What function does the「」-shaped component have in characters like「」and「傷」? 戰國文字有從「人」和「昜」而成的「傷」字，但現代標準楷體的「傷」字與其結構有所不同；它含有一個「」形的部件。「傷」被釋爲從「人」，「」省聲的字（與說文解字的解釋一樣）：


  《說文》：「創也。从人，省聲。」


煕康字典卻有以下的條目：


  《康熙字典》：【說文】同。


若「」與「」有異體關係，那「」在「」、「傷」、「殤」、「觴」等字當中有何職能？
Chu bamboo texts show 「偒」, but it's not certain if it has anything direct to do with 「傷」 (they might have represented the same word, but their formation is not the same).

The phonetic component of 「傷」 and 「」 (basically, their right hand side) is reduced from the right hand side of the character 「⿸㫃昜」 (see last three entries here).

「㫃」 depicts a flagpole with an attached flag, and this has now been corrupted into what looks like 「方」 (remnant of the flagpole) and 「」 (remnant of the flag) as a component, in characters like 「旌」, 「旗」, 「旋」, etc. 「」 in 「傷」 and 「」 is from the top right of 「⿸㫃昜」.



References:


裘錫圭《文字學概要》