Understanding Dual Form Grammatical Markers

Some Bliss grammatical markers exist in two forms: as an indicator and as a grammatical modifier. Both represent the same grammatical function, but they differ in form, placement, and their relationship to the main symbol. This page explains the two forms, why they exist, and what to consider when choosing between them.

What are grammatical markers?

Blissymbolics includes symbols used to express natural language grammar: tense, plurality, possession, grammatical gender, case, and so on. They exist in large numbers because when Bliss is used within a natural language context, users need to be able to express the grammatical distinctions that language requires. Whether in a classroom, on a communication board, or in daily conversation, grammatical markers bridge Bliss and natural language.

There are many grammatical markers in the Bliss system. Only some of them exist in two forms, and those are the ones this page is about.

Two forms: indicators and grammatical modifiers

Indicators are diacritics, small marks placed above the main symbol. They have been used in teaching and communication practice for decades, across multiple countries and languages.

Grammatical modifiers are characters placed on or across the baseline (the earthline in Bliss terminology). For some grammatical markers, BCI introduced modifier equivalents and marked the corresponding indicator forms as non-preferred.

The following table shows the affected grammatical markers, with each indicator alongside its modifier equivalent:

Function	Indicator	Modifier
First person
Second person
Third person
Feminine
Neuter
Masculine	—
Direct object
Possessive
Diminutive
Indefinite		—

View this list of grammatical markers in the Bliss Dictionary

Many other indicators (for tense, plurality, definiteness, voice, and more) remain in active use without a modifier counterpart.

Why two forms exist

BCI’s decision to introduce grammatical modifiers and mark the corresponding indicators as non-preferred was influenced by considerations around encoding Blissymbolics in Unicode, the international standard for representing text in software.

The concern was that indicators, as combining diacritics, would create difficulties for Unicode standardization. The main challenge relates to stacking multiple indicators on a single symbol. Whether this concern is well founded is not entirely clear, since Unicode does support combining diacritics in other scripts, including Devanagari, Arabic, Tibetan, and Thai.

For most users, however, this is a background consideration. If your work depends on future Unicode support for Bliss, this may be worth keeping in mind.

Current practical reality

In practice, both forms are in use today:

BCI officially promotes the grammatical modifier approach
Indicator forms continue to be widely used in teaching and communication practice
Not all grammatical markers are relevant to all languages, and which ones are needed depends on the grammar of the natural language being expressed
Different countries and languages have developed their own traditions around grammatical markers, and there is no single “correct” way to use them
Bliss SVG Builder, the rendering engine used on this site, supports both indicators and grammatical modifiers

How they look in practice

To illustrate the difference, here are a few examples showing the same word with an indicator and with a grammatical modifier:

Meaning	With indicator	With modifier
I, me
casita (Spanish: little house)
la maison (French: the house, feminine)

Choosing what works for you

Which approach to use is up to you. Consider your context: who you’re working with, what materials they’re familiar with, and whether Unicode compliance matters for your use case. Experienced instructors in different countries may have well-established practices worth learning from.