A Revisit on the Reconstruction of the Reading of Tangut Characters

Abstract

The reconstruction scheme of Tangut phonology proposed by Sofronov (1963, 1968) and Gong (2003) is arguably the most influential nowadays. However, there are some limitations when applying their scheme in the reconstruction of the reading of individual Tangut characters. First, the research edition of some Tangut materials was not yet fully available then, not to mention the materials that were found later. Second, the reconstruction of some Tangut initials is still open for discussion. For example, some of the Tangut initial chains built up from the fanqie spelling data are likely to be further linked. In addition, the phonetic glossing data of Tangut characters that became available in recent years may suggest the amendment of phonetic values of some initial chains. Third, the reconstructed reading of Tangut characters often does not reflect the source of their reconstruction, not distinguishing the various initial and rime categories assigned the same phonetic value. Although these reconstructed readings should be highly reliable, they may bring difficulties when applied to the comparative studies between Tangut and other Tibeto-Burman languages. For example, it is not directly possible to know whether the Tangut characters reconstructed with the same initial belong to the same initial chain. There are also some Tangut characters for which the affiliation of their initial chain is unknown. The initial of these characters are reconstructed solely based on individual phonetic glossing evidence. These “unsystematic” reconstructions cannot be identified from the current reconstructed readings. The numerous findings, facsimile and research editions of Tangut written materials made available in recent decades have provided a new opportunity to revisit the reconstruction of the readings of individual Tangut characters. Therefore, we propose to establish a database which will include all phonological data of the Tangut language from the core materials. Based on processing, analysis and comparative studies of the information, the reconstruction of Tangut phonology will be updated, and the reading of all Tangut characters will be reconstructed accordingly.