Titel
A scribal device in oral clothing: functions of formulaic language in early Chinese divinatory texts
Autor*in
Abstract
This paper aims at broadening the scope of what the term ‘formula’ encompasses by studying a written context of formulaic applications and their complex connections to ritual performance. More specifically, it examines the interplay between the oral and the written in the language of the late Shang 商 (ca. 1230–1046 BC) oracle bone inscriptions (OBI). Drawing on the study on ‘formulaicity’ by Wray and Perkins, I propose a definition of formulae based on the OBI evidence and identify the structure-based formulaic types as found in the divinatory records. I then discuss the functions that formulae perform in the divinatory record. I suggest that formulae should be considered a scribal device, a set of stock phrases and technical words used by the scribes to record divination results. They formed a toolkit which was meant to facilitate the composition of written records on hard media. The writing act occurred after (and separately from) the oral divinatory act. Therefore, the oral and written coexisted but were independent from each other within the context of divinatory performance.
Stichwort
Chinese divinationoracle bonesbamboo manuscriptsformulaicityorality
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:2080243
DOI
Erschienen in
Titel
Manuscript and Text Cultures (MTC)
Band
2
Ausgabe
2
ISSN
2752-3470
Erscheinungsdatum
2024
Publication
Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures
Fördergeber
Europäische Union (alle Programme) — 803060
Erscheinungsdatum
2024
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
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