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Abstract
The natural landscape was the engine of daily life in prehistorical times, and, for that, it was the main source for linguistic creativity by supplying a material reality that inspired symbolic constructions and moulded a communication based on a common background. This paper considers a semiotics’ approach on language and on the creation of signs of meaning based on empirical experience, to understand and describe the expression of emotion in Sumerian literature. The main argument stands for the use of universal signs of meaning for expressing feelings in a way that would be understood independently of the linguistic background. Considering an example of a text of ambiguous interpretation as well as texts with clear hermeneutic ground for a dialogic exercise, a transversal understanding of abstract images was possible since symbolic constructions were generated from interaction with nature, which tend to be a similar empirical experience in all ancient human communities sustained by agricultural production. Examples taken from literary sources regarding symbolic constructions and processes of signs of meaning acquisition are presented, described, and commented in this study.
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