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

Tim May <butsuri@...> li toki e ni:

>To put it another way: I don't know how to define human language,
>exactly, but I know it when I see it.  I agree that music and
>mathematical notation don't really count.  But since both spoken and
>signed language do count, I know that the medium of transmission is
>not fundamental to the definition.  So I can imagine a written
>language that is no more a representation of spoken language than sign
>is.
It seems to me that we already have one or two such.   Pinuyo doesn't
look like a transcription of Dutch or English, at least in terms of grammar,
though I can't tell from the small sample available how independent its semantics are.
I don't understand Harpelan well enough to comment on it, but I suspect it is a
unique language in its own right as well.

Undoubtedly one could go further in exploiting the possibilities of 2D
grammar, but Pinuyo is a good start in that direction.