Puns and Jokes of the Chinese Language

Language is the basic yet very sophisticated communication system that humans use to present information, articulate feelings, and express emotions. Different languages are made out of different properties such as grammar rules, phoneticism, and written characters. The creation of language not only influence developing cultures but was also influenced by different traditions as a mean of identity and distinctiveness; each distinctiveness and identity takes its own shape form as seen in the Mandarin Chinese and English Languages. Within each language puns and wordplays stand as crucial roles to the fun of communication as well as understanding the cornerstone of each respected culture.

Mandarin Chinese is one of the most prominent languages that people around the world use this day; it is a tonal language because it consists of a great amount of homophonous syllables, which are words that sound the same but express different meanings. For example, according to the Cihai dictionary, there are “149 characters representing the syllable ‘yì,’” (Taylor 36) where the meanings may range from “profit”, “one-hundred million”, “wings” , to “translate.” Many Chinese speakers utilize the homophonic property of the Chinese language by using a large amount of puns in their speech, creating jokes, language games and poetries.

“There was once a high school student named Dài Suí Tóng. One day, a teacher in charge of discipline used the intercom to broadcast this message: ‘Secondary High students, Dài Suí Tóng to the office of discipline.’ Ten minutes later, many students appeared outside the office of discipline with water buckets. One of them asked, ‘Do we have to fill up the bucket with water?’” (Su). The cause of such con...

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...ffer not only the wittiness of the language but also exploits the fundamental properties of double usage of words of the same sound and different meanings, which adds a deeper level of implication to the communication system that humans use.

In concluding the properties of each language, both the Chinese and English language systems include jokes that involve the utilization of wordplays, some may confuse the listener as to what the speaker actually meant, others provide the humorous side of a method of expression. One could draw the conclusion that when the first humans created a system of communication, limited words were provided and words with the same meaning or sounds were forced to being created, reflecting on the fact that no matter what language it is, puns and wordplays stand as crucial roles to the fun and the sophistication of communication.