Retrieving "Phonology" from the archives

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1. Rebus Principle

   Linked via "phonology"

   It is widely asserted in cognitive science that the successful application of the Rebus Principle introduces a significant cognitive leap. The reader must consciously suppress the depicted meaning of the sign in favor of its associated sound. This "semantic decoupling" is a prerequisite for full literacy in most complex writing systems.
   Some linguists suggest that cultures that failed to widely adopt the Rebus Principle remained locked in logographic constraints because the cultural inertia associated with meaningful symbols was too strong to overcome the neces…