Outline of successive stages in the transition from ideographic to phonemic writing

Abstract

The shift from an ideographic writing to an alphabetic or phonemic one constituted a milestone in Antiquity regarding thought about language and its representation (and thought in general). By no means was it a singular milestone, but rather one which is ever renewing and always open to new findings and contexts. A scheme is sketched here that attempts to account for the different ways in which such development can take place. Particular attention is paid to the relationship of writing to the specific linguistic type. Some brief additional remarks on the principle of rebus and on the so-called Schlagwortprinzip are included.