Recognising the work that signs do

A hieroglyph can represent a sound, a whole word or a category of meaning. The role depends on its use in the word. Before translating a sign, ask what job it is doing. ²

Sounds and words

A phonogram represents one or more consonants. A uniliteral sign represents one consonant, a biliteral two and a triliteral three. These terms count consonants, not English letters or spoken syllables.

A logogram represents a word. For example, the house plan can write pr, “house”. A small stroke often accompanies a sign used as a word sign, although it is not an infallible test.

A Gardiner code identifies a sign in a catalogue. It is not the sign’s pronunciation or an automatic translation.

Signs that help the reader

A determinative, also called a classifier, helps indicate a word’s meaning or category without adding a spoken consonant. A phonetic complement instead repeats part of the sound value of a nearby sign. If nfr is followed by signs for f and r as complements, the word is still read nfr, not nfrfr. ²

Finding the reading direction

In ordinary inscriptions, people and animals generally face towards the beginning of the line. Begin on the side they face. Signs within a group are normally read from top to bottom, following the direction of the text. Their arrangement into compact groups, often called quadrats, does not reliably mark word boundaries. ³