ETD

• aramaic heterograms
• eastern christianity
• historical orthography
• iranic studies
• linguistic studies
• religious studies
• sogdian culture
• writing systems

The Christian fragments discovered in Turfan at the beginning of the XX century are evidence for a Christian monastery and a lay-community between the VIII and XI century in the northeastern Tarim Basin. On a socio-cultural level, the preserved texts show the primary use of Syriac language, along with translations in various vernacular languages such as Sogdian, Uighur, New Persian. In this context of linguistic and scriptural contact, the use of Aramaic heterograms in Sogdian script is widely attested, while few manuscripts in Syriac script show evidence of two logograms derived from the heterogram ZY (‘and’) rendered through Syriac letters in the spellings ΓY and YZ . Both attestations stand out as markers of various educational and cultural traits within the Sogdian and Syriac graphic environments.

In Sogdian writing system the heterograms, along with the script, are derived from Imperial Aramaic writing. They are part of the writing system, employed as alternatives to phonographic notations (e.g. ZY instead of ’t, ‘and’) for conjunction, prepositions, pronouns and some nouns, being of common and widespread use in all types of documents attested in Sogdian script (religious, economic, administrative, etc.). The Sogdian heterograms attested in the Christian-Sogdian corpus fall within this contextual graphic environment, being heterographic features employed and understood as part of the orthography of Sogdian written language.

Syriac writing system never employed heterographic features, and even when adapted to write Sogdian language such usages were avoided. Nevertheless, two logographic forms derived from the Sogdian heterogram ZY are attested in few manuscripts, highlighting a case of adaptation of a graphic feature from Sogdian cursive script to Syriac script when use to write Sogdian language. Sogdian-derived logograms are written through Syriac letters in the form ΓY in manuscripts E23, E26 and E29; and in the form YZ in E26 only, with a peculiar V-shaped variant attested in E8. All the manuscripts contain texts of ascetic and/or hagiographic genre, a part from E8 (a prayer-amulet), underlining the particular link with literary genre for such uses. The functional uses of both logograms attest the widening and diversification of syntactical and codicological functions: while in Sogdian script texts the heterogram ZY was used just as coordinating conjunction, the logograms in Syriac script are employed with a variety of functions, as for introducing main and subordinate clauses, direct speech and quotations, and as line-filler. This features underline the conscious and pragmatic stylization from Sogdian to syriac script, although restricted in use.
The comparative analysis of these graphical uses in Sogdian and Syriac scripts underline a shared educational background in Sogdian written language for both usages, with different behaviors connected to the employment of heterograms and logograms in the two scripts and text-genres, and for different audiences. On the level of historical orthography, the attestations in the two scripts are markers for cultural, social and educational traits of both active and passive users of the texts in which such graphic features are found. The reflection on users is fundamental in delineating the graphic environment of each script and to elucidate how extended they were, particularly in a context antecedent to press thus deeply connected with tradition and personal education of the single scribes. Sogdian script seems to have been employed for well-known texts such as the Psalter, having to be read by people not accustomed with Syriac script and language. In this graphic context the heterograms are commonly employed for various functions (conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions), being part of the writing system and accordingly employed. In Syriac script the logographic features cover a wider variety of functions compared to the original heterogram such as coordinating conjunction, introducing direct speech, relative and main clauses, and as line-filler. In this case, the texts have been compiled for readers of ascetic literature accustomed with Syriac script and language, probably restricted to monks. The two logographic forms point to an educational background in Sogdian script, with the conscious transfer of a graphic feature from Sogdian to Syriac script.