Simplification Phenomena Seen in Variant Forms of Dongba Script and Reflections Thereon
This article examines simplification phenomena revealed through variant forms (yiti) of Dongba script, the pictographic writing system of China's Naxi people. The authors, Wang Yuanlu and Liu Yue, argue that the abundance of variant characters in Dongba dictionaries—found in roughly three-quarters of all characters—preserves traces of diachronic development, offering valuable data for tracing simplification trends over time. Based on analysis of over a thousand variant character groups, the study identifies three main simplification pathways: omission of structural components, symbolization of graphic forms, and shifts in the underlying rationale for character construction. Component omission is treated as the most complex and dominant mechanism, further subdivided into omission of background elements, quasi-functional (decorative) components, and repeated identical components originally used to indicate plurality. Illustrative examples (e.g., "rainbow," "foam," "earthquake crack," "waterfall," "meteor," "trees on a mountain") demonstrate how non-core semantic parts are progressively dropped as the script becomes conventionalized, shedding light on general principles of script evolution.
This page publishes the bibliographic record and the project's summary. The scanned article text belongs to its publisher and is shown to readers under a research-use policy; it is not reproduced in this record.