Taming the Other: A critical comment on Boltz's theory about the evolution of Chinese writing system
Zhiqun Chen, Monash University
Boltz's theory (1986, 2003) about the evolution of Chinese writing system represents a school of thought emerging from the 1930s, according to which, Chinese writing system is phonetic in nature with the characters invented to represent sound. Bolt's viewpoint on Chinese writing system is dramatically different from the ideographic viewpoint, which holds that the characters were invented to represent the meaning, with little consideration of the sound. In this paper, the writer will conduct a critical comment on Botlz's theory, to demonstrate that although aiming to prove that Chinese writing system is just like any other full-fledged writing system in this world, Boltz's theory fails to reflect the actual process of the evolution of Chinese writing system. To some extent he tailors the Chinese characters to fit his theory, and his hypothesis about the polyphonic stage of Chinese writing system is unfounded.