摘要
中国江永女书是一种“借源改性”、曾在小范围内流行的女性专用文字系统,今天它已正式消亡。从普通文字学的基本原理出发,可以发现,女书消亡的深层原因在于其字符的直接表音功能无法高度适应汉语的特性。汉语的单音节孤立型类型特性,决定了汉字系统的“表意体系”类型定位和字符体式结构的“形声”式终极定位,也决定了汉语的书写系统中的表音字终究要被淘汰的命运。汉字发展史由“表意/假借”阶段向“形声”阶段转化进程中同步产生的假借字消亡现象,就是这一规律的历史演绎,当代女书的消亡则是这一规律的现代演绎。因而,中国江永女书的消亡,具有普通文字学上的重大价值,必将促进普通文字学研究的深化。
In Jiangyong County of Hunan Province, China there was nvshu-a unique type of writing used by women only. It originated from the Chinese character system, but developed into a form of phonography. Since the 1980s, the ＂women＇s writing＂ has drawn attention from Chinese and foreign scholars, becoming a hot subject for a time. According to the traditional theories of writing, which propose the model of language development from pictograph, ideogram to phonogram, such writing as the women＇s writing, which has already evolved into phonograms from ideograms （otherwise known as the logo-syllabic writing）, should represent the normal development of writing with a bright future. However, the irrefutable fact is that the women＇s writing has died out in application. In other words, the women＇s writing, which represents the phonographic writing in China, has been replaced by the current Chinese character system, which is ideographic. The outcome of the women＇s writing provides a valuable case for the philological study. At present, the fate of the women＇ s writing has been ascribed chiefly to culture in academic circles. But we beg to differ. First of all, although the women＇s writing died out, its cultural basis has remained unchanged. It is obvious that there is no necessary relationship between the two factors. Secondly, the Chinese women＇s writing is not the only writing system exclusively used by women in the world. The Japanese kana, for example, is also a time-honored writing for women. Both the Chinese and Japanese women＇s writing which originated from the Chinese character system were created by women who belonged to the ＂weak group＂ of the society at that time. However, they differ completely in fate： The former died out＇despite the greatly improved social position of women in China, while the latter has been incorporated into the Japanese syllabic system and accepted by all in the Japanese society. It is therefore obvious that culture is not the only reason for the dying out of Ch
出处
《浙江大学学报（人文社会科学版）》
CSSCI
2006年第5期100-106,共7页
Journal of Zhejiang University:Humanities and Social Sciences
基金
浙江省哲学社会科学重点规划课题(Z04YY01)
关键词
汉语
汉字
类型学
女书
假借字
形声字
Chinese
Chinese characters
typology
women＇s writing
phonetic loan character
picotphonetic character
