A one-syllable article is a type of constrained writing

Constrained writing

Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern.Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form....

 found in Chinese literature

Chinese literature

Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...

. They take advantage of the large number of homophones in the Chinese language, particularly when writing in Classical Chinese

Classical Chinese

Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...

 (due to historic sound changes). Although a one-syllable article's characters

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

 have many different meanings, they are all pronounced as the same syllable, although not necessarily the same tone

Tone (linguistics)

Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...

. Therefore, a one-syllable article is comprehensible in writing, but becomes an incomprehensible tongue twister when read aloud.

Notable examples

• Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den
  Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den
  The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den is a famous example of constrained writing by Yuen Ren Chao which consists of 92 characters, all with the sound shi in different tones when read in Mandarin....
  
   , the most well-known example, by Yuen Ren Chao
  Yuen Ren Chao
  Chao Yuen Ren was a Chinese American linguist and amateur composer. He made important contributions to the modern study of Chinese phonology and grammar....
  
  
• The nephew that administers hemorrhoids , by He Yuanwai
• Record of the beauty Ji attacking chickens 
• The legendary archer's descendant: Yi 
• Suspecting the physician of losing gold 
• Auntie's easy pancreatic cure 
• About the desire to pursue the jewel 
• Splendid rhinoceros' theatrical play 
• Starving chicken assemble at a rift 
• story of a lion eating a pig Over 600 characters

See also

• Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
• James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher
  James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher
  "James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher" is an English sentence used to demonstrate lexical ambiguity and the necessity of punctuation,which serves as a substitute for the intonation,...