漢字字位及相關理論探討

Abstract

The “Grapheme of Chinese Characters”(GCC) discussed in this paper refers exclusively to a unit of form which quantifies the mono-syllabic morphemes. During the ancient Chinese period, the mono-syllabic words enjoyed an advantage; whereas, this situation has been replaced by the phenomenon of “dual dominance” of the linguistic units during the modern Chinese period. This change has made it clear that it is necessary to leave the pronunciation and meaning of a character out of the discussion of GCC, making GCC a pure concept of form. The advantages of this concept are as follows: first, GCC is in accordance with the common understanding of the concept of grapheme. As an abstract philological unit, GCC reflects the defining characteristic of characters as the symbols in the Chinese writing system; second, from the angle of structurology of the Chinese characters, GCC and GCC allographs correspond to basic character and basic character variants accordingly and naturally, forming a relationship of hierarchical grouping. Last but not the least, the use of GCC will grant an equal status to different GCC allographs in the synchronic plane, which will contribute, in theory, to the crumbling of the barriers of territory and linguistic policy and to the discussion on the optimization of characters.