Logographic writing.

From: bjm10_at_cornell.edu
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 10:05:53 -0400 (EDT)

Logographic writing is not necessarily "harder" than alphabetic--it works on different principles.

Suppose, for example, we had a root for "king" in an English writing system called "Yingzi". Now, if we want to write "king", we just do the root. However, if we want to write "sing", we can put the radical for "to speak" over the "king" root, making a new logogram: "sing". That is, "something that rhymes with king but is connected to speech". It seems hard to us, but you should see a poor Chinese trying to master English spelling...

Anyway, I have already posted the URL for an excellent explanation of the theory of logography.

Now, Chinese is doubly difficult because its logography was invented for pronunciations no longer used.

As for "fish+lamb=fresh", it would make perfect sense to somebody who actually lived in the culture at the time the logogram was derived.

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