A Comparative Study of Phonetic Loan Characters in Naxi Dongba Manuscripts
This article presents a comparative study of phonetic loan characters (jiajiezi) in Naxi Dongba manuscripts, distinguishing between religious scriptures (Dongba jing) and practical/everyday documents, particularly colophons (bayu) appended to scriptures. Since these two text types differ in purpose and context of production, the correspondence between characters and words diverges considerably, resulting in different proportions of loan characters: roughly 50% in scriptures versus about 70% in practical documents. Using the example of "The Story of Dusa'edu," the author compares a scripture passage with its accompanying colophon, analyzing phonetic transcription, word correspondence, and loan character usage in detail—counting characters, syllables, sentences, and loan-character frequency and repetition. The study finds that most loan characters in the scripture are phonetic borrowings without pre-existing dedicated characters, revealing structural and stylistic contrasts between the more formal, fixed scriptural language and the more casual, varied language of everyday practical writing, illuminating the actual functioning of the Dongba script.
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