Seen Not Heard : Composition, Iconicity, and the Classifier Systems of Logosyllabic Scripts

Ilona Zsolnay

ISBN 10: 1614910855 / ISBN 13: 9781614910855

Published by ISD International - IPSUK Jul 2023, 2023

About this Item

Neuware - Traditionally, writing--a graphic, multidimensional form of communication--has been approached as a vehicle for representing, and therefore conveying, the spoken word. Moving beyond this manner of analysis, this volume interrogates writing as a medium that is not simply a handmaiden to oral and aural exchange but a communication system that is richly layered and experienced. To exploit this aspect of visual code, scholars from the fields of Egyptology, Sinology, Hittitology, and Assyriology, together with Mesoamericanists, art historians, and a sign language specialist, are brought together in this volume. In its pages, these contributors incorporate into their analyses methods more commonly used in linguistics and semiotics, communication studies, art historical analysis, and traditional philology to new ends in order to form original trajectories of inquiry. Each contribution either lays bare explicit exploitation of visuality in scribal production as a means to cement power, reveal the mystical, induce humor, or expose clandestine views or it locates implicit knowledge schemes and cultural maps underlying and informing these same productions. The pioneering investigations presented in Seen Not Heard reveal that although writing may be heard, the fact that it can also be seen affects its reception and therefore the meaning of any transported phonological units.

Seller Inventory # 9781614910855

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Seen Not Heard : Composition, Iconicity, and the Classifier Systems of Logosyllabic Scripts
• Publisher: ISD International - IPSUK Jul 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1614910855
• ISBN 13: 9781614910855
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 252W x 177H x 19D millimeters 252 millimeters width by 177 millimeters height by 19 millimeters depth
• Weight: 722 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Traditionally, writing--a graphic, multidimensional form of communication--has been approached as a vehicle for representing, and therefore conveying, the spoken word. Moving beyond this manner of analysis, this volume interrogates writing as a medium that is not simply a handmaiden to oral and aural exchange but a communication system that is richly layered and experienced. To exploit this aspect of visual code, scholars from the fields of Egyptology, Sinology, Hittitology, and Assyriology, together with Mesoamericanists, art historians, and a sign language specialist, are brought together in this volume. In its pages, these contributors incorporate into their analyses methods more commonly used in linguistics and semiotics, communication studies, art historical analysis, and traditional philology to new ends in order to form original trajectories of inquiry. Each contribution either lays bare explicit exploitation of visuality in scribal production as a means to cement power, reveal the mystical, induce humor, or expose clandestine views or it locates implicit knowledge schemes and cultural maps underlying and informing these same productions. The pioneering investigations presented in Seen Not Heard reveal that although writing may be heard, the fact that it can also be seen affects its reception and therefore the meaning of any transported phonological units.