Development of Writing PDF

The development of writing -the development of writing is a relatively recent phenomenon -ancient precursors of writing: cave drawings made at least 20,000 years ago; clay token 10,000 years ago -the earliest writing evidence dates back to 5,000 years ago – cuneiform marked on clay tablets Picto...

The development of writing -the development of writing is a relatively recent phenomenon -ancient precursors of writing: cave drawings made at least 20,000 years ago; clay token 10,000 years ago -the earliest writing evidence dates back to 5,000 years ago – cuneiform marked on clay tablets Pictograms = picture-writing – a way of writing in which a picture/drawing of an object is used to represent the object; graphic representations of a physical object; to make a symbol representative, a conventional relationship must exist between the symbol and its interpretation. Taganov (2018:17) Ideograms=ideographic writing – a way of writing in which each symbol represents a concept; graphic symbols used to describe words, ideas, concepts; these are abstract-derived forms, e.g. the symbol of ‘sun’ stands for ‘heat’ or ‘light’. -they are more or less arbitrary, some require pre-existing familiarity with a given convention. E.g. numerals (1, 2, 3,…), mathematical symbols (+, =, -), &, $, © -pictograms and ideograms are independent of any particular language; don’t correspond to any specific word (as they represent ideas) Logograms=logographic writing, word-writing – a way of writing in which each symbol represents a word, e.g. Sumerian cuneiform writing in the southern part of modern Iraq, around 5,000 years ago. -the relationship between the form and the meaning is arbitrary Cuneiform=’wedge-shaped’. The inscriptions used by the Sumerians were produced by pressing a wedge-shaped implement into soft clay tablets. A table illustrating the progressive simplification of cuneiform signs from archaic (vertical) script to Assyrian. -many moder Chinese writing systems are based on the use of logograms. Chinese characters represent the meaning of words, or parts of words, not the sounds of spoken language → speakers of different dialects can recognize the same written forms (not spoken). Rebus writing – a way of writing in which a pictorial representation of an object is used to indicate the sound of the word for that object. “In this process, the symbol for one entity is taken over as the symbol for the sound of the spoken word used to refer to the entity. That symbol then comes to be used whenever that sound occurs in any words. One symbol can be used in many different ways, with a range of meanings. This brings a sizeable reduction in the number of symbols needed in a writing system” (Yule 2006:22). https://youtu.be/W21NuYfnpK4?t=14 https://x.com/Lg_on_the_Move/status/1290406150798635009 Syllabic writing (syllabary) – a way of writing in which each symbol represents the pronunciation of a syllable. There are no purely syllabic writing systems in use today, but modern Japanese can be written with a single symbols which represent spoken syllables and is consequently often described as having a syllabic writing. https://www.tiktok.com/@thelingotter/video/7349303991165160750 Alphabetic writing (alphabet) – a way of writing in which one symbol represents one sound segment (a single type of sound); graphic units associate with phonemes. -the early version of Semitic (Arabic and Hebrew) alphabetic script, originating in the writing system of the Phoenicians, is the basic source of most other alphabets to be found in the world. In their writing systems there were consonants while vowels were supplied by the reader (‘rdr’). -the early Greeks used separate symbols to represent the vowel sounds as distinct entities, and so created a remodeled system that included vowels. -the Roman alphabet is the writing system used for English (the Greeks → the rest of Western Europe (through the Romans) → English) -Slavic languages: the Greeks → Eastern Europe → Cyrillic alphabet Yule (2006:24) -The spelling of written English took place in 15th century via printing. Latin and French affected the written forms (conventions regarding the written representations of words). Many of the early printers were Dutch, so they were not accurate in English pronunciation. -Since the 15th century spoken English has undergone a lot of changes. Study questions 1 What is the basic difference between pictograms and ideograms? 2 What is the basic difference between a logographic writing system and a phonographic writing system? 3 What happens in the process known as rebus writing? 4 Which modern language has a (partially) syllabic writing system? 5 The majority of symbols (QWERTY) on a keyboard belong to an alphabetic system. What about other symbols on the keyboard such as @, %, &, 5, ∗, +? Are they alphabetic, syllabic, logographic or ideographic? How would you describe other special symbols such as ✄, ☞, ✎, ♥, or :-)?