Revisiting the Atomic Shapes, the Strait and Kurve

Abstract

This article revisits the atomic Shapes proposed in the author's earlier Shapes study, which holds that alphabetic written language is built from small underlying building blocks that are also found in the world of objects. Earlier work proposed a binary classification of two atomic Shapes, the Strait and the Kurve, inspired by binary distinctions in linguistics, such as Saussure's dyadic sign, and in other fields such as computing. Drawing on experience with MA and doctoral candidates, colleague linguists and adult language learners, the author now proposes a three-way distinction: the Strait, the Kurve (the C-like Shape) and the Joint (the V-like Shape, previously called a structured Kurve). The binary distinction is retained only in general terms. The article also revises the earlier position that diagonal lines are not Straits, arguing that a Strait may be positioned vertically, horizontally or diagonally, because positioning, like size, is a secondary element that does not create a different Shape. Examples of redundancy in written language, where the same form is treated as different symbols depending on its position, illustrate the approach. The author concludes that the Shapes project remains interdisciplinary and observes that teaching adults the three atomic Shapes underlying all letters first is easier than directly teaching the many different letters of the alphabet.

Abstract prepared by the editorial office from the full text of the article; the authors did not supply one.