It has been recognized so far that sound change was not used in order to avoid using a
taboo character. Nevertheless, we find examples that suggest that there was indeed a habit of changing
sounds to avoid using taboo characters in speech. Such sound changes can be seen not only in the
case of state taboo, i.e., avoidance of the given names of emperors, but also in the case of secular
taboo, e.g., sound changes of the vocabularies for genitals practiced in the Buddhist society. Interesting
enough, these sound changes were not a case of temporary substitution but were used as one of
the stable pronunciations of the characters.
The documentary on Islamic calligraphy “The Dot” (2020) will be shown as part of Public Lectures at the IOM RAS (with support from the Ibn Sina Foundation) at 17:30 on Wednesday, December 7, 2022.
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