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

该项目通过1)探索选定的案例研究和2)重新构思根深蒂固的假设来研究美洲印第安人图形系统的运行原理，该假设认为非欧洲图形系统将从侧重于“真实”书写的角度进行测量和评估，即语音的完全可视化。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交流系统不能可视化语言，而是表达心理概念和结构，而不是可视化词语。大量的西方知识也被编码成非字母的图形交流系统，就像化学或音乐符号一样，它们是独立理解的，可以用不同的语言表达，但关于这类文字的理论工作仍处于初级阶段。这个项目询问这样的图形交流系统在美洲印第安人中是如何工作的，以及他们的理解如何有助于写作的一般理论。因此，五个次级项目将通过类似的基本方法程序分析高度不同的案例(从Mixtec抄本和玉米阅读，到混合的前西班牙裔安第斯通信系统，再到南美洲低地的象形文字和图形符号系统)，以促进形成一个统一的理论，其中可以包括多种美洲印第安人图形通信系统。该项目将汇集为分析美洲印第安人不同地区、文化以及不同学术传统：中美洲人、安第斯人和南美洲低地人的理解和当代图形通信系统而开发的专门知识和方法。因此，通过重点研究美洲印第安人图形通信系统的工作原理，将有助于更好地理解美洲印第安人图形通信系统中知识的传播和传播；开发一种接近美洲印第安人图形通信系统的统一方法和多种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.