The Study Of Ideogram's Substitution In Ancient Characters

The object of our study is ideogram's substitution in ancient characters.The ancient characters that we talk about contains five systems: oracle bone inscriptions in Shang Dynasty,inscriptions on ancient bronze objects in West Chou Period and the Spring and Autumn Period,inscriptions in Warring States Period,Qin characters and variant Chinese characters in Shuowen Jiezi.After sorting out the substitutable ideograms and characters,we mainly work over the following questions:First,we combine the research context of ideogram's substitution phenomenon and point out the inadequacies of the study.The Second part is to explore the essence of this phenomenon and the classification of substitutable ideograms.In fact,the ideogram's substitution is a selectivity issues which centers upon the character's meaning,scilicet choose different ideograms for one character.The generalization of Chinese characters' meaning and the space that left to ideograms is an essential premise of ideogram's substitution.Usually,the substitutable ideograms divided into two categories: the interrelated one and the unrelated one.Using the meaning link between the interrelated ideograms as a point of departure,we can subdivide the interrelated ideograms into several categories.In chapter three,we summarize the causes and features of this phenomenon.The causes can be divided into two aspects: subjective and objective.Subjectively speaking,the root cause is the generalization of Chinese characters' meaning and the selective space that left to ideograms.Furthermore,express the veracious meaning,simplification and hysteresis in use also belong to subjective aspects.Objective causes include the ancients' concept and irregularity in use.The features of this phenomenon sum up to five points: irregularity,inheritance and development,conditionality,time-constrained and continuity,regionality.The last part of our paper is the effect of ideogram's substitution phenomenon.The study of this phenomenon is propitious to variant character's arrangement and standardization of Chinese characters.The appendix at the back of this paper is the form of substitutable ideograms and characters in each system.The form is divided into two categories: one is the interrelatedsubstitutable ideograms and characters,the other one is the unrelated substitutable ideograms and characters.Each of the form is consist of four parts: group of substitutable ideograms,regular script,ancient characters and remarks.