Much has been made of the ‘primitive’ nature of the script, whereby in written scriptures certain words and in some cases whole sentences are left out, with the text simply serving as a mnemonic aid for the priest to recite the scripture.
(This is certainly true of many texts, but modern documents with each word represented in the text, such as diary entries and letters, do exist. It cannot be stressed enough that the Naxi script is a functional writing system.)
Reading Example:
The following is an excerpt from the Naxi creation scipture, The Origin of the Human Race:
Note that there are six characters in this panel, but when read by a Dongba, the text would include two full sentences:
Naxi: ts’o33 / ku33 / mɯ33 / nɯ33 / kv21
English word-for-word: human / egg / heaven / aux. particle / birth
Translation: The embryo of the human race was born in the heavens
Naxi: ts’o21 / bu21 / dY21 / nɯ33 / bu21
English word-for-word: human / gestate / earth / aux. particle / nurture
Translation: The embryo of the human race was nurtured in the earth.
We can see then that the original six characters would ony read ‘people born sky, people nurtured earth’. When read out, there are ten distinct words: the ‘embryo/egg’ is not included, and neither are the auxiliary particles, making it extremely difficult to read the scripture if you do not already know the story.
