A Preliminary Study of Homographs in Dongba Script
This article investigates homographs (tongxingzi) in Dongba pictographic script, a phenomenon in which identical graphic forms represent entirely different words. Building on Qiu Xigui's definition distinguishing homographs from variant characters, the author excludes homographs arising from phonetic loan (jiajie) usage, focusing instead on cases where identical forms independently denote unrelated referents. Compared with Chinese characters, Dongba homographs are proportionally more numerous and, crucially, tend to be used synchronically rather than sequentially, increasing potential for ambiguity. Since Dongba is handwritten with considerable graphic variation, criteria for judging "sameness" of form are relaxed to include visually similar characters. Drawing on major Dongba dictionaries (Fang Guoyu, Li Lin-ts'an, Xi Yuhua, Mu Chen, and Rock), the study classifies causes of homograph formation, with the first category being pictographic depiction of visually similar referents lacking distinctive features, revealing an inherent limitation of the pictographic method. The paper further plans to examine homograph structural patterns and developmental trajectories, offering insight into early writing systems' primitive characteristics.
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