A Study On The Lost Writing Form Of A Chinese Word And The Used Of The Same One In Duanzhu

The Chinese character system is an effective tool for Chinese people to understand and remake the world. It's our younger scholars' duty to know the specific properties, the origination and development laws of the Chinese character system, and select a certain side of the Chinese character system for studying according to a certain point of view. The main reason why there are more and more Chinese characters is that the same Chinese word has different writing forms in different periods. And these forms are placed on a diachronic level. Little research has been done into this phenomenon. A-ccordingly, the writer makes use of the exposition about what writing forms of words are still used at present in Duanzhu(《段注》) to study the reasons and laws for the replacement of one writing form of an Ancient Chinese monosyllabic word by another The writer corrects some current outlooks on development of the Chinese character system.The thesis is composed of two parts.Part one contains six chapters. Chapter1 is preface. It mainly states some information, for instance, why to select the question for study, what achievements have been reached at present, how to choose the materials for study, what kind of theories and methods to use and what a conclusion to draw. Chapter2 is to discuss whether the lost writing form of a Chinese word was used or not in history. Through analyzing the authenticity of the writing documents handed down from ancient times and finding out the lost writing form of a Chinese word in some certain unearthed documents, the writer testifies that most of the lost writing forms of Chinese words were surely used.Chapter3 is to textually research the relationship between the lost writing form of a Chinese word and the used writing form of the same word.According to the following current theories: the theory that the writing form of Chinese word can reflect the meaning of it, the theory that the meanings of words whose sounds are similar are interlinked, the theory of a variant form of a Chinese character, the theory of the ancient-modern, the theory of the cognate words and the theory of borrowing between homonyms. The writer discovers the relationship between the lost writing form of a Chinese word and the used writing form of the same word. The exposition in Chapters 4&5 is based on the textual research. Chapter4: five laws of the replacement of the writing form of an Ancient Chinese monosyllabic word by another. In line with the statistics and ratio concerned thelost writing form of a Chinese word and the used writing form of the same word, the writer holds that there are five laws involved the replacement of the writing form of an Ancient Chinese monosyllabic word. The first, most of characters which are used in writing documents are the characters whose forms can reflect their meanings. The second, most of characters which are used in writing documents are the pictophonetic characters. The third, its' a main trend that the forms of characters become hard to deal with. Only under a certain term does the law about simplification play a part in the replacement of the writing form of an Ancient Chinese monosyllabic word by another. The fourth, the meanings of the lost writing forms of Chinese words are relevant to those of the used writing forms of Chinese words. The fifth, most of the lost writing forms of Chinese words and the used of the same words are mixed up in history. Chapt-er5 history.Chapter5 is to research what plays a part in the replacement of the writing form of an Ancient Chinese monosyllabic word by another. The writer believes that there are ten factors. The first is the principle ofthe writing form of the Chinese word reflecting the meaning of it. The second is the distinctive functions of the parts of the forms of Chinese words are weakened.The third is the discard of the parts of the forms of Chinese words.The fourth is the space arrangement of the strokes of a Chinese character. The fifth is the development of the forms of characters. The sixth is the phonetic element of a char...