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Dongba script

The Dongba, Tomba or Tompa script is a pictographic writing system used by the ²dto¹mba (Bon priests) of the Naxi people. In the Naxi language it is called ²ss ³dgyu 'stone records' or ²lv ³dgyu 'stone records'. Together with the syllabic Geba script and the Latin alphabet, it forms a component of the Naxi script. It is about a thousand years old. The glyphs are pictographic or ideagraphic, but are sometimes used as a rebus. It is a mnemonic system, and cannot by itself represent the Naxi language; different authors may use the same glyphs with different meanings.

The script is written on handmade paper, with sheets sewn together at the left edge, forming a book. The pages are ruled horizontally with the ideographs written in three or five sections within these rules.

Facing pages of a Naxi manuscript, displaying both pictographic dongba and smaller syllabic geba.

Usage

The script is used solely as an aid to the interpretation of ritual texts during ceremonies, it is reputated to have more than 2000 symbols in 20,000 religious scriptures.

The Ethnologue project claims that it is "not practical for everyday use, but is a system of prompt-illustrations for reciting classic texts".. A scholar concludes it is "unlikely that it [the Dongba script] would make the minor developmental leap to becoming a full-blown writing system. It arose a number of centuries ago to serve a particular ritual purpose. As its purpose need not expand to the realm of daily use among non-religious specialists — after all, literate Naxi today, as in the past, write in Mandarin Chinese — at most it will but continue to fulfill the needs of demon exorcism, amusing tourists and the like.

Rebus

Examples of rebus include using a picture of two eyes (myə³) to represent fate (myə³), a rice bowl for both xa² 'food' and xa² 'sleep', and a picture of a goral (se³) stands in for an aspectual particle.