**Journal of the Central Institute for Nationalities**
This article compares phono-semantic (xingsheng) characters in the Naxi Dongba script with those in ancient Chinese writing. Both scripts combine semantic and phonetic elements, qualifying as logo-phonetic systems, yet they developed independently. The author argues that ancient Chinese phono-semantic characters arose through three pathways: "combined graphs" (two characters merging into one), "phonetic marking" (adding a phonetic to distinguish visually similar pictographs), and "category marking" (adding a semantic classifier to distinguish extended or borrowed meanings from homophones)—the last being the most productive, since extension and borrowing are far more common than character fusion or homographs. Through detailed examples (e.g., "water's end," "mountain ridge," "grain," "liver"), the author demonstrates that Dongba script exhibits all three formation pathways, plus an unusual case of two pictographs mutually serving as phonetic indicators for each other, suggesting parallel stages of script evolution.
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