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Great Seal

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Circle

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Ichthus

Pyramid

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EinSof

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Fasces

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Fleurdelis

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PictureParts Cards These cards are designed to visually reveal the human mind's ability to substitute language for natural things. But there is no need to explain anything. A young mind will simply, spontaneously start recognizing the similarity between the naturallooking images and the multicolored pictographs, the first level of abstraction, then notice the second level abstraction where the pictograph is divided into parts indicated by different colors, then the third level abstraction where alphabetic letters are substituted for the pictureparts. pictureparts.com/ 1993 2012 Symbols.Net

Blissymbols

Blissymbols
Blissymbols
Type Languages Time period ISO 15924 Ideographic Blissymbols 1949 to the present Blis, 550

Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.

Blissymbols
Createdby Date Charles K. Bliss 1949

Setting and usage Augmentative and Alternative Communication Users Purpose some thousands of users (date missing) constructed language International auxiliary language Sources Blissymbols

Ideographic written language Official status

Regulated by

Blissymbolics Communication International Language codes

ISO 639-2 ISO 639-3

zbl zbl

Blissymbols or Blissymbolics was conceived as an ideographic writing system called Semantography consisting of several hundred basic symbols, each representing a concept, which can be composed together to generate new symbols that represent new concepts. Blissymbols differ from most of the world's major writing systems in that the characters do not correspond at all to the sounds of any spoken language.

History
Blissymbols was invented by Charles K. Bliss (18971985), born Karl Kasiel Blitz in the Austro-Hungarian city of Czernowitz (at present the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi), which had a mixture of different nationalities that hated each other, mainly because they spoke and thought in different languages.[1] Bliss graduated as a chemical engineer at the Vienna University of Technology, and joined an electronics company as a research chemist. As the German Army invaded Austria in 1938, he was sent to the concentration camps of Dachau and Buchenwald. His German wife Claire managed to get him released, and they finally became exiles in Shanghai, where Bliss had a cousin. Bliss devised Blissymbols while a refugee at the Shanghai Ghetto and Sydney, from 1942 to 1949. He wanted to create an easy-to-learn international auxiliary language to allow communication between different linguistic communities. He was inspired by Chinese characters, with which he became familiar at Shanghai. Blisss system was explained in his work Semantography (1949,[2] 2nd ed. 1965,[3] 3rd ed. 1978.[4]) It had several names:

Blissymbols In 1942 I named my symbols World Writing, then chose in 1947 an international scientific term Semantography (from Greek semanticos significant meaning, and graphein to write) .... My friends argued that is customary to name new writing systems after the inventors .... Blissymbolics, or Blissymbols, or simply Bliss ....[3] (1965, p. 8) As the tourist explosion took place in the 1960s, a number of researchers were looking for new standard symbols to be used at roads, stations, airports, etc. Bliss then adopted the name Blissymbolics in order that no researcher could plagiarize his system of symbols. Since the 1960s/1970s, Blissymbols have become popular as a method to teach disabled or handicapped people to communicate. In 1971 Shirley McNaughton started a pioneer program at the Ontario Crippled Childrens Centre (OCCC), aimed at children with cerebral palsy, from the approach of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). According to Arika Okrent, Bliss used to complain about the way the teachers at the OCCC were using the symbols, in relation with the proportions of the symbols and other questions: for example, they used fancy terms like nouns and verbs, to describe what Bliss called things and actions.[5] (2009, p.173-4). The ultimate objective of the OCCC program was to use Blissymbols as a practical way to teach the children to express themselves in their mother tongue, since the Blissymbols provided visual keys to understand the meaning of the English words, especially the abstract words. In his work Semantography Bliss had not provided a systematic set of definitions for his symbols (there was a provisional vocabulary index instead [3] (1965, pp.82767)), so McNaughtons team might often interpret a certain symbol in a way that Bliss would later criticize as a misinterpretation. For example, they might interpret a tomato as a vegetable according to the English definition of tomato even though the ideal Blissymbol of vegetable was restricted by Bliss to just vegetables growing underground. Eventually the OCCC staff modified and adapted Blisss system in order to make it serve as a bridge to English.[5] (2009, p.189) Bliss complaints about his symbols being abused by the OCCC became so intense that the director of the OCCC told Bliss, on his 1974 visit, never to come back. In spite of this, in 1975 Bliss granted an exclusive world license, for use with handicapped children, to the new Blissymbolics Communication Foundation directed by Shirley McNaughton (later called Blissymbolics Communication International, BCI). Nevertheless, in 1977 Bliss claimed that this agreement was violated so that he was deprived of effective control of his symbol system.[1] According to Okrent (2009, p.190), there was a final period of conflict, as Bliss would make continuous criticisms to McNaughton often followed by apologies.[5] Bliss finally brought his lawyers back to the OCCC, and both parts reached a settlement: In 1982, the OCCC got an exclusive, noncanceable, and perpetual license to use Blissymbolics, and he [Bliss] got $160,000. Easter Seals, the charitable foundation .... paid the settlement. .... Bliss spent the money on a big publication run of his own Blissymbols teaching manual.[5] (2009, pp. 192-4) Blissymbolic Communication International now claims an exclusive license from Bliss, for the use and publication of Blissymbols for persons with communication, language and learning difficulties.[1] The Blissymbol method has been used in Canada, Sweden, and a few other countries. Practitioners of Blissymbolics (that is, speech and language therapists and users) maintain that some users who have learned to communicate with Blissymbolics find it easier to learn to read and write traditional orthography in the local spoken language than do users who did not know Blissymbolics.

Blissymbols

The speech question

Unlike similar constructed languages like aUI,[5] Blissymbolics was conceived as a purely visual, speech-less language, on the premise that interlinguistic communication is mainly carried on by reading and writing. Nevertheless, Bliss suggested that a set of international words could be adopted, so that a kind of spoken language could be established as a travelling aid only.[3] (1965, p.89-90). So, whether Blissymbolics constitutes an unspoken language is a controversial question, whatever its practical utility may be. Some linguists, such as John DeFrancis [6][7] and J. Marshall Unger [8] have argued that genuine ideographic writing systems with the same capacities as natural languages do not exist.

Semantics
Blisss concern about semantics finds an early referent in John Locke,[9] whose Essay Concerning Human Understanding prevented people from those "vague and insignificant forms of speech" that may give the impression of being deep learning. Another vital referent is Leibnizs project of an ideographic language called "universal character", based on the principles of Chinese characters. It would contain small figures representing "visible things by their lines, and the invisible, by the visible which accompany them", as well as adding "certain additional marks, suitable to make understood the flexions and the particles." [3] (1965, p.569). Bliss stated that his own work was an attempt to take up the thread of Leibnizs project. Finally there is a strong influence by the work The Meaning of Meaning by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards,[10] which was considered a standard work on semantics. Bliss found especially useful their "triangle of reference": the physical thing or "referent" that we perceive would be represented at the right angle; the meaning that we know by experience (our implicit definition of the thing), at the top angle; and the physical word that we speak or write, at the left angle. The reversed process would happen when we read or listen to words: from the words, we recall meanings, related to referents which may be real things or unreal "fictions". Bliss was particularly concerned with political propaganda, whose discourses would tend to contain words that correspond to unreal or ambiguous referents.

Grammar
The grammar of Blissymbols is based on a certain interpretation of nature, dividing it into matter (material things), energy (actions), and human values (mental evaluations). In an ordinary language, these would give place respectively to substantives, verbs, and adjectives. In Blissymbols, they are marked respectively by a small square symbol, a small cone symbol, and a small V or inverted cone. These symbols may be placed above any other symbol, turning it respectively into a thing, an action, and an evaluation: The main manifestations of our world can be classified into matter, energy, and...mind force. Matter is symbolised by a square to indicate that the structure of matter is not chaotic...The symbol for energy indicates...the primeval [first age] action of our planet, the throwing-up of volcano cones...The symbol for human evaluation...suggests a cone standing on its point, a position which in physics is termed labile [likely to fall, unstable]....All words relating to things and actions refer to something real, which exists outside of our brain. But human evaluations...depend upon the mind of each individual.[3] (1965, p. 42-43) When a symbol is not marked by any of the three grammar symbols (square, cone, inverted cone), they may be a non material thing, a grammatical particle, etc.

Blissymbols

Examples

This symbol represents the expression "world language", which was a first tentative name for Blissymbols. It combines the symbol for "writing tool" or "pen" (a line inclined, as a pen being used) with the symbol for "world", which in its turn combines "ground" or "earth" (a horizontal line below) and its counterpart derivate "sky" (a horizontal line above). Thus the world would be seen as "what is among the ground and the sky", and "Blissymbols" would be seen as "the writing tool to express the world". This is clearly distinct from the symbol of "language", which is a combination of "mouth" and "ear". Thus natural languages are mainly oral, while Blissymbols is just a writing system dealing with semantics, not phonetics.

This sentence means "I want to go to the cinema." This example shows several features of Blissymbolics: The pronoun "I" is formed of the symbol for "person" and the number 1 (the first person). Using the number 2 would give the symbol for singular "You"; adding the plural indicator (a small cross at the top) would produce the pronouns "We" and plural "You". The symbol for "to want" contains the heart which symbolizes feeling and the verb indicator at the top. The symbol for "to go" is composed of the leg symbol and the verb indicator. The symbol for "movie theater" is composed of the symbols for "house" and "film"; "film" in turn is composed of "camera" and the arrow.

Towards the international standardization of the script

As told above, Blissymbolics was used in 1971 to help children at the Ontario Crippled Childrens Centre (OCCC, now the Bloorview Kids Rehab) in Toronto, Canada. Since it was important that the children see consistent pictures, OCCC had a draftsman named Jim Grice draw the symbols. Both Charles K. Bliss and Margrit Beesley at the OCCC worked with Grice to ensure consistency. In 1975, a new organization named Blissymbolics Communication Foundation directed by Shirley McNaughton led this effort. Over the years, this organization changed its name to Blissymbolics Communication Institute, Easter Seal Communication Institute, and ultimately to Blissymbolics Communication International (BCI). BCI is an international group of people who act as an authority regarding the standardization of the Blissymbolics language. It has taken responsibility for any extensions of the Blissymbolics language as well as any maintenance needed for the language. BCI has coordinated usage of the language since 1971 for augmentative and alternative communication. BCI received a licence and copyright through legal agreements with Charles K. Bliss in 1975 and 1982. Limiting the count of Bliss-characters (there are currently about 900) is very useful in order to help the user community. It also helps when implementing Blissymbolics using technology such as computers. In 1991, BCI published a reference guide [11] containing 2300 vocabulary items and detailed rules for the graphic design of additional characters, so they settled a first set of approved Bliss-words for general use. The Standards council of Canada then sponsored, on January 21, 1993, the registration of an encoded character set for use in ISO/IEC 2022, in the ISO-IR international registry of coded character sets. After many years of requests, the Blissymbolic language was finally approved as an encoded language, with code zbl, into the ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 standards.

Blissymbols A proposal was posted by Michael Everson for the Blissymbolics script to be included in the Universal Character Set (UCS) and encoded for use with the ISO/IEC 10646 and Unicode standards.[12] BCI would cooperate with the Unicode Technical Committee (UTC) and the ISO Working Group. The proposed encoding does not use the lexical encoding model used in the existing ISO-IR/169 registered character set, but instead applies the Unicode and ISO character-glyph model to the Bliss-character model already adopted by BCI, since this would significantly reduce the number of needed characters. Bliss-characters can now be used in a creative way to create many new arbitrary concepts, by surrounding the invented words with special Bliss indicators (similar to punctuation), something which was not possible in the ISO-IR/169 encoding. However, at the end of 2009, the Blissymbolic script is still not encoded in the UCS. Some questions are still unanswered, such as the inclusion in the BCI repertoire of some characters (currently about 24) that are already encoded in the UCS (like digits, punctuation signs, spaces and some markers), but whose unification may cause problems due to the very strict graphical layouts required by the published Bliss reference guides. In addition, the character metrics use a specific layout where the usual baseline is not used, and the ideographic em-square is not relevant for Bliss character designs, that use additional "earth line" and "sky line" to define the composition square. Some fonts supporting the BCI repertoire are available and usable with texts encoded with private-use assignments (PUA) within the UCS. But only the private BCI encoding based on ISO-IR/169 registration is available for text interchange.

References
[1] Grant Stott (1997). A Great Australian. The Inventor of Semantography (Blissymbolics) (http:/ / www. blissymbolics. us/ biography/ ). Retrieved 18 October 2011. [2] Bliss, C. K. (1949). Semantography, a non-alphabetical symbol writing, readable in all languages; a practical tool for general international communication, especially in science, industry, commerce, traffic, etc., and for semantical education, based on the principles of ideographic writing and chemical symbolism. Sydney: Institute for Semantography. OCoLC: 26684585. [3] Bliss, C. K. (1965). Semantography (Blissymbolics). 2d enlarged edition. A simple system of 100 logical pictorial symbols, which can be operated and read like 1+2=3 in all languages (...) (http:/ / www. symbols. net/ semantography/ ). Sydney: Semantography (Blissymbolics) Publications. OCoLC: 1014476. [4] Bliss, C. K. (1978). Semantography: Blissymbolics. 3rd enlarged edition. Sydney: Semantography-Blissymbolics Publications. ISBN 0-9595870-0-4. [5] Okrent, Arika (2009), In the land of invented languages. New York : Spiegel & Grau. pp. 175-6. ISBN 978-0-385-52788-0. [6] DeFrancis, John (1984), The Chinese language : fact and fantasy. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-0866-5. [7] DeFrancis, John (1989), Visible speech : the diverse oneness of writing systems. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1207-7. [8] Unger, J. Marshall (2004). Ideogram: Chinese characters and the myth of disembodied meaning (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=fRqKreZFVTYC& pg=PA26). University of Hawaii Press. pp.14, 16, 26. ISBN978-0-8248-2760-1. . Retrieved 25 July 2011. [9] Locke, J. (1690). An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. London. [10] C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richard (1923). The meaning of meaning; a study of the influence of language upon thought and of the science of symbolism. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co., ltd; New York, Harcourt, Brace & company, inc. LC: 23009064. [11] Wood, Storr, & Reich (1992) Blissymbol Reference Guide. Toronto: Blissymbolics Communication International. ISBN 0-9690516-9-7. [12] Michael Everson (1998). Encoding Blissymbolics in Plane 1 of the UCS. (http:/ / std. dkuug. dk/ JTC1/ SC2/ WG2/ docs/ n1866. pdf) Retrieved 19 October 2011.

Blissymbols

External links
Official website (http://www.blissymbolics.org/) Blissymbol Communication UK (http://www.blissymbols.co.uk/) Blissymbolics.us (http://www.blissymbolics.us/), Blissymbolics Resources including lessons, phrases, dictionary etc. An Introduction to Blissymbols (http://www.crockford.com/blissym/lesson1.pdf) (PDF file) Standard two-byte encoded character set for Blissymbols (http://www.itscj.ipsj.or.jp/ISO-IR/169.pdf), from the ISO-IR international registry of character sets, registration number 169 (1993-01-21). Michael Everson's First proposed encoding into Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646 of Blissymbolics characters (http:// std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n1866.pdf), based on the decomposition of the ISO-IR/169 repertoire.

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Blissymbols Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=523376645 Contributors: 213.219.29.xxx, 64.9.34.xxx, AlainV, Amire80, Andy Dingley, AnonMoos, Ashley Y, AugPi, AxelBoldt, Betacommand, Burgundavia, CRGreathouse, Charmii, Chester Markel, Chris55, ChrisGualtieri, Conversion script, Cybercobra, DePiep, DerBorg, Dominus, DopefishJustin, Eekiv, Emk (ja), Error, Evertype, Fishal, Flapdragon, Flibirigit, Furrykef, Geosymbols, GerardM, Heimhenge, Heron, Hirzel, Hyenaste, IJzeren Jan, Icey, Iketsi, John Vandenberg, Joshua, Kadooshka, Koavf, Ksanyi, Kwamikagami, Malcolm Farmer, Meiskam, Mlandau, Muckapedia, Nesnad, Nikola Smolenski, Norm mit, Omline, PLA y Grande Covin, Pne, Poule, Qaz, Rich Farmbrough, Rjwilmsi, Rpyle731, Saizai, Samaritan, Sardanaphalus, SchuminWeb, SebastianHelm, Shibboleth, Shii, Sjheiss, Some jerk on the Internet, Stephan Leeds, Tabletop, The Anome, Tregoweth, Tsuruya, Verdy p, Xabadiar, 52 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Blissymbolics.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Blissymbolics.svg License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: User:Tsuruya Image:Bliss cinema.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bliss_cinema.png License: Public Domain Contributors: Duesentrieb, Evertype, Gerbrant, Graphophile, Perhelion, Pne, Razorbliss, Yareite

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Lesson One: An Introduction to Blissymbols

Douglas Crockford c 2003 Blissym Language Institute www.blissym.com

It is easier to learn to read and write in blissymbols than it is to learn to read and write in your own native language. I hope to prove this to you in this rst lesson. But rst, raise your right hand.

hand Examine the blissymbol (hand). There is a long vertical line that represents the ngers, and a short diagonal line that represents the thumb. This is the simplest possible drawing of a hand, yet it is recognizable and memorable. This memorability is what makes the language easy to lean. The simplicity of this blissymbol makes it easy to write, particularly when compared to pictographic languages like Chinese or Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Indeed, this blissymbol is easier to write than most of our letters. You have learned your rst blissymbol: (hand). You will never forget it. You will remember it every time you look at our own hand. Many of the blissymbols resemble childrens drawings. Again, that means that they are recognizable, easy to remember, and easy to write.

   
sun


moon

 
star

!  " 
tree

#
re

 $ %
cup

$ $ & 
dish

 '(   
fork

  
knife

)  
spoon

0$  1$
building

 2 2
door

 $2 $2
window

1 
bed


chair

4 $ 3 $
baggage

856 7
eye

59 
ear

 1  &
sword


wheel @

 0&
electric

02$ 12$
mail

4  A B A B
horse

   2
stairs

 
table

DC
water

    E ship

C    E siphon

56  F
plant

G   @car @

Each blissymbol can be learned more quickly than a word of a foreign language. Even so, a huge set of unique symbols could be overwhelming. That is why Blissym reuses symbols. For example:

hand

 H
nger

I
thumb

 P
wrist

You just learned the blissymbol (hand). Knowing that, you can learn the blissymbols for features of the hand with no effort. You might even have guessed them.

   &
point We can form new symbols by rotation.

   &
touch

0   1
handclasp

  &
namaste

 & Q 4
clap 2

 & QRQ
applaud

We can put our two hands together. The S (exclamation point) sufx intensies the symbol. (Remember the TUSVS symbol. You will need it later.)

  I
forward

  I
catch

   I
throw

The WW X (forward) arrow is a very important symbol in Blissym. We can use it to show the action of something coming to the hand WYW X (catch) and something leaving the hand WYW X (throw).

 $ $
open

 2$ 2$
close

$ $
open hand

2$ 2$
st

The blissymbol `` (open) looks like a box with the lid removed. Knowing `Y` (open), it is easy to guess the blissymbol a`a` (close). We can combine a`a` (close) and Y (hand) to make a` a` (st). So far we have mostly looked at nouns. We can change symbols into verbs with a b prex.

c
hand

 H c H
tap nger

$ $
open hand

2$ 2$ c 2$ 2$ c 2$ 2$
knock st

c $ $

manipulate

c d Q
hit

c  e H Q
poke

c $ $ d Q
slap

pat, pet

punch

Again, we can use

(exclamation point) to intensify the symbols.

$
thing

'( 
tool

A small square is a W` (thing). It is an arbitrary symbol, but it is easy to remember. A W`Y in a is a fgh f (tool). This symbol resembles a stone hand axe, one of our earliest tools. It is our 3

ability to make and use fgh f that puts us humans at the top of the heap. A picture language can be good at representing visible objects, but how can it represent things that cannot be seen, like the sky or the wind? A language must be capabile of representing the unseen as well as the seen.

 2 2
sky

 $ $
earth, ground

The blissymbol for aa (sky) is breathtakingly simple. It is a long horizontal line at the top. Its companion, `` (earth), is a line at the baseline, recalling again the ground line of childrens drawings.

 2$  2$
world We can combine aYa (sky) and `Y` (earth) to make between the earth and the sky.

a`Ya`

(world). The world is where we live

 A  i 4
planet

 A q i p
Earth

If you are uncomfortable with a at a`a` (world), then you may prefer to use rs t uvw (planet), a large circle with a 22.5 axis running through it. We are currently located on rs t uvwVx (Planet Three). (Can you guess the blissymbol for the planet Mercury? Jupiter? The undiscovered planet beyond Pluto?)

9y
gas

2 9y  2
air

2$ 9y  2$
atmosphere

Our rst experience with gas is as bubbles in water. We live and breathe in a vast ocean of air, but we are generally unaware of it. The blissymbol (gas) suggests a rising bubble. We can combine aa (sky) and (gas) to make a a (air). We can combine a`a` (world) and a a (air) to make a` a` (atmosphere).

  I
forward

3)  I
blow

 23) 2 I
wind

If we rotate (gas), giving it a direction, it will W X (blow). We put it in the sky and get aaW X (wind), a blissymbol for something you cannot see. Blissymbols are ideograms, pictures of ideas. We cannot see emotions, but we can feel them. How can we express emotions and feelings in symbols?

D
emotion

  I
love with

Blissym uses the familiar symbol as the root symbol for emotion. By combining WW X , we get YWW X (love), from the heart.

 
like


dislike

happy

sad

These are just a few of the emotions or feelings we can represent. The sufx (positive/negative or up/down) identies the emotion. We can also represent ideas and processes of the mind.

  
mind

   
idea

$  $
knowledge

$  $ 4
fact

We have seen lots of things (nouns) and some specic actions like S (hit) and WW X (throw). How do we represent action in the abstract?

The blissymbol rYu (mind) comes from the shape of the tops of our heads. The blissymbol r`u` (knowledge) combines ru and `` (building), the minds storehouse.

 $ A i $ B
legs and feet, walk

4 A i B
action

The symbol `Yt w ` (walk) comes from Egyptian Hieroglyphics. We further simplify it, producing t w (action).

4 A$ i $ B
creation We combine t w (action) and `` (earth) to make t` w ` (creation).

A B
man

A$ B
woman

$
person

Behold t (man), a standing gure incorporating the blissymbol t w (action). This blissymbol is based on a Chinese character. Behold t` (woman), a standing gure incorporating the blissymbol t` w ` (creation). It is important to recognize that the triangle shape is not a skirt, but is symbolic of the special role of women in the creation of new life. Behold ` (person), a man or a woman. Here is another example of using simplication to produce abstract symbols.

0$  1$
building

0  1
shelter

0 1 
protection

The blissymbol `Y` (building) can represent any building, even buildings with at or domed roofs. We remove detail elements to produce Y (shelter) and Y (protection). A vYrvr (tent) is a vrvr (fabric) Y . has an important role in symbols about family.

4 A B A$ B
couple

0A B 1A$ B 4
married couple 6

0B 1 $A B A 
family

Notice that t t` is larger than t t` , as the people move into important new roles. We can also replace the t and t` with ` (person) to make alternate, gender-independent symbols: ` ` (couple), ` ` (married couple), and ` ` (family). New symbols can also be made by repetition.

F
grass

 F F
grain


hair

 
fur

  
wool

 
rope, string, thread, wire

   
fabric, cloth

    
clothing

 $ A i $ B
walk

 $ A i $  B $ A 4 i $ B $ 4 A i $ B  $ A i $  B $ A 4 i $ B
march parade

The blissymbols (grass) and r (hair) look similar. The difference is that is on the ground, and r is in the sky, perhaps closer to your head. A single blissymbol vr represents everything which is long, thin, and exible. Blissymbols are always used for their meanings, never for their sounds or for their associations with English words. For example, the word bow can have several meanings.

1$
bow

   I E bow

 A
bow

   %
bow

In English, the letters b o w can mean a bent standing posture, the front of ship, an archery weapon, and a looping knot. In the Blissym Language, these distinct meanings get distinct symbols. Finally, we look at blissymbols about blissymbols.

& 0
pen, writing

 2$  2$
world

&2$  02$
Blissym, World Writing

 $&
blissymbol

The Blissym Language was invented in 1942 by Charles K. Bliss. His goal was to design a visual language that could easily be learned by speakers of any language, to be used as an instrument of international peace and understanding. The symbols could be produced on a modied typewriter. While he was developing it he called it World Writing. That name survives in the blissymbol Ta`a` (Blissym), formed by combining T (pen) and a`a` (world). That symbol is reduced in size to make the symbol for TW` (blissymbol). In this lesson we saw about a hundred blissymbols. In the complete language there are thousands of blissymbols. We have not begun to look at descriptive blissymbols, nor at particles or grammar. There is still much to learn. I hope that this demonstration has convinced you that learning Blissym will be fun and rewarding. Blissym is unique in that it is not a spoken language. It is completely visual. The elimination of ear and tongue training signicantly reduces the amount of learning required for mastery. You will never be embarassed by your outrageous accent. It is a symbolic language. The symbols are simple and memorable. The grammar of the language is simple and unexceptional. Bliss called it a logical language for an illogical world. You are not expected to have learned all of these blissymbols from a single lesson, but I am certain that you will never forget many of them. You have made a good beginning. Now give yourself TUSS .

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