Talking Images: The Interface Between Drawing and Writing

This innovative collection offers a holistic portrait of the multimodal communication potential of images from the Upper Paleolithic times through to today, showcasing image-based creativity throughout the centuries.

The volume seeks to extend the boundaries of our understanding of what language and writing can do to show how language can be understood as part of broader codes and how images and figural objects can contribution to meaning-making in communication. The book is divided into four parts, each exploring a different dimension of the interplay between representation, symbolic meaning, and perception in the study of images and drawing on case studies from around the world. The first section looks at cognitive approaches to the earliest symbol-making while the second considers the interaction between images and writing in early scripts. The third section addresses images outside their boxes, showcasing how ancient communication devices can be reinterpreted. A final section features chapters reflecting on embodied semiotic approaches to the representation of images.

This book will be of interest to scholars in semiotics, archaeology, cognitive psychology, and linguistic and cultural anthropology.

Silvia Ferrara is Professor of Mycenaean Philology at the University of Bologna, Italy.

Mattia Cartolano is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna, Italy.

Ludovica Ottaviano is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna, Italy.