This chapter discusses the notion of orthographic principles, the associated theoretical issues and the relevance of these principles in the (diachronic) study of spelling. It provides an overview of the aspects of writing that should be taken into consideration when identifying general patterns or rules governing spelling practices within a specific historic orthographic system, such as the typological make-up of the writing system, levels and regularity of linguistic representation, and graphotactic constraints. The discussion focuses on alphabet-based spelling systems and delineates several general pathways for the conventionalization of spelling across various European vernacular spellings systems at different historical periods, making particular illustrative use of Cyrillic Lithuanian. In addition to foregrounding the importance of sound-oriented and meaning-oriented graphic mappings in shaping alphabet-based spelling systems, this chapter emphasizes the role of graphotactic constraints, which have been central in contributing to morphographization of some European spelling systems in the early modern and late modern periods.

The Latin American colonial period was a time of intense military, economic, social, political, and religious upheaval. Although European colonial expansion eradicated or seriously emaciated many indigenous societies and imposed itself on them politically and culturally, the conquest and colonization of the Americas was also a period of transculturation in which new symbolic forms–racial, religious, political, social, even gastronomic–emerged from the interaction between European and indigenous cultures. In some cases, the results of transculturation are relatively easy to identify, but the interaction between alphabetic writing and indigenous media such as Mesoamerican iconography and the Andean quipu is much more difficult to detect. This chapter proposes a theory of transcultural intertextuality as a model for understanding the nature of this interaction and a basis for the identification and analysis of particular instances.

This essay centers on the dynamic and inherently complex interplay among pre-Hispanic and European languages and writing (in the broadest sense) in New Spain. It addresses the populations, spaces (geographic and institutional), and formats in which theories, policies, and practices of language use and inscription shifted through three centuries of colonial rule. Emphasis is placed on the strategic choices of indigenous subjects, primarily Nahuas, in their sonic and visual communication practices. It pays attention to the violent processes that went hand in hand with the imposition and acquisition of European communicative practices and tools. Through the analysis of a wide variety of textual genres produced by indigenous peoples and Spaniards, some of the questions treated in this essay are: how did the use of Nahuatl, Spanish, or Latin convey prestige, authenticity, and legitimacy in some circumstances, and in others not? In what ways did the Roman alphabet become a powerful tool wielded by native peoples? Why were indigenous painted amoxtli recreated by memory, then glossed with Spanish text, decades and even one hundred years after the zealous priests burned the originals?