表意字的表达功能与古文字考释

The Ideational Function of Ideograms and Textual Research of the Chinese Ancient Writing

表意字是字符表达一定意义的文字。它所表达的意义主要有字符所表达的字义, 文字所记录的相应语言单位 (词或语素) 的语义和字义与所记录的词义 (或语素义 ) 之间的关系———造字理据义。其中, 语义是表意字意义的核心, 是文字的本质。把文字与图符区别开来, 强调表意字的表达功能, 可以避免把文字当语言、把字义当词义、把末流当主流等不恰当释字, 进而正确进行古文字考释。

Ideograms are characters that convey certain meanings, including: a) the meaning carried by the character itself; b) the meaning of language units (i.e., a word or a morpheme) that are encoded by the character; and c) the semantic relationship between the first two kinds of meanings—— the denotative meaning assigned to the coined words. Among the three kinds of meanings, the meaning encoded by the characters is the core component of the semantics of the ideograms, the essential of characters. The paper distinguishes characters and pictographic symbols, and highlights the ideational functions of the ideograms.This helps researchers to differentiate written characters from parole, the meaning of characters from the meaning of phrases so that they can interpret the ancient writing in a correct way.