Collation and new research on the Epitaph of Xiao Hanning Prince of the Xi in Khitan large script

Abstract

The present study focuses on the Epitaph of Xiao Hanning Prince of the Xi in Khitan large script, and examines the phonological and semantic issues of a selection of Khitan large script graphemes attested in the epitaph. In previous scholarship, various interpretations have been proposed concerning the identification of individual grapheme forms, textual decipherment, and the correspondence between the Khitan and Chinese texts. Based on previously published transcriptions and related studies, this article presents a preliminary collation of the Khitan large script text and further analyses and discusses the phonology and semantics of relevant words and graphemes by combining Chinese epigraphic documents with other contemporary Khitan large script epitaphs. Through the comparison of problematic grapheme forms and divergent decipherment views, this article puts forward some tentative understandings on the phonology and semantics of several Khitan large script graphemes, which may serve as a basis for further new decipherment of the Khitan large script.