WRITING IN SPACE: GLOTTOGRAPHIC AND SEMASIOGRAPHIC NOTATION AT TEOTIHUACAN

Abstract

Abstract The study of writing has in many cases devoted attention to the detection of forms of writing. It has also tended to distinguish these from forms of non-writing by relying on the western notion that true writing must represent language. This study departs from former work and applies an integrational theory of writing to the notational system of Teotihuacan in central Mexico, observing the distinction between glottographic (language-based) and semasiographic (idea-based) writing. The article suggests that scribes at Teotihuacan employed the graphic space of speech scrolls to differentiate consciously between glottographic and semasiographic writing. The analysis behind the study reveals an important difference, too, between the infixes and affixes of speech scrolls, whereby infixes always represented semasiographic writing; in contrast, affixes could consist of both glottographic and semasiographic writing. An integrational theory of writing that focuses on graphic space as a distinguishing feature of different writing systems can show how scribes of ancient Teotihuacan established and followed subtle distinctions within their notational system, in a manner unknown in western writing.

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