Jurchen script
Daniel Kane has suggested that the large and small Jurchen scripts are points on a single script continuum: the large script was the earliest form of the Jurchen script, as represented in the manuscript "Jurchen Character Book" ("Nǚzhēn Zìshū", ) that was discovered in Xi'an in 1979; and the small script was the later form of the Jurchen script, as represented on the "Monument recording the names of successful candidates for the degree of jinshi" ("Nüzhen jinshi timing bei", ) and in the "Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary". The earlier and later forms of the script use basically the same set of characters, but whereas the characters in the "Jurchen Character Book" are largely logographic is nature, many of the characters in the "Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary" and monumental inscriptions have developed a phonetic function, and can thus be used to express grammatical endings. Kane considers the "large script" to refer to characters used as logograms, and the "small script" to refer to character used as phonograms.