A Recursive Encoding for Cuneiform Signs
This addresses a specific problem for students and scholars of cuneiform, offering incremental improvements in lookup efficiency.
The paper tackles the problem of tedious sign lookup in cuneiform pedagogy by proposing a recursive encoding for signs, resulting in new algorithms that enable lookup by distinctive components and electronic rendering.
One of the most significant problems in cuneiform pedagogy is the process of looking up unknown signs, which often involves a tedious page-by-page search through a sign list. This paper proposes a new "recursive encoding" for signs, which represents the arrangement of strokes in a way a computer can process. A series of new algorithms then offers students a new way to look up signs by any distinctive component, as well as providing new ways to render signs and tablets electronically.