Are Writing Systems Intelligently Designed?

These English psychologists — what is it they want? We find them, voluntarily or involuntarily, ever engaged in the same work, — the work of pushing into the foreground the partie honteuse of our inner world and of seeking for the really operative, really imperative and decisive factor in history just there, where the intellectual pride of man would least wish to find it (for example, in the vis inertiae of custom or in forgetfulness or in some blind and accidental hooking-together and mechanism of ideas or in something purely-passive, automatic, reflex-motion-like, molecular and thoroughly stupid). (Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals.) This paper concerns the genealogy of writing systems, not of morals. But, like Nietzsche's "English psychologists," I am interested in the role of "blind and accidental hooking-together and mechanism" in the formation of that genealogy, particularly to the extent that its results resemble the products of goal-directed human agency. In a manner perhaps somewhat contrary to the guiding spirit of this volume, I will suggest that the apparent design and efficacious functionality of writing systems are the product of less human agency and forethought than is generally imagined

Naming and Picturing New World Nature

Histor

Constraints between picture and painting: some considerations at a distance

This article considers a series of constraints active in the abrasive interface between picture and painting. The term constraint is used in reference to Margaret Boden's research into the computational mechanisms underlying creativity, constraints understood as productive limits that test a given field or convention. The space between picture and painting is full of strongly defended divisions, and inevitable overlaps, and it can be a cluttered and contentious field for a practitioner to negotiate. The aim is in part to bypass an oppositional mindset that cuts off descriptive and imitative impulses for painting and picture from abstract positions and to access the constructed forms of pictorial convention by a different route. In order to avoid a dead-end opposition, a distance from painting and picture is established through a close examination of an early artefact of mark making and counting in the form of a small clay ball called a bulla. Dating from around 3500 bce, the bulla reference depends on the archaeological research of Denise Schmandt-Besserat and on a description by Georges Ifrah as a key example in the development of numeration. The bulla is identified as a point where distinctions between number, word, object and picture are not fixed and their interdependencies are clear and productive. In this article the particular qualities of the bulla facilitates thoughts about three interlocking terms: likeness, representation and depiction. Each term is addressed in turn, framed as ‘testing likeness’, ‘retaining representation’ and ‘the material requirements of depiction’, and each is considered through processes of recognition and resemblance. This is informed by writing on painting’s mimetic and materially specific art history, including James Elkins, Michael Podro, Georges Didi-Huberman, W. J. T. Mitchell, Michael Baxandall and Jacques Rancière. Likeness is rephrased by a consideration of analogy, and the conceptual testing involved, opening a space between the notion of likeness and visual resemblance. Representation is thought through the processes of correspondence and reiteration, and the associations of both presence and displacement. Depiction is embedded into its material conditions and the circumstances of recognition that evokes. All three terms are considered as key to the constraints between painting and picture, even when functioning as exclusions

Several Issues on Hieroglyph of Naxi Ethnic Minority

Hieroglyph of Naxi ethnic minority is the picture text, which has been so far the only “living hieroglyph”. Naxi Hieroglyph is the general name of Dongba Script, Geba Script Malimasha Script as well as Ruanke Script. Moreover, the creation of Naxi Hieroglyph is closely related to the migration routes of Naxi Geba Script, based on Do ancestors, which corresponds with the dialect areas of Naxi ethnic language, and its creation can date back to 11th century. Geba Script, is created when contacting with foreign culture, which carries the characteristics of Chinese and Tibetan writings

The Relaciones Geográficas Map of Misquiahuala: Interpretation and Contextualization

This study situates the Relaciones Geográficas map of Misquiahuala (RGM) in its historical, cultural, and aesthetic contexts. The RGM was painted by an indigenous artist in 1579 on a deerskin hide and is the product of Philip II of Spain’s attempt to survey New Spain. The map invites considerations of the impact that differing cultures had on the pictorial qualities of artistic production at this time. My study aims to explore the RGM’s contextual history, develop interpretations of its composition, imagery, and symbolism, and situate it within the broader social context of 16th century New Spain. The map of Misquiahuala, located in the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin, is an eloquent example of artistic production that exemplifies stylistic hybridity. It embodies the cultural convergence of the Spanish and indigenous Mesoamericans, and provides the opportunity to engage with questions of authorship, the visible tension of cross-cultural dialogues, artistic exchange, and hybridization.Art and Art Histor

ANALYSIS ON THE CULTURE MEANINGS OF INDONESIAN AND CHINESE LANGUAGES FOR COLOR WORDS

Indonesian and Chinese words for colors have a relation of cultural and social meanings. The cultural meaning of color words reflects the social concept of a word’s meaning. Cultural linguistic explores the relation between language and culture. What is the relation between color words and culture? How to explore the national culture meaning through the comparative study of color words? Based on first Chinese dictionary (SHUOWEN JIEZI), A Thesaurus of Modern Chinese (TMC) and Tesamoko Tesaurus Bahasa Indonesia(Tesamoko) and related sources, this paper analyzes and discusses the cultural meaning, development, naming, evolution of color words and object references of color words

Geosection indices for environmental data

System of geosection indices for indentification of environmental data associated with observation stations on earth surfac

Symbolism as the Language of Millennials

This paper is a linguistic analysis of symbols in regard to marketing strategies becoming relevant to the Millennial generation. This study aims to examine how technological advances affect Millennial characteristics and behaviors arnd contribute to the growing phenomenon of visual literacy. Research on the topic was synthesized and used to create a survey with various symbols. Utilizing Abdullah and Hubner’s (2006) semiotic design analysis of icons and pictograms, fourteen popular brand name symbols were chosen to be first analyzed and then anonymously named by Millennials. This study found that marketing professionals’ strategies are successfully relevant to the Millennial generation, causing a mutual understanding between the signifier and the signified, or more specifically, the message marketing professionals are conveying through symbolic design and the message Millennials are receiving. The data observations show the parallel between the efficiency of the design and the efficiency of symbols’ usage in society. This study asserts that pictographic language is gradually replacing written language in order to be generationally relevant