What question did this study set out to answer?

To formally define somatographemics, a semiotic discipline focused on encoding somatic states in written signs.

May 20, 2026Open Access

Somatographemics: Towards a Formal Definition of a New Semiotic Discipline.

Q: What does this research mean for the field?

Somatographemics is a distinct semiotic discipline that investigates the deliberate deformation of written signs to directly encode biological, physiological, or somatic states. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.METHODOLOGICAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.ESTABLISHES_NEW_DIRECTION.

FMFRANCIS BRICE SIEWE MINGUEU

Key Points

To formally define somatographemics, a semiotic discipline focused on encoding somatic states in written signs.
Introduced the concept and established its formal boundaries.
Developed a comparative matrix against traditional linguistics.
Outlined applications in public health and archival theory.
Defined somatographemics as distinct from graphemics.
Proposed the Biodiacritic System for public health, focusing on nutritional risk encoding.
Suggested the Oblicist System for archival theory, promoting symbolic restitution through diacritical signs.

Abstract

This working paper formally introduces and defines somatographemics, a new semiotic discipline distinct from standard graphemics. While traditional graphemics studies how written signs (graphemes) relate to phonological units (sounds) , somatographemics investigates the deliberate deformation of written signs to directly encode biological, physiological, or somatic states—such as crisis, atrophy, inflammation, hunger, metabolic disruption, trauma, and death. Coined and operationalized by Francis Brice Siewe Mingueu in 2026, the concept addresses a persistent gap between graphemic theory and somatic reality. The paper establishes the formal boundaries of the discipline, provides a comparative matrix against traditional linguistics , and outlines its relationship to adjacent fields like biosemiotics, trauma studies, and behavioral semiotics. Furthermore, the paper highlights the two founding applications of the discipline: The Biodiacritic System (BDS): Applied to public health communication to encode nutritional risk and trigger pre-cognitive behavioral avoidance. The Oblicist System: Applied to postcolonial archival theory, using a taxonomy of diacritical signs on colonial texts as a method of symbolic restitution ("surgery on the archive").

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