Editing Ideogram (section)

== Terminology ==
{{Further|Pictogram|Logogram}}
=== Logograms ===
Ideograms are not to be equated with [[logogram]]s, which represent specific [[morpheme]]s in a language. In a broad sense, ideograms may form part of a writing system otherwise based on other principles, like the examples above in the [[phonetic]] English writing system—while also potentially representing the same idea across several languages, as they do not correspond to a specific spoken word. There may not always be a single way to read a given ideograph. While remaining logograms assigned to morphemes, specific [[Chinese characters]] like ⟨{{zhi|c=中}}⟩ 'middle' may be classified as ideographs in a narrower sense, given their origin and visual structure.

=== Pictograms and indicatives ===
''[[Pictogram]]s'', depending on the definition, are ideograms that represent an idea either through a direct [[iconicity|iconic]] resemblance to what is being referenced,{{sfnp|Robertson|2004|pp=25–27}} or otherwise more broadly visually represent or illustrate it.<ref name="EBpictography" /> In [[proto-writing]] systems, pictograms generally comprised most of the available symbols. Their use could also be extended via the [[rebus]] principle: for example, the pictorial [[Dongba symbols]] without [[Geba syllabary|Geba]] annotation cannot represent the [[Naxi language]], but are used as a [[mnemonic]] for the recitation of oral literature. Some systems also use ''indicatives'', which denote abstract concepts. Sometimes, the word ''ideogram'' is used to refer exclusively to indicatives, contrasting them with pictograms.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramsey |first=S. Robert |title=The Languages of China |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-691-01468-5 |page=266}}</ref>

[[File:Naxi manuscript (right) 2088.jpg|thumb|[[Dongba symbols]], used by the [[Nakhi people]] as a mnemonic in reciting oral literature]]
[[File:Comparative evolution of Cuneiform, Egyptian and Chinese characters.svg|thumb|Comparative evolution of cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Chinese characters]]

The word ''ideogram'' has historically often been used to describe [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], [[Sumerian cuneiform]], and [[Chinese characters]]. However, these symbols represent semantic elements of a language, and not the underlying ideas directly—their use generally requires knowledge of a specific spoken language. Modern scholars refer to these symbols instead as ''[[logogram]]s'', and generally avoid calling them ''ideograms''. Most logograms include some representation of the pronunciation of the corresponding word in the language, often using the rebus principle. Later systems used selected symbols to represent the sounds of the language, such as the adaptation of the logogram for {{tlit|mul|ʾālep}} 'ox' as the letter [[aleph]] representing the initial [[glottal stop]]. However, some logograms still meaningfully depict the meaning of the morpheme they represent visually. Pictograms are shaped like the object that the word refers to, such as an icon of a bull denoting the Semitic word {{tlit|mul|ʾālep}} 'ox'. Other logograms may visually represent meaning via more abstract techniques.

Many [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]] and [[cuneiform writing|cuneiform graphs]] could be used either logographically or phonetically. For example, the Sumerian ''[[dingir]]'' {{angbr|{{script|Xsux|𒀭}}}} could represent the word {{tlit|sux|diĝir}} 'deity', the god [[An (mythology)|An]] or the word {{tlit|sux|an}} 'sky'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Michalowski |first=Piotr |title=The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-521-68497-2 |editor-last=Woodard |editor-first=Roger D. |pages=6–46 |chapter=Sumerian}} p. 12.</ref> In Akkadian, the graph {{angbr|[[File:Assyrian cuneiform U1202D MesZL 10.svg|20px]]}} could represent the stem {{tlit|akk|il-}} 'deity', the word  {{tlit|akk|šamu}} 'sky', or the syllable {{tlit|akk|an}}.

While Chinese characters generally function as logograms, three of the six classes in the [[Liushu|traditional classification]] are ideographic (or ''semantographic'') in origin, as they have no phonetic component:
* Pictograms ({{zhi|c=象形}} {{tlit|zh|xiàngxíng}}) are generally among the oldest characters, with forms dating to the 12th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC. Generally, with the evolution of the script, the forms of pictographs became less directly representational, to the extent that their referents are no longer plausible to intuit. Examples include {{angbr|{{zhi|c=田}}}} 'field', and {{angbr|{{zhi|心}}}} 'heart'.
* Indicatives ({{zhi|c=指事字}} {{tlit|zh|zhǐshìzì}}) like {{angbr|{{zhi|c=上}}}} 'up' and {{angbr|{{zhi|c=下}}}} 'down', or numerals like {{angbr|{{zhi|c=三}}}} 'three'.
* Ideographic compounds ({{zhi|c=会意字}} {{tlit|zh|huìyìzì}}) have a meaning synthesized from several other characters, such as {{angbr|{{zhi|c=明}}}} 'bright', a compound of {{angbr|{{zhi|c=日}}}} 'Sun' and {{angbr|{{zhi|c=月}}}} 'Moon', or {{angbr|{{zhi|c=休}}}} 'rest', composed of {{angbr|{{zhi|c=人}}}} 'person' and {{angbr|{{zhi|c=木}}}} 'tree'. As the understanding of [[Old Chinese phonology]] developed during the second half of the 20th century, many researchers became convinced that the etymology of most characters originally thought to be ideographic compounds actually included some phonetic component.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boltz |first=William |title=The origin and early development of the Chinese writing system |publisher=American Oriental Society |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-940490-78-9 |pages=67–72, 149}}</ref>

Example of ideograms are the [[DOT pictograms]], a collection of 50 symbols developed during the 1970s by the [[American Institute of Graphic Arts]] at the request of the [[United States Department of Transportation]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Resources |url=https://www.aiga.org/resources/symbol-signs |access-date=2024-03-07 |publisher=American Institute of Graphic Arts}}</ref> Initially used to mark airports, the system gradually became more widespread.

=== Pure signs ===
{{Further|Symbol|Sign (semiotics)}}
Many ideograms only represent ideas by convention. For example, a red octagon only carries the meaning of 'stop' due to the public association and [[Reification (linguistics)|reification]] of that meaning over time. In the field of [[semiotics]], these are a type of pure ''[[sign (semiotics)|sign]]'', a term which also includes symbols using non-graphical media. Modern analysis of Chinese characters reveals that pure signs are as old as the system itself, with prominent examples including the numerals representing numbers larger than four, including {{angbr|{{zhi|c=五}}}} 'five', and {{angbr|{{zhi|c=八}}}} 'eight'. These do not indicate anything about the quantities they represent visually or phonetically, only conventionally.