THE LANGUAGE OF MAPS AND ITS PRINCIPAL FEATURES

The author, head of the Department of Cartography at the Institute of Geography, analyzes the language of maps in terms of general semiotic principles. Using the similarity of processes in other language systems, he constructs a model of the language of maps that distinguishes two sublanguages, one reflecting the locational aspects of maps (coordinate grids, etc.), the other reflecting the map content. The discussion touches on the system of map symbols as a linguistic feature, analyzes the system of map language in terms of such linguistic features as vocabulary, grammar and syntax, and draws other analogies between the language of maps and other language systems. Translated from: Voprosy Geografii, No. 122/123, 1984, pp. 40-56.