Abstract This article explores the cognitive foundations of Chinese writing by analyzing the earliest attestations on oracle bone and bronze inscriptions from the Late Shang (1250–1045 BCE) to the Western Zhou (1045–771 BCE) periods. Integrating palaeographic and cognitive perspectives, we show that metaphorical and metonymic devices of the visual type, through visual emphasis on key configurations (such as pars pro toto ), conceptual extension of meaning, and organization of iconic core components, were crucial in shaping and anchoring the visual and semiotic architecture of the script. These cognitive mechanisms reveal a primacy of the visual structure of the script, supported by neuroscientific evidence of direct orthography-to-semantics mapping, with phonology acting only as a secondary refining mechanism. These findings challenge traditional phonocentric models of writing evolution and illustrate an internal developmental trajectory grounded on visual metaphor and metonymy that confirms, at last, the independent invention of Chinese writing.
Ottaviano et al. (2026) studied this question.