List of Writing Systems - Pictographic/ideographic Writing Systems

Pictographic/ideographic Writing Systems

Ideographic scripts (in which graphemes are ideograms representing concepts or ideas, rather than a specific word in a language), and pictographic scripts (in which the graphemes are iconic pictures) are not thought to be able to express all that can be communicated by language, as argued by the linguists John DeFrancis and J. Marshall Unger. Essentially, they postulate that no full writing system can be completely pictographic or ideographic; it must be able to refer directly to a language in order to have the full expressive capacity of a language. Unger disputes claims made on behalf of Blissymbols in his 2004 book Ideogram.

Although a few pictographic or ideographic scripts exist today, there is no single way to read them, because there is no one-to-one correspondence between symbol and language. Hieroglyphs were commonly thought to be ideographic before they were translated, and to this day Chinese is often erroneously said to be ideographic. In some cases of ideographic scripts, only the author of a text can read it with any certainty, and it may be said that they are interpreted rather than read. Such scripts often work best as mnemonic aids for oral texts, or as outlines that will be fleshed out in speech.

• Aztec – Nahuatl – Although some proper nouns have phonetic components.
• Mixtec – Mixtec
• Dongba – Naxi – Although this is often supplemented with syllabic Geba script.
• Ersu Shābā – Ersu
• Míkmaq hieroglyphic writing – Míkmaq – Does have phonetic components, however.
• Nsibidi – Ekoi, Efik/Ibibio, Igbo
• Testerian – used for missionary work in Mexico
• Other Mesoamerican writing systems with the exception of Maya Hieroglyphs.

There are also symbol systems used to represent things other than language, or to represent constructed languages. Some of these are

• Blissymbols – A constructed ideographic script used primarily in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).
• iConji – A constructed ideographic script used primarily in social networking
• Isotype (picture language)
• Sona language
• A wide variety of notations

Linear B and Asemic writing also incorporate ideograms.