A Regional Study of Phonetic Loan Characters in Naxi Dongba Scriptures: The Cases of Baidi, Lijiang, and Ludian
This article examines regional variation in "jiajie" (phonetic loan/borrowing) characters used in Naxi Dongba scriptures, focusing on three source regions: Baidi, Lijiang (including Baoshan and the Lijiang plain), and Ludian. Because these areas differ geographically—separated by mountains and rivers—their Dongba texts diverge in phonetics, vocabulary, and script usage, producing distinct regional scribal schools with varying writing styles and degrees of character density. The study finds a general trend from sparser to denser script forms moving across Baidi, Lijiang, and Ludian, with the number of borrowed characters positively correlated with density of writing. Comparing scriptures with similar content across the three regions, the author identifies differences in the total number of Dongba characters used, word-character correspondence, quantity of borrowed characters, and which characters were borrowed. The paper contributes to understanding the historical and geographic diversification of the Dongba pictographic writing tradition.
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