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Ply, markedness and redundancy : new evidence for how Andean khipus encoded information

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Hyland_2014_American_Anthropologist.pdf (323.6Kb)
Date
09/2014
Author
Hyland, Sabine Patricia
Keywords
Andes
Writing systems
Khipus
Ethnohistory
GN Anthropology
BDC
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Abstract
Khipus are knotted-cord devices once used in the Andes for communication and recording information. Although numbers can be read on many khipus, it is unknown how other forms of data may have been recorded on the strings. Scholars currently debate whether elements of cord construction, such as the direction of ply, signified meaning on khipus and, if so, how. Testimony from an Aymara-speaking khipu maker, collected in 1895 by Max Uhle and recovered from Uhle's unpublished field notes, combined with the analysis of his actual khipu provides the first direct evidence that ply was a signifying element in khipus. Moreover, the evidence suggests that ply signified through a principle of markedness in which S ply corresponded to the unmarked (more valued) category while Z ply corresponded to the marked (less valued) category.
Citation
Hyland , S P 2014 , ' Ply, markedness and redundancy : new evidence for how Andean khipus encoded information ' , American Anthropologist , vol. 116 , no. 3 , pp. 643-648 . https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.12120
Publication
American Anthropologist
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.12120
ISSN
0002-7294
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright 2014 by the American Anthropological Association. Reproduced in accordance with the American Anthropological Association author reuse policy.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6639

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