A determinative, also known as a "classifier," is an ideogram utilized within a phonogram-ideogra... more A determinative, also known as a "classifier," is an ideogram utilized within a phonogram-ideogram compound, a common feature in ideographic-phonographic writing systems. It functions as a semantic indicator for the hosting word. Both ancient Egyptian and Chinese scripts extensively employed metonymic determinatives, which indicate the meaning of their hosting words in a metonymic manner. This article compares the use of metonymic determinatives in these two scripts and summarizes five underlying metonymic models through the analysis of numerous examples. Additionally, the cultural influences affecting the selection of metonymic determinatives are explored.
A pictographic writing system is a symbolic system that represent words by pictures. It combines ... more A pictographic writing system is a symbolic system that represent words by pictures. It combines language and image, auditory and visual senses, and typically embodies the contradictory unity of language thinking and image thinking. “Fused Ideogram-Phonogram Pictorial Group” is a special small category of written word forms in the early stage of pictographic writing systems. This type of pictorial group enables phonograms to intervene in the imagery composition of the ideogram, forming an “integral” “pseudo-image”. This writing method, on the one hand, highlights the nature of verbal-visual dual-codification of pictographic writing systems (that is, the nature of audio-visual mixed media), and on the other hand, it reflects the visable language’s persistence of imagery. Keywords: Pictographic Writing, Ideogram-Phonogram Pictorial Group, Word-image relation，Semiotics of Chinese characters
A pictographic writing system is a system of symbols that encodes both image and language, that a... more A pictographic writing system is a system of symbols that encodes both image and language, that allows the reader to use both their auditory and visual senses for perception, and that synthesizes viewing and reading. Among the four ancient pictographic writing systems (Sumerian, Egyptian, Chinese, and Mayan), the Egyptian hieroglyphic system exhibits the characteristic of imagery the most prominently. Because of the prominence of imagery in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian hieroglyphs are the most archetypical embodiment of the word-image relationship. The interaction between image and language is not only seen between the pictographic texts and the surrounding scene, but also between the ideograms and phonograms that are intrinsic to the writing system itself. This article takes an ancient Egyptian bas-relief as a case example to analyze both aspects of this relationship. Egyptian hieroglyphs display potent graphic design qualities, and those are an inspired treasure trove for modern semiotics research.
From the perspective of prototype theory in cognitive science this article conducts a comparative... more From the perspective of prototype theory in cognitive science this article conducts a comparative study between prototypical determinatives in Egyptian and Chinese writing. A prototypical determinative stands for a prototypical member (or subcategory) of a category, and is hence used to mark words labelling other members. Through comparable examples of prototypical determinatives in Chinese and Egyptian writing, this article analyses the working mechanisms of prototypical determinatives and the cultural factors that influence their usage.
Since the 20th Century , Chinese scholars have made some progress in the comparative study of Chi... more Since the 20th Century , Chinese scholars have made some progress in the comparative study of Chinese writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Especially, scholars have found many similarities in the formation methods of these two writing systems. However, there are still some weaknesses in this research field. Firstly, Chinese scholars do not have enough knowledge of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Secondly, in the past studies scholars have usually adopted the "six writing methods" which is not suitable for analysis of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Thirdly , in the past studies Chinese scholars mainly gave examples to illustrate the "six writing methods" in both writing systems , but there was little systematic elucidation of the comparative results from the general perspective of world's writing systems.
The property of Chinese writing is interrelated to the property of its basic unit. The basic unit... more The property of Chinese writing is interrelated to the property of its basic unit. The basic unit of Chinese writing system is not "character", but rather "grapheme". There are two types of graphemes in Chinese writing, semantic grapheme and phonetic grapheme. For a better understanding of Chinese writing system, it's important to compare the forms and functions between Chinese graphemes and other writing systems' graphemes, particularly the graphemes of other semantic-phonetic writing systems (Egyptian, Sumerian, and Mayan, etc.).
A determinative, also known as a "classifier," is an ideogram utilized within a phonogram-ideogra... more A determinative, also known as a "classifier," is an ideogram utilized within a phonogram-ideogram compound, a common feature in ideographic-phonographic writing systems. It functions as a semantic indicator for the hosting word. Both ancient Egyptian and Chinese scripts extensively employed metonymic determinatives, which indicate the meaning of their hosting words in a metonymic manner. This article compares the use of metonymic determinatives in these two scripts and summarizes five underlying metonymic models through the analysis of numerous examples. Additionally, the cultural influences affecting the selection of metonymic determinatives are explored.
A pictographic writing system is a symbolic system that represent words by pictures. It combines ... more A pictographic writing system is a symbolic system that represent words by pictures. It combines language and image, auditory and visual senses, and typically embodies the contradictory unity of language thinking and image thinking. “Fused Ideogram-Phonogram Pictorial Group” is a special small category of written word forms in the early stage of pictographic writing systems. This type of pictorial group enables phonograms to intervene in the imagery composition of the ideogram, forming an “integral” “pseudo-image”. This writing method, on the one hand, highlights the nature of verbal-visual dual-codification of pictographic writing systems (that is, the nature of audio-visual mixed media), and on the other hand, it reflects the visable language’s persistence of imagery. Keywords: Pictographic Writing, Ideogram-Phonogram Pictorial Group, Word-image relation，Semiotics of Chinese characters
A pictographic writing system is a system of symbols that encodes both image and language, that a... more A pictographic writing system is a system of symbols that encodes both image and language, that allows the reader to use both their auditory and visual senses for perception, and that synthesizes viewing and reading. Among the four ancient pictographic writing systems (Sumerian, Egyptian, Chinese, and Mayan), the Egyptian hieroglyphic system exhibits the characteristic of imagery the most prominently. Because of the prominence of imagery in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian hieroglyphs are the most archetypical embodiment of the word-image relationship. The interaction between image and language is not only seen between the pictographic texts and the surrounding scene, but also between the ideograms and phonograms that are intrinsic to the writing system itself. This article takes an ancient Egyptian bas-relief as a case example to analyze both aspects of this relationship. Egyptian hieroglyphs display potent graphic design qualities, and those are an inspired treasure trove for modern semiotics research.
From the perspective of prototype theory in cognitive science this article conducts a comparative... more From the perspective of prototype theory in cognitive science this article conducts a comparative study between prototypical determinatives in Egyptian and Chinese writing. A prototypical determinative stands for a prototypical member (or subcategory) of a category, and is hence used to mark words labelling other members. Through comparable examples of prototypical determinatives in Chinese and Egyptian writing, this article analyses the working mechanisms of prototypical determinatives and the cultural factors that influence their usage.
Since the 20th Century , Chinese scholars have made some progress in the comparative study of Chi... more Since the 20th Century , Chinese scholars have made some progress in the comparative study of Chinese writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Especially, scholars have found many similarities in the formation methods of these two writing systems. However, there are still some weaknesses in this research field. Firstly, Chinese scholars do not have enough knowledge of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Secondly, in the past studies scholars have usually adopted the "six writing methods" which is not suitable for analysis of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Thirdly , in the past studies Chinese scholars mainly gave examples to illustrate the "six writing methods" in both writing systems , but there was little systematic elucidation of the comparative results from the general perspective of world's writing systems.
The property of Chinese writing is interrelated to the property of its basic unit. The basic unit... more The property of Chinese writing is interrelated to the property of its basic unit. The basic unit of Chinese writing system is not "character", but rather "grapheme". There are two types of graphemes in Chinese writing, semantic grapheme and phonetic grapheme. For a better understanding of Chinese writing system, it's important to compare the forms and functions between Chinese graphemes and other writing systems' graphemes, particularly the graphemes of other semantic-phonetic writing systems (Egyptian, Sumerian, and Mayan, etc.).
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Keywords: Pictographic Writing, Ideogram-Phonogram Pictorial Group, Word-image relation，Semiotics of Chinese characters
writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Especially, scholars have found many similarities in the formation methods of these two writing systems. However, there are still some weaknesses in this research field. Firstly, Chinese scholars do not have enough knowledge of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Secondly, in the past studies scholars have usually adopted the "six writing methods" which is not suitable for analysis of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Thirdly , in the past studies Chinese scholars mainly gave examples to illustrate the "six writing methods" in both writing systems , but there was little systematic elucidation of the comparative results from the general perspective of world's writing systems.
Books by Yongsheng Chen
Talks by Yongsheng Chen
Keywords: Pictographic Writing, Ideogram-Phonogram Pictorial Group, Word-image relation，Semiotics of Chinese characters
writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Especially, scholars have found many similarities in the formation methods of these two writing systems. However, there are still some weaknesses in this research field. Firstly, Chinese scholars do not have enough knowledge of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Secondly, in the past studies scholars have usually adopted the "six writing methods" which is not suitable for analysis of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Thirdly , in the past studies Chinese scholars mainly gave examples to illustrate the "six writing methods" in both writing systems , but there was little systematic elucidation of the comparative results from the general perspective of world's writing systems.