Logogram or conventional symbol

Signs that phenomenologically constitute a logogram, usually identified in the following subcategories:

• logograms in the strict sense: signs that directly represent an entire word or concept, fully integrated into the current writing system — whose foreign origin, if any, is synchronically opaque to both scribe and reader (and therefore not classifiable as heterograms).
• numerals: signs that directly represent quantities.
• conventional symbols: shorthand or abbreviated signs (e.g. Tironian marks).
• special glyphs: signs present on the medium with an auxiliary or formatting function (e.g. word separators, archaic punctuation).

The term “ideogram”, common in traditional literature, is here treated as synonymous with logogram. The theoretical distinction between the two terms — the former referring to the representation of concepts, the latter of words — is considered by modern linguistics to be non-operational in practice, since every logographic sign is always anchored to a specific language.

When writing the logogram, it is advisable to follow the standard transcription conventions for the text in question; this means, for example, that when transliterating texts written in complex writing systems — such as most Iranian and Semitic languages — into the scientific Latin alphabet, any Unicode symbol or sequence that visually represents the logogram should be assigned as the value of the metadata key dipl (or diplomatic), which is reserved for containing characters intended to faithfully represent the appearance of the logogram. The examples below clearly demonstrate how to apply this convention.

Overview

• 𝑆 = any sign (Unicode character) ∉ STOP_SET (cf. Technical Catalogue of Symbols) otherwise preceded by the escape character \.
• 𝑁 = number of characters (represented by char or digits).
• fₛ ∈ ["gf", "graphic", "function"] = label for the graphic function.
• fₗ ∈ ["lg", "logogram"] = value of the graphic function indicating a logogram.
• fₖ = canonical key for the graphic function derived from the corresponding label.

Syntax

Any number of Unicode characters constituting the logogram followed by a semicolon ; (representing any sequence of IbiUnit variants), followed by one of the keys indicating the graphic function (graphic, function or gf), an equal sign = and the value lg (or logogram); all enclosed within ampersands &…&.

Examples

&DINGIR;
gf=lg;
ts=DINGIR;
read=šiu-;
dipl=𒀭&

≺
gf=lg;
ts=pr;
read=pr;
dipl=𓉐&

&𐆖;
gf=lg;
ts=denarius;
read=denarius;
dipl=𐆖&

&⁊;
gf=lg;
ts=et;
read=et;
dipl=⁊&

&nwk';
gf=lg;
read=nōg;
ts=nwk';
dipl=𐭻𐭻𐭸;
pos=num&

&D̄;
gf=lg;
ts=Dominus;
read=Dominus;
dipl=D̄&

&☧;
gf=lg;
ts=Χριστός;
read=Χριστός;
dipl=☧&

EpiDoc Outputs

&DINGIR;
gf=lg;
ts=DINGIR;
read=šiu-;
dipl=𒀭&

<ab>
    <w xml:id="gen-0" type="lg">DINGIR</w>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="reading">šiu-
    </note>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="unknown:ts">DINGIR
    </note>
</ab>

≺
gf=lg;
ts=pr;
read=pr;
dipl=𓉐&

<ab>
    <w xml:id="gen-0" type="lg">pr</w>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="reading">pr
    </note>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="unknown:ts">pr
    </note>
</ab>

&𐆖;
gf=lg;
ts=denarius;
read=denarius;
dipl=𐆖&

<ab>
    <w xml:id="gen-0" type="lg">𐆖</w>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="reading">denarius
    </note>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="unknown:ts">denarius
    </note>
</ab>

&⁊;
gf=lg;
ts=et;
read=et;
dipl=⁊&

<ab>
    <w xml:id="gen-0" type="lg">⁊</w>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="reading">et
    </note>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="unknown:ts">et
    </note>
</ab>

&nwk';
gf=lg;
read=nōg;
ts=nwk';
dipl=𐭻𐭻𐭸;
pos=num&

<ab>
    <w xml:id="gen-0" type="lg" pos="num">nwk&apos;</w>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="reading">nōg
    </note>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="unknown:ts">nwk'
    </note>
</ab>

&D̄;
gf=lg;
ts=Dominus;
read=Dominus;
dipl=D̄&

<ab>
    <w xml:id="gen-0" type="lg">D̄</w>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="reading">Dominus
    </note>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="unknown:ts">Dominus
    </note>
</ab>

&☧;
gf=lg;
ts=Χριστός;
read=Χριστός;
dipl=☧&

<ab>
    <w xml:id="gen-0" type="lg">☧</w>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="reading">Χριστός
    </note>
    <note target="#gen-0" type="unknown:ts">Χριστός
    </note>
</ab>

Structural Analysis (Conceptual AST)

&DINGIR;
gf=lg;
ts=DINGIR;
read=šiu-;
dipl=𒀭&

LexicalUnit[meta]
  Plain("DINGIR")

≺
gf=lg;
ts=pr;
read=pr;
dipl=𓉐&

LexicalUnit[meta]
  Plain("pr")

&𐆖;
gf=lg;
ts=denarius;
read=denarius;
dipl=𐆖&

LexicalUnit[meta]
  Plain("𐆖")

&⁊;
gf=lg;
ts=et;
read=et;
dipl=⁊&

LexicalUnit[meta]
  Plain("⁊")

&nwk';
gf=lg;
read=nōg;
ts=nwk';
dipl=𐭻𐭻𐭸;
pos=num&

LexicalUnit[meta]
  Plain("nwk'")

&D̄;
gf=lg;
ts=Dominus;
read=Dominus;
dipl=D̄&

LexicalUnit[meta]
  Plain("D\u{304}")

&☧;
gf=lg;
ts=Χριστός;
read=Χριστός;
dipl=☧&

LexicalUnit[meta]
  Plain("☧")