• unperson [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Have you heard of the Shī-shì shí shī shǐ poem? It's somewhat like Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo but it's a whole story.

      It was written as a critique of pinyin. The Chinese writing system is used across several languages that are not intelligible with each other, and the poem, when read aloud in Mandarin, only contains the syllable shi in different tones, so it cannot be written as pinyin. It's somewhat decipherable in other Chinese languages that use the same writing system.

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            • garbology [he/him]
              ·
              edit-2
              3 years ago

              Can’t think of a single benefit

              Multiple languages can use the same alphabet logographic system to mean, roughly, the same thing. Mandarin and Cantonese are not really interintelligible and Wu is not interintelligible, but they use the same writing system.

              Still, I don't think that's as useful in modern times as it was in centuries past.