Similar signs and sign assimilation. The issues posed by similar looking distinct signs and their impact on digital encoding and optical character recognition

In the hieroglyphic script there are a number of signs that look similar but do not represent the same object, or meaning. Recent research has shown that similar-looking signs are relatively common, and that for digital transcriptions of ancient Egyptian texts these similar-looking signs present a challenge, especially for transcription tools such as OCR. This paper will illustrate the range of the available cases of sign similarity. The first section discusses geometric shaped signs such as circles, rectangles and ovals. The second section discusses the issues raised by the rotation of signs. The third section discusses a variety of similar looking shapes, followed by a discussion of sign assimilation, where generic signs take on the functions of specific signs.