On scripturology

Abstract

peer reviewedIn this contribution we present the principles and parameters of a discipline that we christen "scripturology". This discipline concerns the study of different facets of writing, perceived in its generality, as the semiotic apparatus articulating language and spatial facts. Scripturology is understood as a general theory targeting the establishment of a semiotic typology of writing systems. It distinguishes the visual facts, independent of their semiotisation, and the graphic signifiers they actualise: a visual stimulus can be the support for several scriptural signifiers, and these latter are themselves susceptible to multiple forms of signification. Scripturology enables thus the extension and the systematisation of theoretical options explored by pioneers like Christin or Harris