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Semantic Classifiers by themselves generally contribute
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very little to understanding the meaning of a word. (The
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classifier at best can only provide a “category”.)
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The phonetic element is more useful and can sometimes
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help determine the pronunciation of a word. (however,
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there are many problems and exceptions)
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phonetics often have multiple pronunciations.
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each syllable can be represented by many different phonetics.
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the practicality of using the phonetic element is questionable
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simply because there are approximately 1,260 different
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phonetics used to represent 6000 of the most common Chinese
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words.
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When used in conjunction, the semantic and phonetic
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element provide a fuller understanding of a word than is
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possible in alphabetical languages.
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