1. AN OUTLINE OF WESTERN STUDIES OF CHINESE PALEOGRAPHY

Abstract

The investigation of the corner-stone problem of Chinese epigraphy, the relation of graph to vocable, has indeed been rather retarded than advanced by the new finds. Most students in the field have chosen to concentrate their efforts on the exotically fascinating questions of ‘graphic semantics’ and the study of the living tissue of the Word has almost completely been neglected in favor of that of the graphic integument encasing it. As to the later (Chou) forms of the Chinese written language, they continue to be interpreted according to the principles laid down by native didactic and classificatory works, while less orthodox sources and evidence bearing chiefly on the ‘phonetic’ aspects of the script are consistently disregarded. 10