Review on the Research of Bronze Inscription in Yin and Zhou Dynasties

The research on the words of in Yin and Zhou Dynasties could be sorted into two groups. One was explanation of single words (especially doubtful and endemic words) since Song Dynasty. And the results were abundant from Qing Dynasty to modern times; however, these textual researches were mostly restricted to historical study or inscription interpretation. The other was linguistic study of words. The inscriptions were regarded as an important component of ancient Chinese and received a comprehensive study. The studies mainly focused on five aspects : disyllabic words, word-building, thesaurus and synonyms, meaning analysis of a word, comparative reading with historical texts. Thus, from different angles, the materials had gradually been digested fuller. Though these researches started later, the achievements were abundant and the future is promising.