Study On The Straight Line Of Oracle Bone Inscriptions

The rich achievements of collation,explanation and theory construction of oracle bone inscriptions lay a stable foundation for our further study.Explorations on every aspect of oracle bone inscriptions have been given by predecessors.However,little research has been done in straight line of oracle bone inscriptions.Taking 241 single-component Chinses characters including straight line which are chosen from known oracle bone inscriptions as materials,this paper studies on the development and evolution of straight line in oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, seal characters,and gives significant preliminaries on how the straight line in oracle bone inscriptions functions pictographically with the visions of chinese graphology and aesthetics.Under the guidance of different ways of segregating straight line in pictographic character and indicational character,it reveals thoroughly the straight lines'three functions of pictograph,indication and ornament in oracle bone inscriptions.Besides,the paper gives investigations into the straight lines'manifestation in permutation and combination, variant characters, aesthetic art.The paper segregates the straight line to seek the original meaning,and points out the successful and fail analysis on straight line in Xu Shen's shuowenjiezi,Duan Yu-cai's shuowenjiezizhu and the original analysis on straight line in shuowenshili.