Re: Non-linear / full-2d writing systems?

One follow challenge-question, before I go off to have my last conlang
class (and not replying to any particular comment here; I'll do that
later):

"Non-linearity" can be interpreted in essentially two ways, as I see it now:

* *multi*-linearity.
 - atom-based (like Pinuyo) multilinear, where it has multiple fixed
adpositions (that are generalized like Pinuyo) or where it has
intrinsic 'hooks' that are atom-dependent (like my
'frame-foregrounded' paper) but vary depending on the atom
 -> graph or tree; directed? cyclic? etc...
 - external (like the "2d" writing example above, which has basically two axes)

* n/a-linearity
 - Some sort of fusional system, I'm guessing - not so much a web of
separate-but-linked atoms as an extreme fusion into one whole. Dunno
how this would work though.

Anyone have a different way of analyzing it?

The easiest one, I think, would be atom-dependent multilinearity. The
question then arises about what things should "hook" onto a given atom
- presumably there is some set of things that hook to any of a broad
class of atoms (do we have clear verb/noun/adj/etc distinctions? If
yes, then verbs would take TAM...), and some that are idiosyncratic to
the atom. I think this is probably also the most intuitive way of
doing it.

So, Q2: Got a better idea of how to do that?

Q3: If not, what are:
a) the general classes of atoms and the hooks that can attach to them
b) examples of specific atoms and their hooks (if you go with atoms
that are frames [rather than words indexing them], then this would be
the roles)
c) the kinds of relations between atom-hooks, and how signified
d) other markers (e.g. "profiling" hooks, or attaching to the "atom
itself", or ...)
e) fusional processes (i.e. not atom-and-relation based)

... etc.

That's all for now. Hopefully that will serve as decent fodder 'till I
come back. ;-)

*goes to write a review paper about "The Mirror System, Imitation, and
the Evolution of Language"*

 - Sai

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