zev handel

The replies to this pinned tweet index my threads on language and linguistics—dealing mostly with sinograms, historical phonology, and etymology. And occasionally Pokémon. Languages (focus on East Asia): 🇨🇳🇹🇼🇭🇰🇰🇷🇰🇵🇯🇵🇻🇳 etc.

Like the book, this talk will be accessible to everyone—regardless of whether you have any knowledge of Chinese characters or East Asian languages. All are welcome and guaranteed to have a good time.

If you are in the Seattle area, come see me February 3 at the Barnes and Noble UW Book Store. I'm holding a talk, reading, and book signing for my book Chinese Characters Across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/97800622…

Just finished reading _Chinese Characters Across Asia_ by @ZevHandel. It’s the clearest introduction I have read about how the Chinese writing system works—dispelling common, long-held misunderstandings—, and how the script was adapted to Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Zhuang.

@Random832 @egasmb I think that's right, there aren't many fonts yet that can render the codepoint.

@ZevHandel @egasmb i knew this but it didn't work on my computer so i figured it wouldn't work on most other people's

Woah there‘s this new Chinese character ⿰無也 (⿰无也) for “nonbinary third person” in analogy to 他她 etc., but it isn‘t encoded yet, so they ended up writing the components separately as 无也, which sounds like “there is none” in Classical Chinese 😂

@Random832 @egasmb Actually this was recently encoded in Unicode, because it was proposed as a male pronoun back in the early 20th century, but it never caught on. bsky.app/profile/zevhan…

@egasmb why don't they make ⿰男也 the male pronoun instead? 人 means person

@egasmb ⿰㐅也 (i.e. ⿰X也) is, however, encoded. I did a thread over at Bluesky on the history of 他 and 她 and some of the newer non-gendered written pronouns (the most popular of which is "TA") over at Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/zevhan…

@ImreGalambos Was great to see you there, @ImreGalambos !

Professor Zev Handel giving a talk in Osaka at the annual meeting of the World Association of the Study of Chinese Characters.

For example, is ‘toast’ a basic idea? Is ‘toothbrush’ a basic idea? Is ‘dodecahedron’? ‘Disgruntlement’? ‘Romantic love’? Is the slight indentation between the bottom of your nose and your upper lip a basic idea? *** Come hear more on Tuesday! bsky.app/profile/zevhan…

Do our spoken languages have single words corresponding to all basic ideas? Are basic ideas immutable, or do they vary across time, space, and cultures?

My book talk at Third Place Books in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle is next Tuesday! Below in thread is an excerpt from *Chinese Characters Across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese*. I'll be reading more at the book event.

Are you in the Seattle area? Come see me at Third Place Books in Ravenna on Sept 16, 7pm. I'll be talking about and reading from my new book, followed by Q&A and book signing. Check out the link for more info, to RSVP, and to preorder a book for signing. thirdplacebooks.com/event/zev-hand…