**Journal of Hebei University, ___, No. ___**
This article by Chen Shuangxin investigates the origin of phono-semantic compound characters (形声字) in Chinese writing. While pictographs, indicative characters, and ideographs emerged earliest, phono-semantic characters appeared later yet came to dominate—rising from a small share in oracle-bone script to over 90% of modern Chinese characters—making their origin a crucial question in paleography. The paper reviews and critiques prevailing theories, focusing first on the "combined-graph" (合文) hypothesis, notably Tang Lan's view that fused-character writing, numeral compounds, and phoneticized ideographs were precursors to phono-semantic formation. Through detailed examination of oracle-bone and bronze inscription evidence (e.g., 羽日/日羽, 之日/时, 仁, 伍, 骏, 驯), the author challenges this theory, arguing that combined graphs retained multisyllabic readings incompatible with monosyllabic phono-semantic characters, and that proposed form-sound divisions of meaning are logically untenable. The author further plans to draw on Naxi pictographic script as comparative evidence to reassess the true origins of phono-semantic characters, building on but revising earlier scholarly consensus.
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.