What language was used in Shang Dynasty?

Oracle Bone Inscriptions was used in Shang Dynasty, which is a mature writing. Besides Oracle Bone Inscriptions, there are inscriptions on bronzes, Wen Tao and jade articles. Among them, Oracle Bone Inscriptions unearthed from Yin Ruins has the largest number and the richest content, which provides first-hand materials for studying the writing structure of Shang Dynasty.

It is generally believed that inscriptions on bronze in Shang Dynasty are conventional characters used in solemn occasions. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a simple and convenient folk character used in frequent divination activities.

Among the unearthed Oracle Bone Inscriptions, 4,672 words have been found, and scholars have known 1072 words. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's writing materials are hard, so the font is square. At the same time, bronze inscriptions, because they are cast, have a round font.

Extended data:

Archaeologists have discovered a large number of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, which shows that the characters in Yin and Shang Dynasties were fully and widely used and developed more maturely. The structure of Chinese characters has basically taken shape in Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Through the study of Oracle bone inscriptions, later generations have a more detailed and reliable understanding of the Shang Dynasty. In Shang Dynasty, Oracle Bone Inscriptions had many word-formation methods, such as pictographic characters, knowing characters, pictophonetic characters, metonymic characters and signifier characters, which were mature characters.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-Shang dynasty