TY - BOOK AU - Park,Haeree TI - The Writing System of Scribe Zhou: Evidence from Late Pre-imperial Chinese Manuscripts and Inscriptions (5th-3rd Centuries BCE) T2 - Studies in Manuscript Cultures SN - 9783110459302 U1 - 495.11109014 22/ger PY - 2016///] CY - Berlin, Boston : PB - De Gruyter, KW - Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania KW - Philology. Linguistics KW - Bambushandschrift KW - Chinesische Schrift KW - Orthographie KW - Phonologie KW - Pre-imperial China KW - bamboo manuscripts KW - orthography KW - writing culture KW - LITERARY CRITICISM / Asian / General KW - bisacsh N1 - Frontmatter --; Acknowledgements --; Contents --; Symbols and Abbreviations --; 1. Introduction --; 2. The Old Chinese phonology --; 3. The Shanghai "Zhouyi" and the Warring States script --; 4. The Chu Script --; 5. The Shanghai "Zhouyi" and the Early Chinese Orthography --; 6. Conclusions --; Appendix I: A Lexicon of the Shanghai "Zhouyi" --; Appendix II: Index of Synonymous Significs and Equivalent Phonophorics --; Index of Equivalent Phonophorics --; References; Open Access N2 - This book investigates the nature of regional variation in the early Chinese writing system through bamboo manuscripts and inscriptions dating from the late pre-imperial China (5th-3rd centuries BCE). Diachronic and synchronic comparisons of graphic details show that none of the well-recognized regional varieties developed independently from one another. Furthermore, differences in graphic components can be accounted for as alternations of graphs that are compatible in their semantic or phonetic values. The phonological systems underlying various regional orthographies unanimously point to a single coherent sound system with some mixture of dialect pronunciations. This strongly suggests that all the late pre-imperial regional scripts derived from a kind of orthographic meta-system based on one spoken standard language. This orthography and its phonological systems should reasonably be dated to ca. 9th century BCE, just about the time when the earliest known Chinese lexicography "Book of Scribe Zhou" (ca. 830 BCE) was written. The conclusions of this book have further implications on reading and understanding manuscript texts in general as well as on using them as data for linguistic studies UR - https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110459302 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/cover/covers/9783110459302.jpg ER -