以手语为参照的传统六书理论再探讨

Re-Exploration of the Traditional Six Categories of Chinese Characters Theory with Sign Language as Reference

汉字与手语作为人类传递信息的载体,同属于视觉符号系统,二者在构造上具有相似性特征。以手语为参照的传统六书理论再探讨,是利用手语所负载的信息研究汉字问题的一个新视角。用传统六书理论对手语结构进行分析,并将手语六书与汉字六书进行比较,可以揭示出手语六书的直观性和合理性。六书可以解释手语的构形规律,扩大六书的应用范围,证明“六书有普遍适用性”,由此推断六书大抵是象形文字符号和手语符号创造过程中所共有的一种思维方法和创造模式,这是对传统六书理论的丰富和发展。同时,利用手语凸显出来的特征佐证了象形为六书之本、指事排在六书之首以及形声的能产性等,从不同视角加深了对传统六书理论的理解。

Both Chinese characters and sign language are the carriers of human information transmission.They belong to the visual symbol system and are similar in structure.By analyzing the structure of sign language and comparing it with the six categories of Chinese characters,the intuitiveness and rationality of sign language can be revealed.The six categories can explain the rules of sign language construction,which expands their application and proves that“the six categories have universal applicability”.It is inferred that the six categories were a mostly common thinking method and inventing model when pictograph and sign language were invented.Meanwhile,features of sign language offer strong supports for the facts that pictograph is the basis of the six categories,self-explanation is the first category of the six and pictophonetic characters are productive.All this deepens the understanding of the traditional six categories of Chinese characters theory from different perspectives.