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Grapholinguistics is the study of written language. The field first emerged as a distinct sub-discipline of linguistics in German-language scholarship during the 1970s; other names used by academics to describe the field include graphemics, grammatology, and graphology. There is considerable diversity among researchers in how concepts central to the field are understood and defined, such as the grapheme as a basic functional unit of study.[1]
Background and nomenclature
editThe Swiss philosopher Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) is associated with the advent of modern linguistics in the late 19th century. This development was characterized by a shift away from the emphases of traditional philology, namely its privileging of written texts as the primary object of study—in favor of paying attention toward speech, which was increasingly recognized for its special connections to human cognition, and its potential to better the scientific understanding thereof.[2]
While earlier works by academics including Isaac Taylor (1829–1901) and David Diringer (1900–1975) have been highlighted for similarities in some of their methodological assumptions, the Polish-American Assyriologist Ignace Gelb (1907–1985) has been credited with establishing the foundations for the modern study of writing systems in his 1952 work A Study of Writing.[3]
Other names researchers have used to describe the field include graphemics, grammatology, and graphology. Some of these labels have particular connotations or can be conflated with distinct fields: graphology generally refers to the study of handwriting in order to identify personality traits belonging to the scribe—a field generally considered to be pseudoscientific.[4] The term grammatology is heavily associated with the work of Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), specifically his 1967 work Of Grammatology—where he calls for a scientific study of writing distinct from speech, connected to a broader philosophical critique of what he characterizes as "logocentrism" in Western culture.[5]
Graphetics
editTypography
editGraphematics
editOrthography
editTypology of writing systems
editRelated fields
editPhilology
editPalaeography
editEpigraphy
editReferences
editCitations
edit- ^ Barbarić (2023), p. 123.
- ^ Meletis & Dürscheid (2022), p. 8; Condorelli (2022), p. 1.
- ^ Gnanadesikan (2023), p. 31, citing Woods (2010), p. 16; Daniels & Bright (1996), p. 7
- ^ Meletis & Dürscheid (2022), p. 89; Barbarić (2023), p. 119.
- ^ Coulmas (1996), p. 173.
Works cited
edit- Condorelli, Marco (2022). Introducing Historical Orthography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-10073-1.
- ———; Rutkowska, Hanna, eds. (2023). The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Orthography. Cambridge handbooks in language and linguistics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-48731-3.
- Barbarić, Vuk-Tadija. "Grapholinguistics". In Condorelli & Rutkowska (2023), pp. 118–137.
- Gnanadesikan, Amalia E. "Classifying and Comparing Early Writing Systems". In Condorelli & Rutkowska (2023), pp. 29–49.
- Joyce, Terry. "Typologies of writing systems". In Condorelli & Rutkowska (2023), pp. 138–160.
- Coulmas, Florian (1991) [1989]. The Writing Systems of the World. Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-18028-9.
- ——— (2002) [1996]. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems (Repr. ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19446-0.
- ——— (2002). Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-78217-3.
- Crystal, David (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. The Language Library (6th ed.). Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-405-15296-9.
- Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-195-07993-0.
- Gelb, Ignace J. (1963) [1952]. A Study of Writing (Rev. ed.). University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-28606-8.
- Köhler, Reinhard; Altmann, Gabriel; Fan, Fengxiang, eds. (2008). Analyses of Script: Properties of Characters and Writing Systems. Quantitative Linguistics. Vol. 63. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-110-19641-2.
- Meletis, Dimitrios; Dürscheid, Christa (2022). Writing Systems and Their Use: An Overview of Grapholinguistics. Trends in Linguistics. Vol. 369. De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 978-3-110-75777-4.
- ——— (2020). The Nature of Writing: A Theory of Grapholinguistics. Grapholinguistics and Its Applications. Vol. 3. Brest: Fluxus. doi:10.36824/2020-meletis. ISBN 978-2-957-05492-3. ISSN 2681-8566.
- Powell, Barry B. (2012) [2009]. Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-25532-2.
- Rogers, Henry (2005). Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach. Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics. Malden, MA: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-23463-0.
- Sampson, Geoffrey (1985). Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-804-71254-5.
- ——— (2016). "Writing systems: Methods for recording language". In Allan, Keith (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Linguistics. London: Routledge. pp. 47–61. ISBN 978-0-415-83257-1.
- Woods, Christopher, ed. (2010). Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond. Oriental Institute Museum Publications. Vol. 32. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. ISBN 978-1-885923-76-9.