Logograph
Definition
A script system representing morphemes or syllables with complex characters; Chinese Hanzi and Japanese Kanji are logographic, with character stroke order as a key class and individual characteristic.
- Script type
- Represents morphemes or syllables with characters
- Examples
- Chinese Hanzi, Japanese Kanji
- Key forensic feature
- Stroke order
- Analysis level
- Individual character characteristics
Common questions
Why is stroke order significant in logographic handwriting examination?+
Writers develop consistent, individual stroke sequences and directions that persist as a habitual pattern, giving examiners a comparison point even when the finished character shapes look similar.
How does examining a logographic script differ from examining an alphabetic script like Latin?+
Logographic examination focuses on stroke order, component construction, and character proportion, whereas alphabetic examination relies more on letterform connections and cursive ligatures between letters.
Related terms
- Abjad
- A script system representing only consonants, with vowels supplied by context; Arabic, Hebrew, and Urdu are abjads. Most individualising forensic features lie...
- Abugida (Alphasyllabary)
- A script system in which consonant characters carry inherent vowels modified by diacritical marks; Devanagari, Bengali, Tamil, and Thai are abugidas.
- Alphabet
- A script system in which individual characters represent individual phonemes; Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, and Korean Hangul are alphabets.
- Class Characteristics
- Features deliberately or systematically imparted to a group of items by design or manufacture, such as the calibre of a bullet, the...
- Cross-Script Disguise
- An attempt by a writer to imitate a script system in which they are not fluent, typically to mislead investigators about linguistic...
- Nuqat
- The diacritical dots in Arabic script that distinguish letter pairs (b/t/th, n/y, etc.); in fluent adult writing, multi-dot groups are often merged...
- OSAC (NIST)
- Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science under the US National Institute of Standards and Technology; the successor body to SWGDOC,...
- Shirorekha
- The horizontal headline stroke at the top of most Devanagari consonant characters, joining adjacent letters; its individual variation in height, pressure, continuity,...
- Stroke Order
- The canonical sequence of strokes within a CJK character, specified by national pedagogical standards (GB/T 15834 in China, Joyo Kanji conventions in...