What is writing?
Writing is the recording of speech using written signs.
Name the different phases in the development of writing.
The major phases in the development of writing are: pictographic writing, ideographic writing, logographic writing, rebus writing, syllabic writing and alphabetic writing.
What is pictographic writing?
Pictographic writing using picture to represent an object. For example, the use of to mean ‘sun’. In pictographic writing, the sign and its meaning have one of one-to one correspondence.
What is ideographic writing?
Ideographic writing is the use of picture-like symbols to represent the idea of an object. For example, one may draw a circle (O) to mean ‘the sun’, ‘day’, ‘light’, etc. An ideographic sign can represent many related ideas.
What is logographic writing?
Logographic writing is the use of arbitrary signs to represent the idea of an object. For example, Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3...) are arbitrary symbols which represent a whole idea. Other common logograms include the signs & (ampersand), @, (at), % (percent), currency signs ($, ¢, €, £, ¥ etc.) Chinese and Japanese writing are logographic.
What is rebus writing? Explain its importance.
Rebus writing uses symbols such as pictograms as sounds symbols to represent new words. (In Latin language, rebus meant "by things"). A. The association of a picture with a sound was the earliest attempt to write sounds. This method is used in many ancient writings to represent abstract ideas.
What is syllabic writing?
In Syllabic writings, signs represented syllables rather than the whole word. It needed a syllabary—a set of written symbols to represent syllables.
What is alphabetical writing?
Alphabetical writing is the use of signs to represent both the consonant and vowel sounds. Alphabetic writing was discovered by the Phoenicians. Greeks improved it by adding separate symbols for vowels.
Why are there problems in sound-letter correspondence in English?
English is an alphabetical language. But, it does not have absolute sound-letter correspondence because of many reasons. 1) English spelling was fixed by non-English printers in the 16th century. 2) Pronunciation of English words have undergone a gradual change. 3) Many foreign words in English often retain their original spelling.
What is the direction of writing?
Different scripts are written in different directions. The early alphabet could be written in any direction: left-to-right (English, Greek, Latin) right-to-left (Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew), up (Philipinian languages like Alibata, Baybayin or down(Chinese), or boustrophedon—writing of alternate lines were in opposite directions, started horizontally in one direction and at the end of the line reversing direction(Egyptian hieroglyph). The Mongolian alphabet is the only script written top-to-bottom and also left-to-right.
Your Assignment (History of Writing)
Find out the Arabic words used in English. Make a list of 50 words.
