Using a one-character vs two-character word

Question

One of the difficulties I have in Chinese is I feel there is a disconnect between learning the words and using them/reading them in formal texts.

For example, I have learnt that 年 means years, and that 父 means father. So when I reading a newspaper article, I feel confused when the writer uses 父親, which also means father. It also uses 年華, which also means years.

I am referring to this phrase which I recently read: 追憶皮帶匠父親的年華.

This is a common difficulty I have, why not use the one character versions? And when do you know how to use the two character versions? Are these different contextually?

Answer 1

Tl;dr: You may think of 年 as bearing the concept of 'year', and 父 bearing the concept of 'father' (in the usually bisyllabic modern Chinese).

1. Put simply, modern Chinese uses bisyllabic words (雙音節詞) pervasively. Monosyllabic words (單音節詞) are much rarer. It is precisely for this reason that we only parse individual characters in classical Chinese (and also idioms in modern Chinese!), but not modern Chinese in general:

   Modern Chinese: 妻子 ‘wife’
   Classical Chinese: 妻 子 ‘wife and son’

2. In modern Chinese, we use a plethora of bisyllabic words to express different nuances:

   請填寫您的出生年分。 Please write your year of birth.
   《追憶逝水年華》 In Search of Lost Time
   

   年分 is neutral; it also refers to a particular year. But 年華 is much more literary and refers to many years, or more accurately speaking, the passing of time.

   父親節快樂！ Happy Fathers' Day!
   為子慶生慈父扮鹹蛋超人 Loving father pretends to be Ultraman to celebrate son's birthday
   Adele生父Mark Evans傳癌症病逝 Adele's biological father Mark Evans rumoured to have died of cancer

   父親 is again a neutral saying; 慈父 meanwhile is very approving of the father. 生父, like English, emphasises on the biological relationship between the father and the offspring.

3. That does not mean we do not use monosyllabic words in modern Chinese. 年 can be a counter in

   一年 one year
   那些年 those (bygone) years,

   and 父 alone is perfectly understood and may be used in newspaper headlines out of concision:

   子稱被父奪走公司 Son claims company usurped by father

   We do not say it like this in speech or normal writing.

Answer 2

First off, while 年華 and 年 both translate to 'year', they have different connotations. 年華 is very poetic, and is usually used to reminisce the 'good old days', or refer to enjoyable times (not necessarily by year). 年 on the other hand is just a neutral word for 'year' with no special connotations. With that in mind I think it's clear why this sentence you have used 年華 but not 年.

Regarding the one character vs two character use, there are lots of reasons. My explanation above has already provided one of them -- as you have also suggested -- they could mean the same thing but have different connotations which will suit different contexts better.

Another reason is for clarity. Many a time one character words have multiple meanings, which could be ambiguous. In these cases, a two character word may be necessary to improve clarity. For example, 倒 can be to reverse, or to pour something out, or to have something collapse. So in contexts where all 3 meanings are possible, clarity can be improved with 2 character words that scope the meaning to just one of them. Eg. 倒車，倒水，倒塌.

One last reason I can think of is rhythm. Chinese as a language is very particular about 'rhythm', especially in writings where things tend to be more elegant, refined and 'flowy'. Now because usually a single character (and hence a single 'sound') cannot form a single rhythmic unit, 2 character words are usually preferred. In speech it's common to ignore this because of convenience, but writings are very much influenced by this.

Answer 3

Most single character words contain multiple meanings, to reduce ambiguity, two characters words are the solution

For example, 正 can mean:

upright; straight; middle; standard; regular; correct; principal; chief; main; exactly; just; precisely; just happening; just continuing; rectify; correct; set right; positive

Each of the following words has only one precise meaning

直立; 直的; 正中; 标准; 常规的; 正确的; 主要的; 首席; 主要的; 确切地; 只是; 恰恰; 刚刚; 正在; 纠正; 正确的; 设置正确; 陽極/正極; 积极的

~

追憶皮帶匠父親的年華

追憶皮帶匠父的年

Although both 父 and 父親 mean father, 父 is a matter-of-fact term, 父親 is an endearing term. If it was referring to your father, you should use 父親 to show fondness and respect, if it was referring to someone else's father you should use 父親 to show respect

It would be fitting to use just 父 in the following example: 惡父虐子罪成，判監三月 (Evil father convicted of child abuse, sentenced to three months in prison)

Notice the example above sounds like a news headline. Using single-character words makes your speech more literary and classical and that's what most of the news reports sound like.

As for 的年 vs, 的年華:

年 is a general term for 'year', it can mean any number of years including a single year, '的年' implies 'the year'-- a single year; while 年華 refers to 'years' or 'age'(a period of time over a number of years)

Answer 4

The notion of "bound forms" (黏着词素) is a useful tool for this sort of question.

The ABC dictionary explains bound forms as follows:

(Bound Form, Niánzhuó Císù 粘着词素). Morphemes which do not function as free words in a sentence and cannot be handled using one of the other bound category labels, such as prefix, suffix, measure word, or particle. A given character may represent a free word in one or more of its meanings but a bound morpheme in other meanings. E.g. qiǎng 抢 is a bound form meaning 'take emergency measures' in qiǎngshòu 抢收 but a free form as a verb meaning 'pillage'.)

Exhibiting a second level of boundness are those characters which do have meaning of their own, and often carry this meaning into many different compound words, but which do not occur independently as free words in standard modern Chinese (though they may be free words in classical Chinese or in very formal written styles of the language). Examples are nǚ 女 'female' in nǚrén 'woman', nǚháizi 'girl', nǚde 'woman, female', and fùnǚ 'woman, women'; and ²shēng 生 'student' in xuéshēng 'student', nánshēng 'male student', nǚshēng 'female student', and zhàoshēng 'recruit students'. Many characters are bound in some meanings but free in others. For example, ²shēng 生, in addition to being bound in the meaning of 'student', is also bound in its meaning of 'life', as in shēnghuó 'life, livelihood' and shēngsǐ 'life and death'. But in the meaning 'to give birth' or 'to be born' it is a free word, a verb. We label such characters B.F., for 'bound form', when they occur only in compound words; and those that are bound in some meanings and free in others are labeled accordingly in the several sub-definitions within their entries.

According to ABC dictionary, 父 is a bound form, and 年 is not. So a reference such as ABC dictionary (which is available for a reasonable price as an add-on to Pleco) can help by letting you know that for some cases, it is not possible to use a single character by itself. I have found the notion of bound forms very helpful in learning Chinese.