西夏文字构件中的区别性符号

Distinguishing Symbols in the Components of the Xixia Characters

西夏文字构形过程中,参与构形的构件除常见的意符、声符之外,还有一类与音义皆无关联。其主要功能是起区别性作用,因之在前人研究基础上改称为区别性符号。在完整字形基础上通过添加而出现的同一形体构件不都是区别性符号,区别性符号的判别必须放在每个字的形成过程中去分析,构意清晰、构形理据明确。区别性符号用于造同源字、同义词、复合词语中的关联字以及记录词性变化的字,它们可以出现在一个字的左、右、上、下以及中间部位,因位置的不同有一系列不同的构件。区别性符号的正确认识对于西夏文字构形研究以及探讨西夏文字的形成有重要意义。西夏文字中的区别性符号与汉字中的“记号”颇为相似,但只起区别性作用,而无替代功能。

In the components of the Xixia characters,besides the symbols of semantic and phonetic,there is another symbol that is not related to sound and meaning,and its main function is to play a distin-guishing role.Therefore,we changed its name to the distinguishing symbol based on previous research.The determination of distinguishing symbols must be analyzed within the formation process of each character,with clear meaning and configuration of their formation.Namely not all components added on the basis of multiple character forms are distinctive symbols.Distinguishing symbols are used to combine into new char-acter forms to reflect various words phenomena,such as distinguishing cognate words,synonyms,compound words,and part-of-speech conversions.If we could understand distinguishing symbols correctly,it is signifi-cant to study the structure and formation of Xixia characters.The distinguishing symbols in Xixia characters are very similar to the"Jihao"(记号)in Chinese characters,but they only play a distinguishing role and have no substitute function.