There are lots of duplicative components in the glyph blocks of Maya hieroglyphs. Some of them are used to double the meaning or sound value of the original components. Some of them are just the aesthetic consideration of scribal which does not affect the significance of the original components. This phenomenon, which was discovered by earlier Maya epigraphers, still needs researches on its causes and substitution patterns. This essay discussed these two issues based on the rearrangement of the glyph blocks containing duplicative components. From the perspective of graphic structure, the doubling phenomenon existed in both syllabic signs and glyphs. There are two reasons for the doubling phenomenon as such. The redundancy and simplification of signs lead to the sign-internal duplication. The unique spelling rule of Mayan language lead to the repetition of the syllabic signs. From the perspective of glyphs, the doubling phenomenon existed in both compound graphs and couplets which are caused by the recombination of glyphs. The substitution patterns of these phenomenon are the use of doubling signs, underspelling, choosing different variants of the same syllabic sign, and sharing components. All of these four substitution patterns can function both in the glyph-internal and between different glyphs.

“Differentiation of form” plays an important role in Tang Lan’s theory system. It is not only an important path to the evolution of characters, but also the theoretical basis of the natural classification created by Tang Lan. This theory is put forward in the second part of ‘The Origin and Evolution of Writing’ and in the Fourth quarter of ‘Composition of Ancient Chinese Characters’, in Introduction to Ancient Philology. According to Tang’s theory, the earliest text is hieroglyphs, but some rarely recorded real name is not representative of hieroglyphic language. In order to record language, hieroglyphics produced three kinds of methods: shaping evolution under the guise of differentiation, meaning extension, and transliteration. ‘Six Skills’ in Chinese Philology section of the “differentiation” is very different to Introduction to Ancient Philology, only one point is probably the same (i.e. change form). The differentiation in China Philology, including corruption and division, also touched the variant that includes differentiation, differentiation due to evolution caused by the text, these are not involved in Introduction to Ancient Philology. This paper makes a detailed analysis of Tang’s differentiation examples on different occasions, so as to understand his theory more accurately and to explore the theoretical value of his theory of “form differentiation”.

Common glyph of “tui” is mainly Chinese bronze inscriptions and Seal letter. There are two main types of its oracle glyph( and ). But they are not included in the commonly used dictionaries. According to the dictionary recorded, the relationship between and is usually just simply defined as variant character. But about the glyph of development relations there is still no conclusion.Through collecting ancient books and various point of view, I attempt to explore the volution of glyph and to discuss its oracle glyph of “tui”. And it is concluded that the two main types of its oracle glyph can only be identified as variants in the specific historical stage.