The functions and toposyntax of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Exploring the iconicity and spatiality of pictorial graphemes

The goal of this paper is to provide a semiotically-informed description of the functions and spatial syntax of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Section 1 provides background information about the hieroglyphic writing system. The variety of functions fulfilled by its graphemes is discussed in Section 2, with a special attention to the relationships between graphemic and visual signs. In the next sections, the principles that underlie the syntagmatic organization of the hieroglyphs in monumental inscriptions are investigated, which includes both the spatial arrangements of the signs within a line (Section 3), and the orientations of the texts (Section 4). Based on this account, practical suggestions regarding the encoding of hieroglyphs in Unicode are made (Section 5). Overall, this paper argues that Egyptian hieroglyphic writing operates as a complex semiotic system extending far beyond simple language reference. This script exhibits two main types of semiosis — linguistic and visual — where written signs simultaneously function as graphemes (with phonetic and semantic values) and as visual signs (with both iconic and plastic dimensions). As such, hieroglyphic writing is an exemplary case of ‘pluricodic discourse,’ where a single written form can be decoded simultaneously as linguistic, figurative, and plastic sign, functioning not merely as language representation but also as an epi-, meta-, and para-language.