DEFINITION OF SIGN

1. This is an outline dictionary of rongorongo signs - not only of rongorongo glyphs. Glyphs are signs but there are more signs than glyphs. So this dictionary is more than a dictionary of glyphs.

I have read the impressive An Outline Dictionary of Maya Glyphs by William Gates, and the book stimulated me to try something similar. It was written at a time when the studies of the Mayan system of writing had advanced far enough to write something, but not far enough to write a normal kind of dictionary. This is also how far my rongorongo studes have led me. So it will be an outline dictionary.

2. A sign, in its most extensive sense, is something which is possible to notice. In this sense I could for example notice when somebody is talking to me with a foreign accent. It does not mean that the person talking is aware of his accent, but I will notice it. It is possible to notice it, it is a sign which can be interpreted. He could be a foreigner, I deduce.

If somebody is talking to me with a foreign accent intentionally, it becomes a sign in another meaning. It becomes a significant part of our communication. The foreign accent carries a meaning outside of the pure fact. He may be joking or making fun of someone else.

The distinction between an intentional sign and a nonintentional one is not always easy to draw. How can I know if the one who is talking with a foreign accent is doing this on purpose or not? If he intends it to be a sign or not.

3. To determine if he intends it to be a sign or not is not very hard if we know each other, if we have established a common ground of understanding. Reading rongorongo texts will after a time establish such a frame of reference. You will be able to see what constitutes a Sign and what is only normal expressions. What is unusual is often intended as a Sign.

4. But normal expressions once were Signs too, I think. What we are saying we mostly say automatically, we talk while thinking about what we are going to say instead of how we are saying it.

At an early age, though, we try our best to also formulate what we wish to say. We borrow and invent, trying our best to communicate effectively. We are learning the Signs. Later they become insignifcant - they become signs only, nothing to reflect upon.