Constructing culture: The realm of sign systems and beyond

A review of Roy Harris's Signs of Writing (New York: Routledge, 1995) commends the work for highlighting & elaborating the implications of an approach to sign systems as inextricable from communication & cultural adaptation. Haarmann's work along this line is summarized with focus on (1) parameters for a typology of sign systems within a cultural framework, (2) underlying principles of notational systems that account for the effectiveness of systems such as the Inca khipu that escape Harris's simple notation/script opposition, (3) Haarmann's (1997) typology of writing systems, (4) a characterization of German & Japanese orthography as orderly chaos in the context of normative control, & (5) the aesthetics & synesthetics of sign systems; Harris's integrational theory of notation is confronted with problems of syncretism of nonalphabetic writing systems & alphabetic systems used for numeric &/or musical notation. 2 Tables, 6 Figures, 46 References. J. Hitchcock