Khitan scripts
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| Khitan | |
| Type | Large script is Logographic, small script logographic, syllabary and possibly some phonograms. |
|---|---|
| Spoken languages | Khitan language |
| Parent systems | Chinese → Oracle Bone Script → Seal Script → Clerical Script → Chinese characters → Khitan |
| Child systems | Jurchen script |
| Sister systems | Simplified Chinese, Kanji, Hanja, Chữ Nôm, Zhuyin |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | |
The Khitan scripts were the writing systems of the Khitan people, for the now-extinct Khitan language. There were two scripts, known as the large script and the small script. These were functionally independent and appear to have been used simultaneously in the Liao Empire. They continued in use for some time after the fall of that dynasty. Examples of the scripts appear most often on epitaphs and monuments, although other fragments sometimes surface.
Many scholars recognize that the Khitan scripts have not been fully deciphered, and that more research and discoveries would be necessary for a proficient understanding of them.[1] [2]
Although there are several clues to its origins, which might point in different directions, the Khitan language is most likely a descendant of Pre-Proto-Mongolic (and thus related to the Mongolic languages).
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[edit] Large Script
Abaoji of the Yelü clan, founder of the Khitan, or Liao, Dynasty, introduced the original Khitan script in 920 CE. “Large script”, or “big characters”, as it was referred to in some Chinese sources, was established to keep the record of the new Khitan state.
The Khitan large script was considered to be relatively simple. The large script characters were written equally spaced, the latter written below the former. Although large script mostly uses logograms, it is possible that ideograms and syllabograms are used for grammatical functions. The large script has a few similarities to Chinese, with a few words taken directly with or without modifications from the Chinese. Most large script characters, however, cannot be directly related to any Chinese characters.
[edit] Small Script
The Khitan small script was invented in about 924 or 925 CE by a scholar named Diela. He drew his inspiration from “the Uyghur language and script,”[1] which he was shown by a visiting Uyghur ambassador at the Khitan court. For this reason, Khitan small script was originally thought to be a daughter script of the Uyghur alphabet.
Using a smaller number of symbols than large script, small script was less complex, yet still “able to record any word.”[2] Words in small script were made using a blocked system. Each block could incorporate two to seven characters, written in pairs within the block and the first half of the pair on the left. If there were an odd number of characters in a block, the unpaired character would be centred below the preceding pair.
Although there is some speculation, it appears there are no characters that both scripts share. Periodically, epitaphs written using small script will be written using the large script method of linearity. Although small script has some similarities to Chinese, Khitan characters were often used to record Chinese words. The appearance of a likeness between a small script and a Chinese character does not aide in the reading of Khitan. For example, the Chinese character for ‘mountain’ is the same as the small script logogram for ‘gold’. [1]
Of the 378 known small script characters, 125 are semantic, 115 are phonetic, and the remainder have not been deciphered.[2] Small script uses a mixture of logograms, syllabograms, and, as some as sources claim, a few single sound phonograms. Sometimes suffixes were written with syllabograms, just as single syllables sometimes were written with three syllabograms (with one each for the initial, medial, and final sounds of the syllable). Sometimes the initial consonants of syllables are indicated to be dental, labial, guttural, or nasal etc., based on the syllabograms involved. Additionally, vowels are sometimes indicated to be labial or non-labial, or pronounced in the front or back of the mouth. Much of this information came from a Mongolian scholar name Činggeltei and his team, who used monuments, calendar, and similar Chinese texts to decipher sections of small script.
[edit] Jurchen
Some of the characters of the Jurchen scripts have similarities to Khitan large script. According to some sources, the discoveries of inscriptions on monuments and epitaphs give clues to the connection between Khitan and Jurchen.[3] The scripts were written by the Jurchin people until 1191 CE, when they were suppressed by imperial order.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William (1996), The World’s Writing Systems, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 230-234
- ^ a b c Kara, György (1987), "On the Khitan Writing Systems", Mongolian Studies, 10: 19-23
- ^ Kiyose, Gisaburo N. (1884), "The Significance of the New Kitan and Jurchen Materials", Papers in East Asian Languages: 75-87
[edit] External links
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