From Clay Tablet to Digital Tablet. The Diamesic Variation of Writing

‘Diamesy’ is a metalinguistic term referring to the communication. The aim of this paper is to redefine the concept of diamesy applied to writing systems from the grapholinguistic point of view, in order to insert it into the architec- ture of writing’s variation, and investigating writing shifts in relation to media identity. For this purpose, the story of the term diamesy, its attestations and mean- ings in both linguistics and grapholinguistics will be illustrated, providing cases of diamesic variation in writing history. Afterwards, the focus will be on the ma- teriality of writing and the relation between it and material technology, in order to redefine the concept of medium, distinguishing it from mode and modality of communication, and its significance for writing variation.