從「失而復得」到「專屬化」：1950年以前的柏格理文字與中國西南阿卯苗族教會的原生性政治

From“Lost and Found”to“Proprietary”: Pollard Script and the Politics of Indigeneity among Ahmao Miao Christians in Southwest China before the 1950s

柏格理文字（以下稱「框格文字」）是由循道公會宣教士柏格理（Samuel Pollard，1864-1915）為拼寫阿卯語（苗語滇東北次方言）所發明的記音符號，後又有其他宣教士使用框格文字拼寫其他部落語言，在川黔滇三省交界山區的部落教會裡被廣泛使用，至今仍是中國境內僅次於拉丁字體最活躍的宣教文字。本文旨在論證阿卯教會如何通過框格文字闡釋其基督教的原生性。對阿卯而言，框格文字是「失而復得」的卷書文字，在宣教士的協助下，從遠古殘留遺跡中被發現進而重建的阿卯文字，由此繁衍成其他部落文字，在教區形成與穩定的數十年間，框格文字的差異化對指認部落教會的區分有著獨特的重要性。本文指出，1950 年以前阿卯基督徒所使用的框格文字歷經多次的改造與變革，不僅流通的譯本清楚呈現框格字書寫系統的歷時變化，文字的流變清楚地標記教會組織變化的軌跡，人們也以文字實踐的差異來理解不同宣教差會對阿卯教會的影響。本文從文字生態看教會分裂，提出以專屬化的文字實踐作為探討阿卯教會分裂的後設語境，藉此挑戰以差會神學解釋阿卯教會的儀禮與制度差異。

Pollard’s script refer to the phonetic symbols invented by Methodist missionary Samuel Pollard (1864–1915) to express the Ahmao language, one of the Hmong dialects, in writing. This phonetic alphabet has been used extensively by tribes in southwest China. Pollard script is the most successful alphabet in China that was invented by missionaries, and it is still in use today.
This paper begins with a very different story told by the Ahmao Christians. In this story, Pollard’s invention of the“squared”script is described as the lost script of the ancient scroll found by a foreign missionary. According to Ahmao, Pollard’s“squared”symbols were uncovered from remains of the lost literacy hidden in weavings and plowing. Along with the spread of the Gospel across the tribes, the“lost and found”literacy has become the shared literacy of tribal Christians. The differentiation among the tribes turns the shared literacy into proprietary literacy, which reflects the schism of tribal congregations. This paper explains how Ahmao Christians elaborated their indigeneity through the“lost and found”of Ahmao literacy relating to God’s agent. Particularly, revisions of Pollard’s phonetic alphabets, along with reshuffles and splits of Christian organizations before the 1950s, are the main concerns of this paper. As a result, this paper demonstrates that the denominational divide between CIM(China Inland Mission) Gepu and Methodist Shimenkan Ahmao churches has always been recognized in their different literacies. For churches associated with the Shimenkan system, the“squared”literacy toward standardization reflects the centralized Christian authority. In contrast, for churches associated with the Gepu system, the“squared”literacy toward fluidity and flexibility reflects its decentralized Pentecostal tradition. Instead, of taking for granted this denominational influence, this paper emphasizes the significance of proprietary literacy in making congregations and argues that the schism between Shimenkan and Gepu should be understood in terms of the politics of indigeneity, as they are competing literacies that transformed Ahmao mass into God’s congregations.