This book investigates the nature of regional variation in the early Chinese writing system through bamboo manuscripts and inscriptions dating from the late pre-imperial China (5th-3rd centuries BCE). Diachronic and synchronic comparisons of graphic details show that none of the well-recognized regional varieties developed independently from one another. Furthermore, differences in graphic components can be accounted for as alternations of graphs that are compatible in their semantic or phonetic values. The phonological systems underlying various regional orthographies unanimously point to a single coherent sound system with some mixture of dialect pronunciations. This strongly suggests that all the late pre-imperial regional scripts derived from a kind of orthographic meta-system based on one spoken standard language. This orthography and its phonological systems should reasonably be dated to ca. 9th century BCE, just about the time when the earliest known Chinese lexicography "Book of Scribe Zhou" (ca. 830 BCE) was written. The conclusions of this book have further implications on reading and understanding manuscript texts in general as well as on using them as data for linguistic studies.
Author(s): Haeree Park
Series: Studies in Manuscript Cultures (Book 4)
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 328
Tags: Chinese characters, Chinese language, pre-imperial China, bamboo manuscripts
Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Goal of the study
1.2 Subject materials
The Shanghai Museum “Zhouyi 周易” manuscript
1.4 The Shuowen jiezi in the light of the Warring States manuscripts
1.4.1 Three archaic scripts, xiaozhuan, guwen and Zhouwen
1.4.2 The xiaozhuan ‘Small Seal script’ as a regional variety of the Warring States script
1.4.3 The identity of the Zhouwen ‘Script of Scribe Zhou’ and guwen ‘Old script’
2. The Old Chinese phonology
2.1 Manuscripts as new sources of data for Old Chinese
2.2 A reconstruction system of Old Chinese phonology
2.2.1 Overview
2.2.1.1 The third vs. non-third division syllables and the second division medial *-r-
2.2.1.2 The initial *r-
2.2.1.3 The initials *l- and *[g]-
2.2.1.4 The initials *z-, *s-g- and *s-d-
2.2.1.5 Uvular initials
2.2.1.6 The diphthongs -wa- and -w?-
2.2.1.7 Nasal initials, *N- prefix, *s- prefix
2.2.1.8 Sources of MC sy-
2.2.1.9 Palatalization of velar and uvular initials
2.2.1.10 The coda *-r
2.2.1.11 The post-codas *-? and *-s, and *-s as a suffix
2.2.1.12 Inventories of simple initials and rhymes
2.2.2 Two notes
2.2.2.1 The uvulars
2.2.2.2 A reconsideration of the ‘Rounded vowel hypothesis’
3. The Shanghai “Zhouyi” and the Warring States script
3.1 Elaborate and casual styles
3.2 Decorative strokes
3.3 Simplification and development of the Warring States script
3.3.1 Stroke simplification
3.3.2 Simplification of graphic components
3.3.2.1 Deletion and interruption of components
3.3.2.2 Replacement by simpler forms
3.3.2.3 Compression and merger of components
3.3.3 Simplification and residue of iconicity
3.3.3.1 Diminishment of heavy dots, thick lines, and fillings
3.3.3.2 Neutralization of iconicity
3.3.3.3 Transition to the Warring States script
3.4 Structural variability in the early Chinese writing system
3.4.1 Graphic components and functional values
3.4.2 The tendency towards Signific-Phonophoric compound structure|
3.4.2.1 Increase of compound characters in the Warring States script
3.4.2.2 Consequences for textual variation
3.4.2.3 The case of Shanghai “Zhouyi” and the received version
3.4.3 The case of the fu 簠 vessel
4. The Chu Script
4.1 The Five-region script system
4.2 The Common Warring States character forms
4.3 Chu regional character forms
4.3.1 Regional variation in componential structure
4.3.2 Regional variation in use of decorative strokes
4.3.3 Regional variation in simplified forms
4.3.4 Regional character shapes
4.4 The nature of regionalism in the Warring States script
4.5 Some ‘true’ Chu characters for a diagnosis of the Chu script
5. The Shanghai “Zhouyi” and the Early Chinese Orthography
5.1 Synonymous Significs
5.2 Equivalent phonophorics
5.2.1 Phonophorics in the early Chinese orthography
5.2.2 Western Zhou and Chu phonophorics
5.2.3 Negative particles
5.2.4 Sound symbolism and Phonograms
5.2.5 Old Chinese dialect words
5.2.6 Etymological relations
5.2.7 Phonologically motivated lexical variation
6. Conclusions
6.1 The last phase of the early Chinese writing system
6.2 Regionalism in a single script system
6.3 The Old Chinese phonology and the early Chinese orthography
6.4 Further implications
Appendix I: A Lexicon of the Shanghai “Zhouyi”
Appendix II: Index of Synonymous Significs and Equivalent Phonophorics
Index of Equivalent Phonophorics
References
