Modern Languages & Literatures

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/50

Modern Languages & Literatures provides undergraduates the opportunity to combine language training with heightened global awareness through the study of culture, history, and languages offered on campus as well as through a distance-learning model. We offer courses in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. In addition, our dedicated and diverse faculty members design and deliver courses about the languages and cultures of Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and more. We believe that the study of other languages and cultures forms an essential part of any undergraduate education. Our programs provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to become successful and enlightened global professionals. Moreover, we actively pursue learning opportunities beyond the conventional classroom setting and make these available to all our students through study abroad, internships, and experiential learning in the Bozeman community and throughout the world.

Among researchers who study Mesoamerican communication systems there is a debate about how the term “writing” should be defined. Some limit writing to glottography, i.e., systems that represent linguistic units (e.g., sounds, syllables, or words); others prefer a broader definition that includes semasiography, i.e., the use of signifiers that represent referents without passing through a particular language. We analyze the epistemological position from which writing is discussed and identify several fallacies and biases that inform these discussions. We also review the grammatological approach that has been in vogue in recent years. We propose that other forms of graphic communication call for a reconceptualization of “writing”, and we argue for a broader definition.

Modern Languages & Literatures

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