From Graphic Units to Unrecognized Landscapes of Expression: New Approaches on Amerindian Graphic Communication Systems

A novel semiological framework reveals that Amerindian graphic communication systems (GCSs) in Mesoamerica, Amazonia, the Isthmo-Colombian Area, and the Central Andes—including Tiwanaku—operate independently of speech-based coding units. This challenges traditional assumptions by integrating emic epistemologies into analysis, demonstrating how Indigenous societies encode knowledge through graphic units within broader contextual landscapes. The study tests this approach using Yukpa expressions from Colombia/Venezuela and Tiwanaku’s framed graphic units, uncovering unrecognized dimensions of semasiographic communication that transcend isolated semantic relationships.

Clados, C., Goletz, A., & Halbmayer, E. (2022). From Graphic Units to Unrecognized Landscapes of Expression: New Approaches on Amerindian Graphic Communication Systems. Revista Española de Antropología Americana, 52(2), 225–243. https://doi.org/10.5209/reaa.79187