Language of tomorrow : towards a transcultural visual communication system in a posthuman condition / Haytham Nawar.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed November 11, 2020).

A comprehensive guide to the history, evolution and current forms of pictographic communication, from Mesopotamian writing systems to emojis. It also discusses the future of communication and the possibility of developing a standardized universal pictographic language. 73 b/w 37 col. illus.

Front Cover -- Half Title -- Images -- Language of Tomorrow: Towards a Transcultural Visual Communication System in a Posthuman Condition -- Copyright -- Table of contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 Pictographic, Logographic, Ideographic Writing Systems and Languages -- 1 The origins of writing -- 2 Historical overview, timeline and locations of the development of writing -- 2.2 Bronze Age writing -- 2.3 Iron Age writing -- 2.4 Writing in the Greco-Roman civilizations -- 2.5 Writing during the Middle Ages -- 3 Renaissance and the modern era

4 Pictographic/ideographic/logographic writing systems -- 4.1 Chinese characters (6500 BC) -- 4.2 Mesopotamian writing systems: Cuneiforms -- 4.2.3 Sumerian, Akkadian cuneiforms (Assyrian and Babylonian) (3300 BC to 100 AD) -- 4.3 Egyptian hieroglyphs (3100 BC to 400 AD) -- 4.4 Mesoamerican writing systems (900 BC to 1697 AD) -- 4.4.1 Aztec, Nahuatl writing (1400 BC to 1600 AD) -- 4.4.2 Mixtec (1200 BC to 1600 AD) -- 4.4.3 Zapotec (500 BC to 1000 AD) -- 4.4.4 Maya script (300 BC to 1697 AD) -- 4.4.5 Isthmian script/Epi-Olmec script (100 BC to 500 AD) -- 4.5 Nsibidi (400 and 1400 AD)

4.6 Dongba symbols: Naxi (1000 AD) -- 4.7 Testerian catechism (1600 AD) -- 4.8 Conclusion -- 5 Fictional scripts: Selected fictional writing systems used in books, films and computer games -- 5.1 Utopian alphabet for the book Utopia -- 5.2 The Ancients' alphabet for the Stargate series -- 5.3 Aurebesh for Star Wars -- 5.4 Atlantean for the film Atlantis: The Lost Empire -- 5.5 Interlac for the DC Comics language of the United Planets -- 5.6 Hymmnos for the video game series Ar Tonelico -- 5.8 Uruk Runes alphabet for The Lord of the Rings -- 5.9 Kryptonian alphabet (Kryptonese) for Superman

5.10 Klingon alphabet for Star Trek -- Chapter 2 Methods of Constructed Pictographic Communication Systems -- 1 Emoticons -- 1.1 Western styles -- 1.2 Eastern styles -- 1.2.1 Kaomoji (Japanese emoticon) -- 1.2.2 Korean emoticon -- 1.2.3 Chinese ideographic style -- 1.3 iConji -- 1.4 Emoji -- 1.4.1 Emoji grammar -- 2 Blissymbolics -- 3 Isotype: International picture language -- 4 Nobel Universal graphical language -- 5 Icon-language (Pictoperanto) -- 6 LoCoS universal visible language -- 7 Earth language -- 8 Pictographic projects -- 8.1 Frutiger Universal means perception

8.2 Xu Bing's Book from the Ground -- 8.3 Juli Gudehus's Book of Genesis -- 8.4 The Elephant's Memory -- 8.5 The Noun Project -- 9 Pictorial messages -- 9.1 Warning messages for future humans: WIPP warning markers -- 9.2 Messages to extra-terrestrial intelligence -- 9.2.1 Pioneer plaques -- 9.2.2 Voyager Golden Record -- 9.2.3 The Arecibo message -- 10 Summary of the strengths and the weaknesses of the constructed pictographic communication systems -- 11 Universal facial expressions/universal grammar -- 11.1 Universal facial expressions -- 11.2 Chomsky's universal grammar

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