A Reflection on “Divinatory Conventions in Late Shang China” and the Grammar of the Oracle-Bone Inscriptions

Abstract

This paper questions Keightley’s claim that the divinatory conventions followed in the Diviner Li 歷-Group charges were different from those followed in the Diviner Bin 賓-Group charges. The paper relies in part on what may be shown as an objective guideline, i.e., what is commonly referred to as “presupposition”, a supposition made prior to any utterance or sentence. The paper also addresses the problem of qi 其 and the negatives used with or without it.