Language and Writing

Boltz, William G.

doi:10.1017/chol9780521470308.004

Cited by 91 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 216 publications

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“…This script quickly evolved into the regular script ( 楷書, kǎishū) that is more-or-less the same as the traditional characters ( 正體字, zhéngtǐzì) still used today in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan and by the Chinese diaspora. On the mainland, meanwhile, successful reforms championed by the Chinese Communist Party from the 1950s resulted in the adoption of simplified characters ( 简化字, jiǎnhuàzì) that are now regarded as the standard in the PRC (for more detailed overviews see [4,32]).…”

Section: The Changing Face Of Chinese Writingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplification is not dominant in the evolution of Chinese characters

Han¹,

Kelly²,

Winters³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Linguistic systems, be they spoken, written, or signed, are hypothesised to be shaped by pressures towards communicative efficiency that drive processes of simplification. A longstanding illustration of this idea is the claim that the characters of the Chinese writing system have progressively simplified over time. Here we test this claim by analyzing a dataset with more than a million images of Chinese characters spanning more than 3,000 years of recorded history. We find no consistent evidence of simplification through time, and contrary to popular belief we find that modern Chinese characters are higher in visual complexity than their earliest known counterparts. A plausible explanation for our findings is that simplicity trades off with distinctiveness, and that characters have become less simple because they have increased in distinctiveness over time. Our findings are therefore compatible with functional accounts of language but highlight the diverse and sometimes counterintuitive ways in which linguistic systems are shaped by pressures for communicative efficiency.

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Section: The Changing Face Of Chinese Writingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplification is not dominant in the evolution of Chinese characters

Han¹,

Kelly²,

Winters³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Marks and Labels: Early Writing in Neolithic and Shang China

Keightley¹

2006

Archaeology of Asia

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China: ancient era migrations

Miscevic¹

2013

The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration

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The term “ancient China” usually refers to the roughly two millennia before the Common Era, during which time, according to traditional Chinese historiography, the earliest civilization of China was created under the Three Dynasties ( Sandai ) – Xia, Shang, and Zhou (K. C. Chang 1983a). Traditional chronology places Xia between 2205 and 1766 BCE , Shang between 1766 and 1122 BCE , and Zhou between 1122 and 256 BCE . Only the last date – the year the rising power of Qin vanquished the state of Zhou, on its way to creating the first unified empire in 221 BCE – is certain. The others have been repeatedly and convincingly rejected, and continue to be debated, because they are irresoluble (K. C. Chang 1983a; Shaughnessy 1999; Keightley 1999b). Some scholars even regard the Xia dynasty as sheer invention. For the purposes of discussing ancient Chinese migration, we will include territorial expansions and consolidation of the Former (Western) Han dynasty (202 BCE– 8 CE ) because they bring to a conclusion the trends that started earlier in the ancient period.

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Language and Writing

Cited by 91 publications

References 216 publications

Simplification is not dominant in the evolution of Chinese characters

Simplification is not dominant in the evolution of Chinese characters

Marks and Labels: Early Writing in Neolithic and Shang China

China: ancient era migrations

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