The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System

Boltz, William G.; Bottéro, Françoise

doi:10.2307/605196

Cited by 39 publications

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“…While Xu Shen and his contemporaries recognized SS compounds as an important category of Chinese character types, the historical existence of this type in the early development of the script is a matter of debate (Boltz, 1994). Even if one rejects Boltz's argument that the graph 安 contains a "crypto-phonetic" component, that is, a component whose original phonetic function was no longer apparent to Xu Shen and remains invisible to us, from the synchronic perspective of Xu Shen this is indeed an SS compound.…”

Section: Semantic-semantic (Ss) Compound Graphs (Logogram + Logogram)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These bùshǒu were termed classifiers by Boltz (1994: 147). Boltz (1994Boltz ( , 1996 presented examples of their diachronic development from the earliest oracle bone inscriptions up to modern Chinese and explicitly drew parallels to their use in other complex script systems such as cuneiform, Mayan hieroglyphs, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and so forth. 6 More recently, Handel (2023) studied the graphemic classifiers in the modern Chinese script, referring to their functional resemblance to Egyptian graphemic classifiers.…”

Section: Classifier Research In Sinologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The signs that perform the function of "classifier" are written and seen, yet they are not heard. They add silent, motivated semantic information for the reader, always related to the host word at the time of character/word creation (Selz et al, 2017, Egyptian and Sumerian scripts;Boltz, 1994;Chen, 2016;Handel, 2023 and Xu in this issue, Chinese scripts). For example, the word "younger sister" is written in ancient Chinese by the compound graph (mèi, Old Chinese *mə̂, Yin Zhou Jinwen Jicheng (Compendium of Yin and Zhou Bronze Inscriptions) No.…”

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Introduction: Graphemic classifiers in complex script systems

Goldwasser,

Handel

2024

Journal of Chinese Writing Systems

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This article explores the role of unpronounced semantic classifiers, also known as graphemic classifiers or determinatives, in three ancient complex scripts: Egyptian, Chinese and Sumerian. These classifiers are silent hieroglyphs, Chinese characters or cuneiform signs that are combined with other signs that carry phonetic information to form a complete written representation of a word. While these classifiers are written and visible, they are not pronounced. They add silent, motivated semantic information related to the meaning of the word. These classifiers can be found in various positions within words, reflecting cultural and referential information. Classifier studies, in general, have gained significant interest at the intersection of linguistic typology, cognitive linguistics, semiotics of scripts and neuroscience. The research field examines classifiers in oral languages, signed languages and complex scripts, emphasizing that regardless of modality they reflect a shared cognitive effort to organize knowledge. It is our hope that the scholarly contributions in this issue will open up a new chapter in classifier studies and in comparative script analysis. Theoretical and analytical work undertaken in the last few decades has been done primarily by individual researchers specializing in one language or script. Our approach combines large-scale corpus data with comparative script analysis carried out by teams of collaborators who can contribute specialized expertise in different ancient writing systems. The research possibilities opened by our newly developed digital tool iClassifier are presented in detail in the other contributions in this issue. This work has laid a strong comparative foundation that we can now build on, to develop new insights into the early history of script development and the commonalities and differences among ancient cultural conceptualizations of the world.

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Section: Semantic-semantic (Ss) Compound Graphs (Logogram + Logogram)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Classifier Research In Sinologymentioning

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Introduction: Graphemic classifiers in complex script systems

Goldwasser,

Handel

2024

Journal of Chinese Writing Systems

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“…characters written in such a way as to symbolically suggest their meaning. The last category, whose status is still quite debated (Boodberg 1937;Boltz 1994;Handel 2016;Galambos 2011;, is that of 'semantic compounds', so called because all the graphic components of the character convey semantic content.…”

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“…2 For the process of formation and development of the Chinese writing system cf. Boltz 1994;De Francis 1989. Bhasha e-ISSN 2785-5953 2, 1, 2023, 79-94 Chiara Pette Phonographic Characters in the Biography of Xuanzang by Hui Li 83 in Sanskrit writing and grammar (Siddham being an early derivative of the Brahmi script).…”

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2 | 1 | 2023

2023

bhasha

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starts. 1 This way, all those who are interested have the time to prepare a fruitful discussion and meaningful questions on each paper, rather than making pointless formalistic remarks during the question time.Our aim has always been that of focusing on methodology and comparisons, rather than on singular highly specialised topics. We promote a comparative approach that combines various fields of study, methodologies of different disciplines, and the concepts and vocabulary of different traditions of scholarship with the aim of giving participants the opportunity to critically discuss their work in an interdisciplinary setting.The scholars who founded the project generally have a background in the studies of Asia, and especially of India, although from highly varied disciplinary approaches: from philology to philosophy and literature, from linguistics to anthropology, from sociology and economics to gender and sexuality studies. Nonetheless, CBC has and continues to welcome other geographical and linguistic areas and traditions.Another goal of the CBC project is to give young scholars -who may sometimes experience difficulties in being admitted to major academic meetings -the opportunity to participate in a scholarly event, where they can learn the art of scientific debate and academic presentation.We also aim at internationalising our conferences as much as possible. We have no fixed venue and often move from one hosting institution to another. So far, the venues of the CBC have been Sapienza University of Rome (six editions, one extra meeting); University of Turin (two editions); and one edition per each of the following institutions:

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Marks and Labels: Early Writing in Neolithic and Shang China

Keightley¹

2006

Archaeology of Asia

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The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System

Cited by 39 publications

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Introduction: Graphemic classifiers in complex script systems

Introduction: Graphemic classifiers in complex script systems

2 | 1 | 2023

Marks and Labels: Early Writing in Neolithic and Shang China

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