Research On Signals And Signal Words In The Character Formal Shift From Small Seal Character To Clerical Script

The signifying of characters is a significant stage of the course of characters' evolution. The signs and signal words which have experienced a formal shift from small seal character to clerical script are important objects for study the trend of signifying, since they derive formative rules from Oracle bone script, bronze script and small seal script and set signifying rules for tablet carving inscription in the Three Kingdoms'Period and the Jin Dynasty(A.D220.-A.D316.) and current simplified characters. Many scholars have studied signals and signifying of different historical phases and obtained great discoveries, however, the study on the shift from small seal script to clerical scripts remains inadequate, so this thesis is aimed to enrich the previous study.The attempts are made in this thesis to unravel the revolutionary course of signal word based on the knowledge of signals and signal words in the character formal shift from small seal character to clerical script through analyzing 6,500 ancient common characters selected from The Origins of Characters, The approaches of diachronic study on derivation and synchronic comparison are taken in analyzing various typical cases of signal words in the specific stage, highlighting the classification, relevant formative reasons, characteristics, functions of signals and signal words. The signal words' formative laws in this specific stage are presented in this thesis and may provide a hint for the prospective development of signal words.