DOCSLIB.ORG

Words Abandoned: Pictograms and Ideograms in Contemporary Russian Visual Poetry

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Words Abandoned: Pictograms and Ideograms in Contemporary Russian Visual Poetry TATIANA NAZARENKO (Winnipeg, MB, Canada) WORDS ABANDONED: PICTOGRAMS AND IDEOGRAMS IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN VISUAL POETRY Pictograms were originated within the framework of the pre-alphabetic system of writing, and the term itself belongs to a mnemonic or semasi- ographic phase of writing' in which the picture or the sketch conveys a direct likeness of idea. Having evolved directly from picture-writing, pictographic writing differs from its predecessor by the shift of emphasis from the picture itself to the sign, which represents the object imaged by the pictogram. Scholars typically consider pictography as the early stage of true writing, di- rectly relating it to the development of phonetic scripts.2 In the process of their further evolution, pictograms turned into phonograms when "the pho- netic value of the sign became independent of the original referent of the sign (and eventually of the external shape) and could be combined productively in a conventional system to intercommunicate."3 Pictographic writing is typically based on the premise that there is "no connection or at least only a loosely recognized implied one, between the spoken word, the name used in the native vernacular to designate the object, and the picture representing the thing referred to."4 Another principle of non- phonetic writing, ideographic writing, is very close to the previously de- scribed system since an ideogram "implies a sign which conveys a meaning which is either purely conventional or only indirectly related to a picto- graphic prototype."5 Typically, an ideogram represents a concept, an idea, or thing rather than a word or phrase. In most ideographic systems, "the origi- nally plain representations lose their pictorial features by degrees" due to the 1. In contrast to the phonographic writing (expressing speech) semasiographic writing is de- fined as "expressing meanings and notions loosely connected with speech." I. J. Gelb, A Study of Writing (Chicago and London: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1963), p. 11.1 . 2. David Diringer, Writing (L,omdon: Thames and Hudson, 1962), pp. 27-34. 3. Wayne M. Senner, ed. The Origin of Writing (Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1989), p. 5. 4. William A. Mason, A History of the Art of Writing (New York: Macmillan , 1928), p. 5 1. 5. W. C. Brice, "The Principles of Non-phonetic Writing," in W. Haas, ed. Writing Without , Letters (New York: Rowman and Littlefield and Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press, 1976), p. 29. necessity to write signs in a quick and easy manner. Since "the meaning is conveyed independently of the spoken word," both systems of non-alphabetic writing represent "a broad sphere of symbolic expressions, embracing mes- sage-sticks, totemic and magical designs, and the like."7 For this particular reasons the concept of pictographic and ideographic writing was widely used in rebuses and puzzle poems, quite popular in European Renaissance and Ba- roque literature. Even in seventeen-century Russian literature, which is often referred to as "culturally alien"8 to the shared European experience, a similar tendency can be traced in the poetic legacy of Simeon Polotskii. However, it is worth mentioning that this Moscow court poet and a tutor to the children of Tsar Aleksei, was introduced to European poetic traditions during his studies at the Kyivan Colleguim, and probably, the Jesuit College in Vilna. Not all puzzle poems are visual, since many of them lose their visual char- acter upon solving.9 However, the creators of puzzle poems demonstrate the same intention to lure the reader into the engaging play of working through the poem's apparent incomprehensibility, as do many of those contemporary visualists who resort to pictographic or ideographic writing in their experi- ments using words, signs and images. It should be noted that many pieces of semasiographic writing demonstrate an apparent proximity to graphic art, making them aesthetically pleasing and appealing to the public. Since non-alphabetic writing by itself, or in combination with the alpha- betic one, both convey the message, the problem of its decoding remains an important issue, whether for the texts created in the pre-alphabetic time or in experimental works by contemporary visualists. The pictogram "recalls the thing itself to the mind, not the name of the thing, unless involuntarily caller up by the reader."10 Therefore, it is up to the reader to ascribe meaning to a picture. The evolution of pictographic writing "among people of all races ... seems to have progressed along practically identical lines of growth,"" al- though principles of pictography were not uniform for different systems of semasiographic writing. As Wayne Senner suggests, "each system evolved unique characteristics within distinct graphic and semantic features."12 There- fore, the process of message decoding required a series of mental experiences 6. A. C: Moorhouse, Writing and the Alphabet (London: Cobbett Press, 1946) p. 10. 7. Ibid., p. 30. 1 8. Dmitrij Cizevskij, A History ofRussian Literature: From the Eleventh Century to the End of the Baroque, ed. C. H. van Schooneveld (The Hague: Mouton, 1962) p. 320. ; 9. Dick Higgins, Paftern Poetry: Guide to an Unknown Literature (Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 1987) p. 184. 10. Mason, History of the Art of Writing, p. 51.1. ' ll./Mt/.,p.49. 12. Wayne M. Senner, "Theories and Myth on the Origins of Writing: A Historical Over- view," in Senner, The Origins of Writing, p. 6. ' .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Concretismo and the Mimesis of Chinese Graphemes
    Signmaking, Chino-Latino Style: Concretismo and the Mimesis of Chinese Graphemes _______________________________________________ DAVID A. COLÓN TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY Concrete poetry—the aesthetic instigated by the vanguard Noigandres group of São Paulo, in the 1950s—is a hybrid form, as its elements derive from opposite ends of visual comprehension’s spectrum of complexity: literature and design. Using Dick Higgins’s terminology, Claus Clüver concludes that “concrete poetry has taken the same path toward ‘intermedia’ as all the other arts, responding to and simultaneously shaping a contemporary sensibility that has come to thrive on the interplay of various sign systems” (Clüver 42). Clüver is considering concrete poetry in an expanded field, in which the “intertext” poems of the 1970s and 80s include photos, found images, and other non-verbal ephemera in the Concretist gestalt, but even in limiting Clüver’s statement to early concrete poetry of the 1950s and 60s, the idea of “the interplay of various sign systems” is still completely appropriate. In the Concretist aesthetic, the predominant interplay of systems is between literature and design, or, put another way, between words and images. Richard Kostelanetz, in the introduction to his anthology Imaged Words & Worded Images (1970), argues that concrete poetry is a term that intends “to identify artifacts that are neither word nor image alone but somewhere or something in between” (n/p). Kostelanetz’s point is that the hybridity of concrete poetry is deep, if not unmitigated. Wendy Steiner has put it a different way, claiming that concrete poetry “is the purest manifestation of the ut pictura poesis program that I know” (Steiner 531).
    [Show full text]
  • Emojis and Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs
    Emojis and Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Emojis are often compared to Egyptian hieroglyphs because both use pictures to express meaning. However, Egyptian hieroglyphs were a writing system like the alphabet you are reading now and could be used to write anything. Instead of using letters for sounds, the ancient Egyptians used signs (pictures). Emojis are used differently. They add extra meaning to writing, a bit like how tone of voice and gestures add extra meaning when we’re speaking. You could write this paragraph using the emoji-alphabet at the top of the answer sheet, but that’s not how emojis are normally used. Aside from using signs instead of letters, there are lots of differences between the Scots and English writing systems and the ancient Egyptian one. For example, Egyptian hieroglyphs could be written either right to left or left to right and were often written in columns from top to bottom. Hieroglyphic writing didn’t use vowels. The name for this sort of writing system is an abjad. You can write out English and Scots with an abjad rather than an alphabet and still understand it without too much difficulty. For example: Ths sntnc sn’t vry hrd t rd. The biggest difference between alphabetic writing systems and the ancient Egyptian one is that in hieroglyphic writing a sign could be used in three ways. It could be used as a word (ideogram); as a sound (phonogram); or as an idea-sign (determinative) to make things easier to understand. For example, could be used as an ideogram for the word ‘bee’; as a phonogram for the first sound in ‘belief’; or as a determinative added to the end of the word ‘hive’ to distinguish it from ‘have’ and ‘heave’, which would all be written the same: hv.
    [Show full text]
  • A STUDY of WRITING Oi.Uchicago.Edu Oi.Uchicago.Edu /MAAM^MA
    oi.uchicago.edu A STUDY OF WRITING oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu /MAAM^MA. A STUDY OF "*?• ,fii WRITING REVISED EDITION I. J. GELB Phoenix Books THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS oi.uchicago.edu This book is also available in a clothbound edition from THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS TO THE MOKSTADS THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO & LONDON The University of Toronto Press, Toronto 5, Canada Copyright 1952 in the International Copyright Union. All rights reserved. Published 1952. Second Edition 1963. First Phoenix Impression 1963. Printed in the United States of America oi.uchicago.edu PREFACE HE book contains twelve chapters, but it can be broken up structurally into five parts. First, the place of writing among the various systems of human inter­ communication is discussed. This is followed by four Tchapters devoted to the descriptive and comparative treatment of the various types of writing in the world. The sixth chapter deals with the evolution of writing from the earliest stages of picture writing to a full alphabet. The next four chapters deal with general problems, such as the future of writing and the relationship of writing to speech, art, and religion. Of the two final chapters, one contains the first attempt to establish a full terminology of writing, the other an extensive bibliography. The aim of this study is to lay a foundation for a new science of writing which might be called grammatology. While the general histories of writing treat individual writings mainly from a descriptive-historical point of view, the new science attempts to establish general principles governing the use and evolution of writing on a comparative-typological basis.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 6, Writing Systems and Punctuation
    The Unicode® Standard Version 13.0 – Core Specification To learn about the latest version of the Unicode Standard, see http://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trade- mark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters or in all capitals. Unicode and the Unicode Logo are registered trademarks of Unicode, Inc., in the United States and other countries. The authors and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this specification, but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained herein. The Unicode Character Database and other files are provided as-is by Unicode, Inc. No claims are made as to fitness for any particular purpose. No warranties of any kind are expressed or implied. The recipient agrees to determine applicability of information provided. © 2020 Unicode, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication is protected by copyright, and permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction. For information regarding permissions, inquire at http://www.unicode.org/reporting.html. For information about the Unicode terms of use, please see http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html. The Unicode Standard / the Unicode Consortium; edited by the Unicode Consortium. — Version 13.0. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-936213-26-9 (http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode13.0.0/) 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Computational Pattern Recognition in Linear a Jajwalya Karajgikar, Amira Al-Khulaidy, Anamaria Berea
    Computational Pattern Recognition in Linear A Jajwalya Karajgikar, Amira Al-Khulaidy, Anamaria Berea To cite this version: Jajwalya Karajgikar, Amira Al-Khulaidy, Anamaria Berea. Computational Pattern Recognition in Linear A. In press. hal-03207615 HAL Id: hal-03207615 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03207615 Preprint submitted on 26 Apr 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Computational Pattern Recognition in Linear A Jajwalya R. Karajgikar1*, Amira Al-Khulaidy 2 , Anamaria Berea3 1 Computational Sciences, MS, George Mason University 2 Computational Social Sciences, PhD student, George Mason University 3 Computational and Data Sciences, Associate Professor, George Mason University *Corresponding author: Jajwalya R. Karajgikar1 Abstract Linear A is an ancient Mycenaean Greek language that is as of yet undeciphered. Computational analysis of the symbols using natural language processing and data mining techniques can aid to better understand this logogram language, and to help us uncover interesting statistical and information-theoretic patterns even without deciphering the language. Using information theory and data science techniques, we show an exploratory analysis of these symbols. We use n-gram analysis to summarize and predict the possible symbols on lost stone tablets, while symbols are clustered by topic modeling as well as k-means, for comparison.
    [Show full text]
  • COX-DISSERTATION-2018.Pdf (5.765Mb)
    Copyright Copyright by Benjamin Davis Cox 2018 Signature Page The Dissertation Committee for Benjamin Davis Cox certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Gods Without Faces Childhood, Religion, and Imagination in Contemporary Japan Committee: ____________________________________ John W. Traphagan, Supervisor ____________________________________ A. Azfar Moin ____________________________________ Oliver Freiberger ____________________________________ Kirsten Cather Title Page Gods Without Faces Childhood, Religion, and Imagination in Contemporary Japan by Benjamin Davis Cox Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2018 Dedication For my mother, who tirelessly read all of my blasphemies, but corrected only my grammar. BB&tt. Acknowledgments Fulbright, CHLA This research was made possible by the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, a Hannah Beiter Graduate Student Research Grant from the Children’s Literature Association, and a grant from the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Endowment in the College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas at Austin. I would additionally like to thank Waseda University for sponsoring my research visa, and in particular Glenda Roberts for helping secure my affiliation. Thank you to the members of my committee—John Traphagan, Azfar Moin, Oliver Freiberger, and Kirsten Cather—for their years of support and intellectual engagement, and to my ‘grand-advisor’ Keith Brown, whose lifetime of work in Mizusawa opened many doors to me that would otherwise have remained firmly but politely shut. I am deeply indebted to the people of Mizusawa for their warmth, kindness, and forbearance.
    [Show full text]
  • Pictographs, Ideograms, and Alphabets in the Work of Paul Klee
    Pictographs, Ideograms, and Alphabets in the Work of Paul Klee J ames Smith Pierce Paul Klee (1879-1940), the Swiss artist who taught at the German Bauhaus, used ancient and modern p ictographs and alphabets in many of his paint­ ings and drawings. The d iscreet characters of the various systems of writi ng were well adapted to Klee's unusual additive technique by which he retained the expressive purity o[ the formal elements. In the 191O's and 1920's, Klee used roman letters to construct abstract formal pauerns, but in the 1930's he reanimated the conventional symbols of the alphabet, turning them into active representational fi gures suggestive of their pictographic origins. His most revolutionary achievement was the invention of bold ideograms, com­ bining different pictographic schemata in a set of double images which enrich a basic idea through chains of associated ideas, thus altering the notion of a picture as representing a scene fix ed in time and space. Paul Klee's interest in ancient systems of writing is obvious from his work and has frequently been commented upon, espe­ cially in discussions of the schematic drawings and paintings of the 1930's_! At a time when such bold images were not as fash­ ionable as they are at present, some attributed this development to the scleroderma that slow ly sapped his strength and finally, in 1940, stopped his heart. H owever , one can point to parallel de­ velopments in the work of his contemporaries-Mira, Picasso, and Matisse-and, curiously, in the very history of image making it­ self, as writing emerged from simple picture-making.
    [Show full text]
  • The Alphabet Tree Dren’S Puzzles
    TUGboat, Volume 26 (2005), No. 3 199 A major intellectual step was the invention of Philology the rebus device. This is where the sounds cor- responding to pictograms are combined to form a word. We have all come across these, often as chil- The alphabet tree dren’s puzzles. For example, a picture of a bee Peter Wilson plus a picture of a tray can represent the word ‘be- tray’, or more obscurely a picture of a bee plus a 1 Introduction picure of a female deer can stand for the word ‘be- We got from via Akn and ’ k n to hind’. Even a single pictogram can suffice; for in- XPD stance a pictogram of the sun can be used for both ` k p A K N, and and @ ¼ à in only about 2000 the words ‘sun’ and ‘son’. Consequently symbols years. This is a short story of how that happened can be created that just stand for sounds and then and how we know what the strange symbols mean, they can be combined to form words. This can a k n a k n e.g., and . The fonts in all the markedly reduce the number of symbols required for examples were designed for use with TEX, especially a full writing system. Symbols representing sounds by humanities scholars, and are freely available. are called phonograms. Phonetic writing requires 1.1 Writing systems few glyphs. In these writing systems, the glyphs represent sounds. All writing systems are a com- The earliest known writing is from Sumeria dating bination of phonetic and logographic elements but from about 3400 bc.
    [Show full text]
  • Abjad 1 Abjad Numerals 6 References Article Sources and Contributors 9 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 10 Article Licenses License 11 Abjad 1 Abjad
    al-ʾAbǧad Two Wikipedia Articles PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 21:20:08 UTC Contents Articles Abjad 1 Abjad numerals 6 References Article Sources and Contributors 9 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 10 Article Licenses License 11 Abjad 1 Abjad An abjad is a type of writing system where each symbol always or usually stands for a consonant, leaving the reader to supply the appropriate vowel. It is a term suggested by Peter T. Daniels to replace the common terms "consonantary", "consonantal alphabet" or "syllabary" to refer to the family of scripts called West Semitic. Abjad is thought to be based on the first letters (a,b,ǧ,d) found in all Semitic language such as Phoenician, Syriac, Hebrew, and Arabic. In Arabic, "A" (ʾAlif), "B" (Bāʾ), "Ǧ" (Ǧīm), "D" (Dāl) make the word "abjad" which means "alphabet". The modern Arabic word for "alphabet" and "abjad" is interchangeably either "abajadeyyah" or "alefbaaeyyah". The word "alphabet" in English has a source in Greek language in which the first two letters were "A" (alpha) and "B" (beta), hence "alphabeta" (in Spanish, "alfabeto", but also called "abecedario", from "a" "b" "c" "d"). In Hebrew the first two letters are "A" (Aleph), "B" (Bet) hence "alephbet." It is also used to enumerate a list in the same manner that "a, b, c, d" (etc.) are used in the English language. Writing systems • History • Grapheme • List of writing systems Types • Featural alphabet • Alphabet • Abjad • Abugida • Syllabary • Logography • Shorthand Related topics • Pictogram • Ideogram Etymology is derived from pronouncing the first letters of the Arabic alphabet in order.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Advantages to a Writing System: 1
    LING 110 Chapter IV: The Alphabet • Introduction – One of the most important inventions in human history. – Two Advantages to a writing system: 1. Allows us to communicate with others outside of shouting range. 2. An extension to our memory. Ling 110 Chapter IV: The Alphabet 1 LING 110 The History of Writing • There are many legends and stories about the invention of writing. – Greek Legend: Cadmus, prince of Phoenicia and founder of the city of Thebes, invented the alphabet and brought it with him to Greece. – Chinese Fable: the four-eyed dragon-god Cang Jie invented writing. – Icelandic Saga: Odin was the inventor or runic script. Ling 110 Chapter IV: The Alphabet 2 LING 110 The History of Writing con’t • However, it is evident that, before a single word wa written, uncountable billions were spoken. • Therefore, it is unlikely that a particularly gifted ancestor awoke one morning and decided, “Today I’ll invent a writing system.” • In fact, the invention of writing systems comes relatively late in human history, and its development was gradual. Ling 110 Chapter IV: The Alphabet 3 DifferentDifferent TypesTypes ofof WritingWriting SystemsSystems Different Writing Systems • We can distinguish among a number of different writing systems based on what the symbols represent. 1. Petroglyphs: • Cave drawings, drawn by people living more than 20, 000 years ago, can still be ‘read’ today. • They are literal portrayals of life at that time. • They may be aesthetic expressions rather than pictorial communications. • Example: Altamira cave in northern Spain. Ling 110 Chapter IV: The Alphabet 4 DifferentDifferent TypesTypes ofof WritingWriting SystemsSystems 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Edward L. Shaughnessy Chinese Annals in the Western Observatory Library of Sinology
    Edward L. Shaughnessy Chinese Annals in the Western Observatory Library of Sinology Editors Zhi Chen, Dirk Meyer Executive Editor Adam C. Schwartz Editorial Board Wolfgang Behr, Marc Kalinowski, Hans van Ess, Bernhard Fuehrer, Anke Hein, Clara Wing-chung Ho, Maria Khayutina, Michael Lackner, Yuri Pines, Alain Thote, Nicholas Morrow Williams Volume 4 Edward L. Shaughnessy Chinese Annals in the Western Observatory An Outline of Western Studies of Chinese Unearthed Documents The publication of the series has been supported by the HKBU Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology — Amway Development Fund. ISBN 978-1-5015-1693-1 e-ISBN [PDF] 978-1-5015-1694-8 e-ISBN [EPUB] 978-1-5015-1710-5 ISSN 2625-0616 This work is licensed under the Creatice Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. For details go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953355 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Shaughnessy/JAS, published by Walter de Gruyter Inc., Boston/Berlin Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Dedicated to the memory of LI Xueqin 李學勤 (1933-2019) 南山有杞，北山有李。 樂只君子，德音不已。 On South Mountain is a willow, On North Mountain is a plum tree. Such joy has the noble-man brought, Sounds of virtue never ending. CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES | XI PREFACE TO THE CHINESE EDITION |
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Symbols
    A History of Symbols http://www.designhistory.org/symbols.html > Symbols have been used to show ownership, group affiliations and to signify who made a particular object. They convey direct information or can carry quiet subliminal messages. These images are edited selections from class slide lectures. Reading this page is not a substitute for attending class. A Symbol Primer 1. 1. 2. 3. Pictograms Pictograms Rebus Ideogram A pictogram is an image that Chinese is composed entirely of The rebus is a pictorial image that An ideogram is a character or symbol represents an object. Pictograms are pictograms, a system of writing used by represents a spoken sound. Today the representing a complete idea useful for conveying information more than any other in the world. rebus is mostly used for amusement without expressing the pronunciation of through a common "visual language" (About 1 billion Chinese speakers however it was a critical link in the a particular word or words for it. able to be understood regardless of compared to 350 million English development of the phonetic Above, an ideogram demonstrates the one's native language or degree of speakers). To be literate in Chinese alphabet starting in Egyptian perils of tipping a vending machine. literacy. So that means that anyone in requires knowledge of several thousand hieroglyphics. (See the "Development (Image from Warning by Nicole the world familiar with a drinking of the over 80,000 Chinese pictograms of Handwriting" on this site). Recchia) fountain should recognize the — although about 3,500 are most pictogram above. commonly used. The pictogram above Shown above are two famous rebus Below is the familiar request to not is Chinese for world peace logos from the 20th century.
    [Show full text]