The article deals with the relation between ideology, script and orality. The author first discusses Western definitions of script, and the relation between script and orality. The article then looks at interfaces between different scripts; first culturally specific characters and letter systems are discussed (pagan runes, the Latin alphabet), followed by Chinese characters and American scripts (Maya hieroglyphs, Mesoamerican iconic script, the quipu, and Mide script). The author then discusses the relation between script and unwritten languages, and spoken texts.