Boltz, WilliamRazzak, Kulayb2022-07-142022-07-142022-07-142022Razzak_washington_0250O_24569.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1773/48660Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2022When one reads the literature on hewen 合文 (a pre-Han type of ligation formed from two or more Chinese characters) the majority of it will correctly state that these "combined graphs" (as the term literally means) were used to save the scribe both space and effort. However, this does not tell us what a scribe considered before he combined graphs. Could all graphs potentially be formed into any type of hewen, whether adjunct, combination, or parturient? The answer to this question is "no" when it comes to Chu orthography. So what were the principles behind the formation of hewen? Adjuncts were formed from any characters, as the components would only have to be squeezed together. Combinations would only be formed between characters that shared similar strokes, and what they shared could be as little as a single stroke or as much as an entire determiner. Parturients, being written as one standard character inside which the other could be found, did not require any special considerations. Whether a scribe ligated eligible graphs and how he chose to do so was a matter of personal choice, all things being equal. In other words, just because two graphs could be formed into a combination \textit{hewen} does not mean that the scribe was obliged to make them into one; he could just as well form them into an adjunct or even do nothing to them. What served to reign in the whims of the individual was the system of principles undergirding the orthographic device of ligation.application/pdfen-USCC BYChuhewenligationligatureorthographysinologyAsian historyAsian languages and literatureThesis