If Chinese characters had never been invented, what sort of script

>if Chinese characters had never developed, what Chinese characters would have developed?

>>2150188
Actually, my assumption was that if they had never developed their own script that they would have eventually ended up borrowing a script from someone else (you know, like the Europeans did), and was wondering what script would be likely.

Something based off Sanskrit, and the literature associated therewith: Buddhist sutras, etc. Like Tibet.

>>2150209
So, an Indic script/abugida? How would it have impacted the Chinese language and literature? Would they read the old texts out loud letterwise in more-or-less the old pronunciations, like how the French kept writing "nigrus" and reading old texts out loud with "nigrus" even though they said "noir", or would they have gone the Tibetan "etymological spelling" route?

>>2150206
Okay, I misunderstood. Assuming non-Chinese history played out the same way, I'd say this guy is right >>2150209. Civilizations which don't develop writing usually find ways to work without it (like the Inca with quipu), and therefor might not be very keen on adopting it, so even though the Chinese would have had contact with other literate cultures in ancient times I don't think they would immediately adopt their scripts. Buddhism, however, spread deeply into Chinese society and elite culture during the Sui/Tang period, so I could definitely see it being adopted then.

>>2150234
Don't know enough to answer.

>>2150242
How much do we know about quipu, anyway? Were they just for representing numbers or yes/no states, or could they represent words in some cases?

>>2150180
The discovery of a single tiny stone seal (known as the "Anau seal") with geometric markings from the BMAC site at Anau in Turkmenistan in 2000 led some to claim that the Bactria-Margiana complex had also developed writing, and thus may indeed be considered a literate civilization. It bears five markings strikingly similar to Chinese "small seal" characters, but such characters date from the Qin reforms of roughly 100 AD, while the Anau seal is dated by context to 2,300 BCE. It is therefore an unexplained anomaly. The only match to the Anau seal is a small jet seal of almost identical shape from Niyä (near modern Minfeng) along the southern Silk Road in Xinjiang, assumed to be from the Western Han dynasty.[11]


But in independent studies of the inscription, two experts in ancient Chinese — Dr. Qui Xigui of Beijing University and Dr. Victor H. Mair of Penn — concluded that the characters were much like a more advanced script practiced in the Western Han dynasty of 206 B.C. to A.D. 9.

>>2150575
Where can I find more information about it? Is any available online?

>>2150234
Japanese hiragana system is based off of sanskirt reading. Aeiou/kstnhmyn combos.

>>2150684
Forgot rw as well.

Example ka ki ku ke ko, if you're confused by combos.

>>2150575
>Prof. Qiu says that both of the Central Asia lignite seals look as though they were written by people who had contact with the Chinese writing system and may have tried to imitate it without getting the forms entirely right.
In other words only Mair is supportive of this theory while Qiu argues the script was influenced by the Chinese.

Mair is also known for his fringe theories on the the Indo European origin of Chinese civilization.

>>2150675

http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/42-3/What%20in%20the%20World.pdf

https://www.academia.edu/9347270/The_Anau_Seal_and_the_Questions_It_Raises

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/31/science/social/31SEAL.html

http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/nisa/anau.htm

File: What.png (28KB, 285x285px) Image search: [Google]

28KB, 285x285px

>>2150575
I want Turanists to get the fuck out.

>>2150253
Numbers or possibly a binary system.

One guy has suggested that the numbers could translate to places, like assigning zip codes basically