Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
Well, if you want to get really pedantic, in Japanese, kanji do not always represent a word or specific sound, so "logogram" is not accurate, either. Further, since not all kanji represent an idea, "ideogram" is not correct, either.
"Morphograph" is better.
Now it's someone else's turn to out-pedant me!
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Heh, I actually saw that one while checking "logogram" in Wikipedia (specifically, the section covering
Chinese writing and its use in Japanese and Korean). I started to mention it, but then thought it better to keep things simpler, since the distinction seems most relevant to linguists, and we're not talking to a linguist. I then wondered whether someone else might bring up the "
morphographic, not logographic" point. And you willingly obliged.
Protheus, don't worry too much about these fine distinctions. If you're curious, it's related to the fact that Japanese kanji have multiple readings, so-called
on and
kun readings,
on being the word borrowed from Chinese which the kanji originally stood for, and
kun the native Japanese word or words with the same meaning. If you want a bit more detail, check the links I included above.