Ideogram
An ideogram or ideograph (from
- mathematical symbolsare ideograms, for example ⟨1⟩ 'one', ⟨2⟩ 'two', ⟨+⟩ 'plus', and ⟨=⟩ 'equals'.
- The ampersand ⟨&⟩ is used in many languages to represent the word and, originally a stylized ligature of the Latin word et.
- Other typographical examples include ⟨§⟩ 'section', ⟨€⟩ 'euro', ⟨£⟩ 'pound sterling', and ⟨©⟩ 'copyright'.
Ideograms are not to be equated with
Terminology
_2088.jpg)
Pictograms and indicatives
Pictograms are ideograms that represent an idea through a direct graphical resemblance to what is being referenced. In proto-writing systems, pictograms generally comprised most of the available symbols. Their use could also be extended via the rebus principle: for example, the pictorial Dongba symbols without Geba annotation cannot represent the Naxi language, but are used as a mnemonic for the recitation of oral literature. Some systems also use indicatives, which denote abstract concepts. Sometimes, the word ideogram is used to refer exclusively to indicatives, contrasting them with pictograms.[1]
The word ideogram has historically often been used to describe
Many
⟩ could represent the stem il- 'deity', the word šamu 'sky', or the syllable an.
While Chinese characters generally function as logograms, three of the six classes in the
- Pictograms (象形 xiàngxíng) are generally among the oldest characters, with forms dating to the 12th century BC. Generally, with the evolution of the script, the forms of pictographs became less directly representational, to the extent that their referents are no longer plausible to intuit. Examples include ⟨田⟩ 'field'，and ⟨心⟩ 'heart'.
- Indicatives (指事字 zhǐshìzì) like ⟨上⟩ 'up' and ⟨下⟩ 'down', or numerals like ⟨三⟩ 'three'.
- Ideographic compounds (会意字 huìyìzì) have a meaning synthesized from several other characters, such as ⟨明⟩ 'bright', a compound of ⟨日⟩ 'Sun' and ⟨月⟩ 'Moon', or ⟨休⟩ 'rest', composed of ⟨人⟩ 'person' and ⟨木⟩ 'tree'. As the understanding of Old Chinese phonology developed during the second half of the 20th century, many researchers became convinced that the etymology of most characters originally thought to be ideographic compounds actually included some phonetic component.[3]
Example of ideograms are the DOT pictograms, a collection of 50 symbols developed during the 1970s by the American Institute of Graphic Arts at the request of the United States Department of Transportation.[4] Initially used to mark airports, the system gradually became more widespread.
Pure signs
Many ideograms only represent ideas by convention. For example, a red octagon only carries the meaning of 'stop' due to the public association and reification of that meaning over time. In the field of semiotics, these are a type of pure sign, a term which also includes symbols using non-graphical media. Modern analysis of Chinese characters reveals that pure signs are as old as the system itself, with prominent examples including the numerals representing numbers larger than four, including ⟨五⟩ 'five', and ⟨八⟩ 'eight'. These do not indicate anything about the quantities they represent visually or phonetically, only conventionally.
Types
Mathematical notation
A mathematical symbol is a type of ideogram.[5]
History
As true
According to the classical theory, because ideographs directly reflected the forms, they were the only "true language",[10] and had the unique ability to communicate arcane wisdom to readers.[11] The ability to read Egyptian hieroglyphs had been lost during late antiquity, in the context of the country's Hellenization and Christianization. However, the traditional notion that the latter trends compelled the abandonment of hieroglyphic writing has been rejected by recent scholarship.[12][13]
Europe only became fully acquainted with written Chinese near the end of the 16th century, and initially related the system to their existing framework of ideography as partially informed by Egyptian hieroglyphs.[14] Ultimately, Jean-François Champollion's successful decipherment of hieroglyphs in 1823 stemmed from an understanding that they did represent spoken Egyptian language, as opposed to being purely ideographic. Champollion's insight in part stemmed from his familiarity with the work of French sinologist Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat regarding fanqie, which demonstrated that Chinese characters were often used to write sounds, and not just ideas.[15]
Proposed universal languages
Inspired by these conceptions of ideography, several attempts have been made to a design a universal written language—i.e., an ideography whose interpretations are accessible to all people with no regard to the languages they speak. An early proposal was made in 1668 by John Wilkins in An Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language. More recently, Blissymbols was devised by Charles K. Bliss in 1949, and currently includes over 2,000 graphs.[16]
See also
- Epigraphy – the study of inscriptions
- List of symbols
- List of writing systems
- Character (symbol)
- Emoji
- Heterogram (linguistics)
- Lexigrams
- Logotype
- Traffic sign
References
Citations
- ISBN 978-0-691-01468-5.
- ISBN 978-0-521-68497-2. p. 12.
- ISBN 978-0-940-49078-9.
- ^ "Resources". American Institute of Graphic Arts. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
- ISBN 978-0-804-73684-8.
- ^ Westerfeld 2019, p. 23.
- ^ O'Neill 2016, pp. 43–45.
- ^ O'Neill 2016, pp. 32–34.
- ^ Westerfeld 2019, p. 18; O'Neill 2016, pp. 18–20.
- ^ O'Neill 2016, pp. 38–40.
- ^ O'Neill 2016, pp. 18–20, 32–34, 46–50.
- ^ Westerfeld 2019, p. 32.
- JSTOR 3879458.
- ^ O'Neill 2016, p. 1.
- ^ O'Neill 2016, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Unger 2003, pp. 13–16.
Works cited
- Coulmas, Florian (2003). Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-78217-3.
- ISBN 978-0-824-81068-9.
- Hannas, William C. (1997). Asia's Orthographic Dilemma. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 978-0-824-81892-0.
- ISBN 978-0-824-82656-7.
- O'Neill, Timothy Michael (2016). Ideography and Chinese Language Theory: A History. De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-110-45923-4.
- Westerfeld, Jennifer Taylor (2019). Egyptian Hieroglyphs in the Late Antique Imagination. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-812-25157-9.
Further reading
- DeFrancis, John (1984). "The Ideographic Myth". The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. University of Hawaiʻi Press. Retrieved 2024-02-29 – via pinyin.info.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
