摘要
原始文字的宗教性质是由文字起源于人神沟通的需要所决定的,这一事实意味着文字不仅是原始宗教的产物,更是文明的产物。人类的交流并不足以使古人必须创造文字,况且由象形方法所创造的文字多属名词,而由名词堆砌的书面语形式极为混乱,是不可能用于记录语言的。这种原始文字的书面语特征,至商周时代的青铜器铭文仍见其孑遗。当然,服务于人神交流的文字只能源于象形,这体现了宗教文字的普遍特征。文献中古人的文字起源观、象形文字的创制目的、眼目通神的意义、朱书文字的性质以及敬字传统等,都显示出早期文字的宗教性特点。当文字逐渐具有了记录语言的功能之后,文字走向世俗化的进程就开始了,从服务于人神的沟通,转而逐渐成为记录语言的工具。传统六书造字法之下的指事字与会意字逐渐注重表音,以及在这种重视语音倾向影响下最终出现的形声文字,都体现了文字从宗教性向世俗性的转变。
The religious nature of primitive characters is determined by the need for communication between man and God.This fact indicates that characters are not only the product of primitive religions,but also the product of civilization.Human communication alone did not necessitate the creation of characters.Most of the characters created by pictographic methods were nouns,and the written language only composed of nouns was extremely chaotic and could not be used to record language.The writing characteristics of this original characters can still be seen in the bronze inscriptions of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.Characters that serve the communication between man and God can only be hieroglyphs,which reflects the universal feature of religious characters.The religious feature of primitive characters can be seen from the origin of ancient Chinese characters,the purpose of hieroglyphics,the meaning of communication with God through reading,the nature of Zhu Shu character and the tradition of respecting characters.When characters gradually had the function of recording language,the process of becoming secular began.It transited from serving the communication between man and God,to gradually becoming a tool for recording language.The six methods of forming Chinese characters gradually focused on the phonetic elements from ideogram and combined ideogram.From this trend,phonetic characters were eventually created.These reflected the feature of characters was transformed from religious to secular.
出处
《中原文化研究》
2024年第5期5-14,共10页
The Central Plains Culture Research
基金
“古文字与中华文明传承发展工程”资助项目“小屯南地甲骨文资料的重新整理”(G1004)
中国社会科学院学科建设“登峰战略”资助计划(DF2023TS06)。
关键词
文字
宗教
象形
朱书
敬字传统
characters
religion
pictograms
Zhu Shu
tradition of respecting characters
