Tangut Language and Manuscripts

An Introduction
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-90-04-41453-2
Verlag: World Bank Publications

Buch, Englisch, Band 20, 548 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 916 g

Reihe: Languages of Asia

This book is the first comprehensive introduction to the Tangut script and grammar, materials and manuscripts, and the historiography of Western Xia in any language. Five of the fifteen chapters survey the history of the Tangut Empire, the historiography of Tangut Studies, as well as new advancements in the field, notably research on the recently decoded Tangut cursive writings found in Khara-Khoto social, economic and military documents. The other ten chapters formally introduce the Tangut language: its linguistic origins, characters, grammars, translations, textual and contextual readings. In this synthesis of historical narratives and linguistic analysis, renowned Tangutologist Shi Jinbo offers specialists and general audience alike a guided access to the mysterious civilisation of the ‘Great State White and High’.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shi, Jinbo

Weitere Mitwirkende

Li, Hansong

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Historische & Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Einzelne Sprachen & Sprachfamilien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Translator’s Preface

List of Illustrations

Introduction

1 The Purpose of Studying Tangut

2 Some Notes on Learning Tangut

1 History and Society of Western Xia

1 History of Western Xia

2 Tangut Society

3 Religions in Western Xia

4 Tangut Culture

Tangut Vocabulary (1)

2 Tangut Manuscripts

1 Discovery of the Corpus of Tangut Manuscripts

2 Types and Quantities of Tangut Texts

3 Introduction to Tangut Manuscripts

4 Compilation and Publication of Tangut Manuscripts

Tangut Vocabulary (2)

3 Tangut Bibliology and Bibliography

1 Types and Versions

2 Binding of Books

3 Structure and Design

4 Illustrations, Letter Code, and Attachments

5 Papers

Tangut Vocabulary (3)

4 Structure and Features of Tangut Characters

1 The Structure of Tangut Characters

2 Pictograms and Simple Ideograms (Simple Indicatives) Comparisons with Chinese Characters

3 Tangut Radicals

4 Write and Search Tangut Words in a Dictionary

Tangut Vocabulary (4)

5 Phonetics and Vocabulary

1 The Tangut Language

2 Tangut Phonetics

3 Tangut Words

Tangut Vocabulary (5)

6 Parts of Speech

1 Nouns

2 Pronouns

3 Numerals and Classifiers

4 Verbs

5 Adjectives

6 Adverbs

7 Particles

8 Prepositions

9 Conjunctions

10 Interjections, Mood Particles, and Onomatopoeia

Tangut Vocabulary (6)

7 Phrases and Word Order

1 Phrases

2 Syntax

Textual Interpretation (1)

8 Sentences

1 Judgments, Descriptions, Statements and Interrogations

2 Indicatives, Imperatives and Exclamations

3 Simple and Compound Sentences

4 Active and Passive

5 Autonomous and Causative

Textual Interpretation (2)

9 Cases and Case-Markers

1 Nominative

2 Genitive

3 Accusative

4 Presentative

5 Subject of the Performative

Textual Interpretation (3)

10 Existential Verbs

1 Categories and Usages

2 Definitions and Applications of Existential Verbs in the Sea of Characters

3 Features of Usage

Textual Interpretation (4)

11 Prepositional Particles

1 Types and Usage

2 Features

3 Tactics in Translating Tangut Texts

Textual Interpretation (5)

12 Rime Transformation and Person Agreement in Tangut Verbs

1 Categories of Person Agreements

2 Rime Transformation in Person Agreement

3 Explanations Found in the Sea of Characters and the Homophones

4 In Textual Translations

Textual Interpretation (6)

13 Proper Nouns and Kinship Terms

1 Names of States and Ethnicities

2 Imperial Titles and Era Names

3 Titles of Civil Servants

4 Family Names and Given Names

5 Addressing Families and Relatives

Textual Interpretation (7)

14 Interpretation of Tangut Social Documents and the Cursive Script

1 Tangut Social Documents

2 Tangut Cursive Script and Social Documents

Textual Interpretation (8)

15 Translation and Punctuation

1 Some Notes on Translation

2 How to Pause Properly When Reading a Tangut Text

Textual Interpretation (9)

Afterword

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Shi, Jinbo is a Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Shi has published widely on Tangutology, including Study of the Sea of Characters (1983), Western Xia Publishing (2004), and Economic Records of Western Xia (2017).

Li, Hansong, B.A. University of Chicago, M.Phil. University of Cambridge, is a scholar of intellectual and international history at Harvard University.