may here be given explanatory of their use. Mr. Medhurst has discussed this subject at considerable length, in his "Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect," and has there divided them into eight kinds, according to the system adopted in the+Shi-ú Yin, taken as the basis of his own. The same eight-fold division has been adopted in the Chinese Chrestomathy, and a new method introduced for indicating these eight tones. The ease and the precision with which this method may be applied in writing the sounds of Chinese characters, will recom- mend it to notice, and, we hope, induce its universal adoption. So far as it has been made known, we believe it has inet with unqualified approbation. Without interfering with any system of orthography, it marks the exact tone of each word, as may be seen in the new
Fukien orthography above given. The four tones,
A, 平上去入, are subdivided into two series, the first comprising the upper, and the second, the lower tones; marked thus in the dialect of Cauton :
1st series, comprising the upper tones: sin, 'sin, sin' sit»; 2d series, comprising the lower tones: lin, slin, lin2, lit,. The spiritus lenis (') is used to denote the omission of an imper- fect vowel, as in tsz' and sz' in the preceding list; and the spiritus asper (*) indicates a rough breathing, or the omission of an h.
ART. III. Topography of China Proper: names of the eighteen
provinces and their principal subdivisions; notice of a
native map of the whole empire.
GENERAL views of the topography of the Chinese empire have been given in our previous volumes. In the first volume, the work of Lí Tsingchí, was noticed, and a general outline given of the dominions