De Voogt Alex, Finkel Irving (Editors). The Idea of Writing: Play and Complexity

Brill, 2010. — xi, 396 pages. — ISBN: 978-90-04-17446-7.The Idea of Writing: Play and Complexity is an exploration of the versatility of writing systems. From ancient Egyptian, Cuneiform and Meroitic writing to Chinese, Maya and Maldivian script, the authors examine the problems and possibilities of polysemy, representing loan words or adapting a writing system to another language. The playful and artistic use of writing, including a contribution on writing dance, further illustrates the possible intricacies of the scripts. This collection of articles aims to highlight the complexity of writing systems rather than to provide a f rst introduction. Yet as complex as the description of these writing systems may appear, the readers and writers of the most complex scripts did not suffer in a way that has made these systems impractical or impossible to them.The different academic traditions in which these writing systems have been studied use linguistic, socio-historical and philological approaches that all provide insight into largely the same phenomena. The contributions were first presented in a series of symposia in which the interaction between experts of different fields and writing systems was central. As a result, the complex content of each contribution is made accessible to other specialists in the study of writing.Introducing Writing on Writing
Play in Writing
Strange Byways in Cuneiform Writing
Scripts and Shapes: Th Interplay of Chinese Characters and Japanese Syllabaries in Early Modern Japan
Substitution, Substitution, Substitution: The Many Faces of Maya Writing
Loanwords
From Group-Writing to Word Association: Representation and Integration of Foreign Words in Egyptian Script
What is Being Borrowed? Language and Script Contact in Taiwan
The Adaptation of the Cuneiform Script to Foreign Languages
Loanwords, “Foreign Words,” and Foreign Signs in Maya Writing
On Loans and Additions to the Fidäl (Ethiopic) Writing System
Languages and Scripts in the Maldive Islands: Coding and Encoding
Foreign Terms in Sanskrit Pertaining to Writing
Polysemy
Reducing Polyvalency in Writing Systems: From Egyptian to Meroitic
Difficult Hieroglyphs and Unreadable Demotic? How the Ancient Egyptians Dealt with the Complexities of their Script
Maya Writing: Synonyms and Homonyms, Polyvalency and Polysemy
In the Interstices of Representation: Ludic Writing and the Locus of Polysemy in the Chinese Sign
Towards Another Script
Egyptian Writing for Non-Egyptian Languages and Vice Versa: A Short Overview
The Caroline Islands Script: A Linguistic Confrontation
The Interaction of Syllabic and Alphabetic Cuneiform Writing in Ugarit
Writing Dance