Innate values? A semiotics of imagery writing

Abstract

In order to contribute to the field of studies on the history of writing, in this paper we aim to establish an analysis based on the epistemological assump­tions of the Greimasian Semiotics to develop a pro­per semiotic comprehension of a series of phenome­na directly related to the formal constitution of the writing technique. By considering that writing alre­ady emerges as a technique imbued with a series of values that seem to be inherent to its own form and that are frequently accepted as a priori data, in this paper, we will demonstrate how graphism – a funda­mental strategy for creating writing forms – already employs a series of resources previously developed by older composition strategies (such as assemblage and carving) to enable the manifestation of meaning­ful forms that come into being through writing. Thus, we aim to challenge certain current definitions of our technique (writing) by introducing an understanding that is based on the belief that the history of writing begins long before the invention of the cuneiform du­ring the Bronze Age.