Secondly, the main principles that underlie the syntagmatic organization of graphemes within hieroglyphic inscriptions are explored, with the aim of showing how the linear and spatial syntaxes constantly interact within this writing system. The first goal is to provide a systematic description of the glossic functions of the hieroglyphic grapheme, 7 paying special attention to the formal plasticity of graphemes that can activate both linguistic and iconic significations. 6 The aim of this paper is accordingly threefold. 7 Throughout this paper, I endorse the definitions provided by Klinkenberg & Polis (this volume) for (.)Ģ However, two aspects of the hieroglyphic writing systems, which are fairly well studied and understood within Egyptological circles, have failed to attract broader attention: the significant functional flexibility of the hieroglyphic signs as well as the impressive richness and great subtlety of their toposyntax.4 Finally, the functions of the hieroglyphic signs-that range from purely semographic to strictly phonographic-provide a deep insight into the potentialities of writing systems from a typological point of view. 2 Second, there is a ‘unity of art and writing’ 3 in ancient Egypt, and the figurative dimension of the hieroglyphic signs as well as the essential relationship between the pictorial and linguistic forms of expression are of paramount interest for linguists, art historians, and semioticians alike. First, it is one of few original (and one of the most ancient) writing systems, and its origin and development can be described quite precisely based on a sizeable quantity of written evidence.
5 See for instance Coulmas (2002, pp. 170–176) about Egyptian as a mixed system.ġ The hieroglyphic writing system figures prominently in many general descriptions of world writing systems 1 for at least three main reasons.Note that a single Egyptian verb sS (written with a representa (.) 2 A fundamental analysis is Schott (1951).
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