Dongba script

Infobox Writing system
type=pictographic
name=Dongba
languages=Naxi language
time=1000 C.E. to the present
sample = Painted Naxi panel.jpegThe Dongba, Tomba or Tompa script is a pictographic writing system used by the "²dto¹mba" (Bon priests) of the Naxi people. In the Naxi language it is called "²ss ³dgyu" 'stone records' or "²lv ³dgyu" 'stone records'. Together with the syllabic Geba script and the Latin alphabet, it forms a component of the Naxi script. It is about a thousand years old. The glyphs are pictographic or ideagraphic, but are sometimes used as a rebus. It is a mnemonic system, and cannot by itself represent the Naxi language; different authors may use the same glyphs with different meanings.

The script is written on handmade paper, with sheets sewn together at the left edge, forming a book. The pages are ruled horizontally with the ideographs written in three or five sections within these rules.

Usage

The script is used solely as an aid to the interpretation of ritual texts during ceremonies, it is reputated to have more than 2000 symbols in 20,000 religious scriptures.

The Ethnologue project claims that it is "not practical for everyday use, but is a system of prompt-illustrations for reciting classic texts". [ [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=nbf Naxi at the Ethnologue] ] . A scholar concludes it is "unlikely that it [the Dongba script] would make the minor developmental leap to becoming a full-blown writing system. It arose a number of centuries ago to serve a particular ritual purpose. As its purpose need not expand to the realm of daily use among non-religious specialists — after all, literate Naxi today, as in the past, write in Mandarin Chinese — at most it will but continue to fulfill the needs of demon exorcism, amusing tourists and the like." [Seaver Johnson Milnor, [http://www.depts.washington.edu/uwwpl/vol24/pub_submission_Milnor.pdf "A Comparison Between the Development of the Chinese Writing System and Dongba Pictographs"] ]

Rebus

Examples of rebus include using a picture of two "eyes (myə³)" to represent "fate (myə³)," a rice bowl for both "xa²" 'food' and "xa²" 'sleep', and a picture of a "goral (se³)" stands in for an aspectual particle.

Notes

External links

*Dr. Richard S. Cook, [http://unicode.org/~rscook/Naxi/ Naxi Pictographic and Syllabographic Scripts: Research notes toward a Unicode encoding of Naxi]
*Lawrence Lo, [http://www.ancientscripts.com/naxi.html Ancient Scripts: Naxi]