A Chinese Radical Ll Poem by Morgan Michaels

A Chinese Radical Ll



And there was much recidivism, necessarily. Twenty-seven letters- alone and in combo- consonants, vowels, diphthongs, blends- letters co-dependent and letters that stood proudly alone- letters that limited their assembly and ones that joined in words of greater constituency. Those terminal letters, though! Sometimes the X sounded like an X ought, as in oxen. Sometimes the Y sounded like a Y and sometimes like an E, albeit a longish one. Sometimes, the Z sounded like a proper Z, and sometimes like an S. Subtle and deceptive, these final letters had an 'eastern' feel Nothing is more mind-blowing to a western child than to realize that words can be constructed (written) and deconstructed (read) through sound-crunching. Of course, every country and culture using the Latin letters, sounded them a little differently. Here, in NA, nobody rolls their R's. In Cuba, and many South American countries, the rolled R sounds like a fan snapping shut. It's rather sexy. In Puerto Rico and DR, they also try to roll their R's, but due, perhaps, to the American influence, the effect is not the same.

'It's the oldest continuous system of reading and writing in the world'.

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