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Writing

dr Jacek Woźny

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Introduction (10 min.)

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Writing

We can define writing as representation of speech sounds, objects or ideas through the use of graphic signs.
Unlike speech, it is a system that is not simply acquired, but has to be learned through sustained conscious effort.
Not all languages have a written form
and, even among people whose language has a well-established writing system, there are large numbers of individuals who cannot use the system

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The origins of writing

In approximately 10000-8000 BC, the Mesopotamians began using clay tokens to count their agricultural and manufactured goods.
Later they began placing these tokens inside large, hollow clay containers (bulla, or globular envelopes) which were then sealed. The quantity of tokens in each container came to be expressed by impressing, on the container's surface, one picture for each instance of the token inside.
They next dispensed with the tokens, relying solely on symbols for the tokens, drawn on clay surfaces. This is how cuneiform script began.

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Cuneiform

Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known systems of writing, distinguished by its wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, made by means of a blunt reed
It began as a system of pictographs (iconic signs)
With time the signs became simplified and their number decreased from about 1000 to 400 (we will come back to cuneiform in a moment)

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Pictograms and ideograms

In time pictograms (icons) simplify in form and acquire a broader meaning. For example a picture of a cigarette may mean that smoking is permitted in the area. This type of sign is called an ideogram.

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From icons to symbols

pictograms and ideograms became the origins for a large number of symbols that turn up in later writing systems.
For example, in Egyptian hieroglyphics, the symbol

was used to refer to a house and derived from the diagram-like representation of the floor plan of a house.

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From icons to symbols

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Logograms

A logogram is a graphic symbol representing a single word of the spoken language.
The above mentiond Summerian cuneiform developed (around 5000 BC) from pictograms and ideograms into a logographic system.
Logograms are still used today, for example: @, &, $, 8, +, -, =, %

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From logograms to rebus �(syllabic) writing

A major disadvatage of logographic writing is the large number of characters
For example the official “list of modern Chinese characters for everyday use” (many of them still logograms) is limited to 2,500 characters.
In rebus writing, where the characters represent syllables instead of the whole words, the number of characters is smaller because one character can be used to represent syllables of many different words.
texting abbreviations are modern example of rebus writing (I h8 u, c u 2nite, etc.)

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Alphabetic writing

The early version of Semitic alphabetic script (consonantal alphabet, about 3000 BC), originating in the writing system of the Phoenicians, is the basic source of most other alphabets to be found in the world.
The early Greeks took the alphabetizing process a stage further by also using separate symbols to represent the vowel sounds (about 9th c. BC)

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Watch this 23 min. video

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Study questions

In the study of language, how is writing defined?
What happens in the process known as rebus writing?
Is the text message “cu@9” an example of logographic or alphabetic writing?
What is the difference between a pictogram and ideogram?
Can you think of any advantages of the pictographic and ideographic writing over the alphabetic writing?

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