A comparative study on official title of Khitan in the Khitan small script and word explanation in the history of Liao

Abstract

Recently, new material appeared in Khitan scripts. At the same time, research has also been made actively. Thus, research of Khitan language and scripts has become a very important task in study of Altaic language. In this study, I compare Chinese character with Khitan small script in official title of Khitan.<BR> Conclusions were as follows:<BR> 1. Chinese character used in official title of Khitan was relatively accurate.<BR> 2. Words that are not appeared in the historical record could also see in Khitan small script.<BR> 3. There are many Chinese loanwords in Khitan language.<BR> 4. Some of the differences appeared between Khitan small scripts and 3.<BR> Chinese characters. And some of the differences are important indicator of the future analysis.<BR> - Iriphil(夷??) and Ima(林牙) differ from the notation in vowel and further precise analysis is required.<BR> - Consonant between two vowels do not appear or disappear in the process of the change of Mongolian language. The same phenomenon appears in Khitan language[Alrota(斡??), Uwol(于越), Ima(林牙)].<BR><BR> There is a need to detailed analysis for official title in word explanation of history of Liao. Especially the pronunciation of Khitan script used in the 11th century from 10th century connects to the 13-14century’s pronunciation of Chinese character is very difficult. But data are summarized and future research will be even better. We believe these problems are resolved automatically.