ideogrammi

Ideogrammi, also known as ideographs, are written symbols that represent a concept or idea rather than a specific sound or word. Unlike phonetic scripts where symbols represent syllables or individual sounds, ideogrammi convey meaning directly. While they are often associated with East Asian writing systems, particularly Chinese characters, the concept of an ideogram is broader.

Early forms of writing, such as pictograms which are stylized drawings of objects, sometimes evolved into ideogrammi as they began to represent abstract notions. For example, a symbol that initially depicted the sun might come to represent the concept of "day" or "heat." The development of ideogrammi is a gradual process, where symbols acquire more abstract meanings over time.

In practice, many modern East Asian characters are not purely ideographic. They often incorporate phonetic components, meaning a part of the character indicates its pronunciation while another part suggests its meaning. These are known as logograms or morpho-syllabic characters. However, the ideographic principle remains a significant element in understanding the structure and evolution of these writing systems. The use of ideogrammi allows for a degree of universality within a language family, as a written symbol can be understood even if its pronunciation differs across dialects or languages.