The Study On Time Category In The Inscriptions On Bones And Tortoise Shells

More than 60 papers and works about the study on the time of the inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells have been released since their discovery. Those papers and works mainly focused on the calendar and study on characters. The overall exposition about the time on the basis of linguistics has not been found. The time category will be analyzed and induced in this thesis, and it will explore how to express the time concept during the Shang dynasty.There are four chapters in this thesis. The name of the first chapter is "The Outline of the Time Category in Inscriptions on Bones and Tortoise Shells". It briefly introduces the study on the time category in Chinese, and generalizes the connotation of the time hi inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells. The second chapter is "The Study on the Time Words and Time Phrases in Inscriptions on Bones and Tortoise Shells'*. It discusses the semantic classification of the time words and time phrases in inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells in detail, and analyzes the grammar and application of the time words and time phrases in inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells. The third chapter is titled as "The Study on the Time Adverbs in Inscriptions on Bones and Tortoise Shells". It explores the characteristics of the time adverbs in inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells. The name of the forth chapter is "The Development of the Time Words in Inscriptions on Bones and Tortoise Shells". It studies the evolution of the time words from inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells to inscriptions on bronze wares, bamboo slips and to books copied on silk.