More than Writing: Coding and Decoding (in) Amerindian Graphic Communication Systems between Mexico and the Andes

本项目通过以下方式调查美洲印第安人图形系统的操作原理：1）探索选定的案例研究; 2）重新概念化根深蒂固的假设，即非欧洲图形系统应从关注“真实”书写的角度进行衡量和评估，即，演讲的完全可视化。这种有偏见但仍然盛行的焦点是有问题的，因为美洲和其他地方的大多数图形通信系统并不可视化语音，而是在没有可视化单词的情况下表达心理概念和结构。大量的西方知识也被编入非字母图形通信系统中，这些系统就像化学或音乐符号一样，可以独立理解并用不同的语言表达，但关于这些文字的理论工作仍处于起步阶段。这个项目问这样的图形通信系统如何在美洲印第安人的工作，以及他们的理解如何有助于写作的一般理论。因此，五个子项目将通过类似的基本方法程序分析高度不同的案例（从米斯特克法典和玉米阅读，到混合的前西班牙安第斯交流系统，到低地南美洲的象形文字和图形符号系统），以促进一个统一的理论，其中可以包括多种美洲印第安图形交流系统。该项目将汇集特定的知识和方法，用于分析不同美洲印第安人地区，文化以及不同学术传统的prehispanic和当代图形通信系统：中美洲，安第斯山脉和低地南美洲。因此，它将有助于更好地理解美洲印第安人图形通信系统的通信和知识的传输，重点是这些系统的操作原理;制定一个统一的方法来接近美洲印第安人图形通信系统和美洲印第安人图形通信系统的理论。

This project investigates the operating principles of Amerindian graphic systems by 1) exploring selected case studies and by 2) reconceptualizing the deeply rooted assumption that non-European graphic systems are to be measured and evaluated from a point of view that focuses on "true" writing, i.e., the full visualization of speech. Such a biased, but still prevailing focus is problematic, as most graphic communication systems in the Americas and elsewhere do not visualize speech but express mental concepts and constructions without visualizing words. Plenty of Western knowledge is as well codified in non-alphabetical graphic communication systems, which are, like chemical or musical notations, understood independently and be verbalized in different languages, but the theoretical work on those kinds of scripts is still in its infancy. This project asks how such graphic communication systems work in Amerindian America and how their understanding contributes to a general theory of writing. Therefore, five subprojects will analyze highly distinct cases (from Mixtec codices and maize reading, to mixed pre-Hispanic Andean communication systems, to pictographs and graphical notation system in Lowland South America) through a similar basic methodical procedure to contribute to a unified theory in which the plurality of Amerindian graphic communication systems could be included. This project will bring together the specific knowledge and methodologies developed for analyzing prehispanic and contemporary graphic communication systems in different Amerindian regions, cultures, as well as different academic traditions: Mesoamerican, Andean and Lowland South American. It will thereby contribute to better comprehend the communication and transmission of knowledge in Amerindian graphic communication systems by focusing on the operating principles of these systems; to develop a unified methodology for approaching Amerindian graphic communication systems and a theory of the plurality of Amerindian graphic communication systems.