Once names and Coptic had opened the door, Champollion turned to whole texts. In his Précis du système hiéroglyphique (1824) he described the script as, in his words, "figurative, symbolic and phonetic" all at once, in the same text and often in the same word.
Key idea
Hieroglyphs are a mixed system. Sound signs stand for one, two or three consonants. Word signs (logograms) stand for a whole word, often what they picture. Determinatives, written at the end of a word, are not read aloud but show what kind of thing the word means.
Why it works
A mixed system solves real problems. Egyptian writing shows consonants, not vowels, so many words would look alike. A word sign makes a common word quick to write, and a determinative tells words with the same consonants apart. That is also why the symbolic theory was half right: some signs do mean what they show. Its mistake was to think that all of them did. The same sign can even play different roles in different words: the sun disk is a word sign in rꜥ "sun", but a determinative in words for time and light.
Worked example: Reading the roles in a word
The word for "sky" is written with a stool, a loaf, and a picture of the sky. Which signs are read aloud?
- The stool is p and the loaf is t: both sound signs.
- The sky picture ends the word. It is a determinative: it shows the meaning, sky, and is not pronounced.
- So the word is read pt.
Answer: Only the stool and the loaf (p and t).
Worked example: A word sign with helpers
In ꜥnḫ "life", the ankh sign stands for all three consonants ꜥ, n and ḫ, yet it is followed by the signs for n and ḫ. Why?
- The ankh sign is a three-consonant sign: ꜥnḫ.
- The extra n and ḫ repeat sounds the ankh already holds. They are phonetic complements: reading aids, not new sounds.
- So the word is still read ꜥnḫ, not ꜥnḫnḫ.
Answer: They are phonetic complements that confirm the reading.
Common mistake
Thinking hieroglyphs are an alphabet once decoded. The 24 one-consonant signs work like an alphabet, but most words also use two- and three-consonant signs, word signs and determinatives. If you read every sign aloud, a determinative will give you a sound that is not there.
The grammar of the signs is taught in full in Three Kinds of Signs and Determinatives.