Buch, Englisch, Band 8, 111 Seiten
A Palaeographical & Phonological Analysis
Buch, Englisch, Band 8, 111 Seiten
Reihe: LINCOM Studies in Chinese Linguistics
ISBN: 978-3-89586-632-6
Verlag: LINCOM
The reasonable premise, that Chinese writing essentially consists of Xiangxing graphs with their Xingsheng derivatives, means that the issue is not whether Huiyi is a viable distinction but rather whether explanations via polyphony are viable alternatives. A role for polyphony in the Chinese script is without doubt, yet any notion that polyphony was a fundamental driving force in the creation and development of the script differs fundamentally from these sporadic cases of graphic convergence or synonymic interchange. More thorough palaeographical analyses, combined with more sophisticated reconstructions of Old Chinese, vindicate suggestions that Huiyi is an artificial distinction without requiring any recourse to polyphony.