In its origins, then, Blissymbolics was not very different from the kind of universal language projects proliferating in the 17th century. In his later years, however, Bliss himself co-operated with the Blissymbolics Communication Institute, in Toronto, founded in 1975, which has developed and disseminated the system for more practical, limited, purposes. There has been no serious semiotic study of Blissymbolics thus far. It appears, however, that Blissymbolics resembles, not so much Chinese and Egyptian hieroglyphics, as the popular understanding of these writing systems.
Syntax seems to by largely parasitic on the English language.
The fact that many aphasics, who cannot at all, or only to a limited extent, make use of spoken or ordinary written language, do actually manage to learn Blissymbolics, is not only humanely gratifying, but is also theoretically enlightening. On the other hand, the same fact undoubtedly points to some semiotically relevant differences between the two systems. Many signs of Blissymbolics are iconic of other, more commonly known, signs, some of which are in themselves arbitrary, e.g. the Arab digits, musical notes, the equivalence sign, and the questions mark. Other signs re-employed by Bliss are the familiar shapes of a heart and a star which may have some rudiment of pictorality although in their received form they are essentially conventional. Other signs are iconic, and indeed pictorial, in the same way in which this may be said of verbal metaphors and compound word, respectively.