Editing Blissymbols (section)

== Examples ==
The symbol [[File:Blissymbolics.svg|15px]] represents the expression "world language", which was a first tentative name for Blissymbols. It combines the symbol for "writing tool" or "pen" (a line inclined, as a pen being used) with the symbol for "world", which in its turn combines "ground" or "earth" (a horizontal line below) and its counterpart derivate "sky" (a horizontal line above). Thus the world would be seen as "what is among the ground and the sky", and "Blissymbols" would be seen as "the writing tool to express the world". This is clearly distinct from the symbol of "language", which is a combination of "mouth" and "ear". Thus natural languages are mainly oral, while Blissymbols is just a writing system dealing with semantics, not phonetics.
[[File:Basicsymbols.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Various Bliss-characters]]

The 900 individual symbols of the system are called "Bliss-characters"; these may be "[[ideographic]]" – representing abstract concepts, "[[pictographic]]" – a direct representation of objects, or "composite" – in which two or more existing Bliss-characters are superimposed to represent a new meaning. Size, orientation and relation to the "skyline" and "earthline" affects the meaning of each symbol.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.blissymbolics.org/images/bliss-rules.pdf |title = The Fundamental Rules of Blissymbolics: creating new Blissymbolics characters and vocabulary |date = September 28, 2004 |website = Blissymbolics.org |publisher = Blissymbolics Communication International (BCI) |access-date = 1 January 2014 }} (pp. 7–9)</ref> A single concept is called a "Bliss-word", which can consist of one or more Bliss-characters. In multiple-character Bliss-words, the main character is called the "classifier" which "indicates the semantic or grammatical category to which the Bliss-word belongs". To this can be added Bliss-characters as prefixes or suffixes called "modifiers" which amend the meaning of the first symbol. A further symbol called an "indicator" can be added above one of the characters in the Bliss-word (typically the classifier); these are used as "grammatical and/or semantic markers."<ref>Rules of Blissymbolics pp. 11–18</ref>
[[Image:Bliss cinema.png|thumb|"I want to go to the cinema." in Blissymbols]]

Sentence on the right means "I want to go to the cinema.", showing several features of Blissymbolics:

* The pronoun "I" is formed of the Bliss-character for "person" and the number 1 (the first person). Using the number 2 would give the symbol for singular "You"; adding the plural indicator (a small cross at the top) would produce the pronouns "We" and plural "You".
* The Bliss-word for "to want" contains the heart which symbolizes "feeling" (the classifier), plus the [[Wikt:serpentine|serpentine]] line which symbolizes "fire" (the modifier), and the verb (called "action") indicator at the top.
* The Bliss-word for "to go" is composed of the Bliss-character for "leg" and the verb indicator.
* The Bliss-word for "cinema" is composed of the Bliss-character for "house" (the classifier), and "film" (the modifier); "film" is a composite character composed of "camera" and the arrow indicating movement.