Symbols: An Evolutionary History from the Stone Age to the Future

Preface\nContents\n1 Introduction\n	1.1 What\'s in a Symbol?\n	1.2 Syntax\n	1.3 What this Book Is About\n2 Semiotics\n	2.1 Introduction\n	2.2 The Field of Semiotics\n	2.3 Iconicity\n	2.4 Syntax\n	2.5 Articulation\n3 A Taxonomy of Non-linguistic Symbol Systems\n	3.1 Introduction\n	3.2 A Brief History of Non-linguistic Symbols\n	3.3 A Preliminary Taxonomy of Non-linguistic Symbol Systems\n	3.4 Examples of Systems\n	3.5 An in Depth Comparison of Two Non-linguistic Symbol Systems: Japanese kamon and European Heraldry\n		3.5.1 Kamon\n		3.5.2 British Heraldry\n		3.5.3 Structural Differences: Summary\n	3.6 Survey of a Variety of Nonlinguistic Symbol Systems\n		3.6.1 Vin7ca Symbols\n		3.6.2 Uruk Accounting\n		3.6.3 Kudurrus\n		3.6.4 Central Asian Tamgas\n		3.6.5 Pictish Symbols\n		3.6.6 European Heraldry\n		3.6.7 Kamon\n		3.6.8 Alchemical Symbols\n		3.6.9 Symbols of Guild\n		3.6.10 House Marks\n		3.6.11 Gaunerzinken and Hobo Signs\n		3.6.12 Khipu: The Accounting System\n		3.6.13 Totem Poles\n		3.6.14 Naxi Pictography\n		3.6.15 Pennsylvania Barn Stars\n		3.6.16 Dakota Winter Counts\n		3.6.17 Australian Message Sticks\n		3.6.18 Silas John\'s System\n		3.6.19 Lukasa Memory Boards\n		3.6.20 Tupicochan Staff Code\n		3.6.21 Dance Notation\n		3.6.22 Weather Icons\n		3.6.23 Scouting Merit Badges\n		3.6.24 Traffic Signs\n		3.6.25 Car Logos or ``Hood Ornaments\'\'\n		3.6.26 ``Asian\'\' Emoticons\n		3.6.27 Other Non-linguistic Symbol Systems\n	3.7 Detailed Statistical Analysis of kamon\n4 Writing Systems\n	4.1 Introduction\n	4.2 Writing\n		4.2.1 Preliminaries\n		4.2.2 Types of Writing Systems\n		4.2.3 A Side Note on Alphabets and Typewriters\n		4.2.4 Blissymbolics: An Attempt at a ``Semasiographic\'\' Writing System\n	4.3 Limitations of Writing\n		4.3.1 Inclusiveness\n		4.3.2 Graphocentrism\n			Limitations of Writing in Representing Speech\n			The Two-Dimensional Aspect of Writing\n		4.3.3 Summary\n	4.4 Writing: A Summary\n5 Symbols in the Brain\n	5.1 Relevant Areas of the Brain\n	5.2 Meaning in the Brain\n	5.3 Reading Written Language\n		5.3.1 The Letterbox\n		5.3.2 Summary: The Evolution of the Letterbox\n	5.4 Reading Non-linguistic Symbols\n	5.5 A Hypothesis\n6 The Evolution of Writing\n	6.1 What Is Known About the Evolution of Writing?\n	6.2 A Hypothesis\n	6.3 Scribal Schools\n7 Simulating the Evolution of Writing\n	7.1 Previous Work on Computational Modeling of the Evolution of Writing\n	7.2 A New Computational Simulation\n		7.2.1 Description of the Model\n		7.2.2 Simulation of Evolution\n		7.2.3 Summary and Discussion\n	7.3 What Types of Symbol Systems Could Have Evolved intoWriting?\n	7.4 Summary\n	7.5 Details of the Model\n		7.5.1 Data Generation\n		7.5.2 Model\n	7.6 Semantic-Phonetic Compounds from Experiments\n		7.6.1 Monosyllabic Cases\n		7.6.2 Sesquisyllabic Cases\n		7.6.3 Disyllabic Cases\n8 Confusions and Misrepresentations\n	8.1 Introduction\n	8.2 What Does Writing ``Look Like\'\'?\n	8.3 The Statistical Analysis of Symbol Distributions?\n		8.3.1 Statistical Analysis of the Indus Valley Inscriptions\n		8.3.2 More on Structure in the Indus Inscriptions\n		8.3.3 Variations of Distributions of Symbols\n	8.4 Summary\n9 The Future of Graphical Symbols\n	9.1 The Dream of a Universal Written Language\n	9.2 A Fully Expressive Semasiographic System?\n	9.3 The Social Status of Writing\n	9.4 Final Thoughts\nFigure Credits\nBibliography\nAuthor Index\nIndex