Translation of ‘The structure of the Naxi pictographic script’ (chapter 3 in "A dictionary of Naxi pictographs")

Abstract

The aim of this translation is to make accessible in English one of the most important chapters of the influential work A Dictionary of Naxi Pictographs, by Fang Guoyu, to a wider audience.2 Through his work, Fang became a chief protagonist in bringing the attention and interest of the Chinese government and intelligentsia upon the Naxi people, the Dongba religion and the script during the mid to late 20th century. Although more contemporary research has superseded Fang’s efforts, his work is still widely used by both Chinese and Western academics as the basis for their research on the script. The core purpose of this chapter is to analyse the structure of the Naxi pictographic script. Fang achieves this by classifying the pictographs into ten categories in accordance with theoretical principles adapted from the liu shu (六书), or six categories of Chinese characters. A discussion of the key features of each category is made and accompanied by examples to further illustrate the distinctive features of each category. A summation on the relevance of the script to the study of writing systems in general is completed at the end of the chapter. In addition, Fang also analyses the Naxi phonographic script as a script in its own right, and its relationship with the Naxi pictographic script.