Writing

Systems
LING2059
JohnGuest
DepartmentofLinguistics
HKU
Course Details
Overallaim(s)ofcourse
Coursefocus
Managementofclassesandtutorials
Detailsofrequiredtextbook
InitialScheduleofclasses
Assessmentdetails:
Midterm
Finalassignment
Tutorials
AOB
Overall Aim(s) of Course
Topresentdetailsofwritingsystemsfromaroundtheworld
andancienttimes
Toconcentrateonthegeneralsystemusedbythescripts
inventorsandusers
Toclassifydifferenttypesofwritingsystemsandexplorethem
ingreaterdetail
Toinvestigatethegeneralhistoryanddevelopmentofwriting
Origins
Majordevelopmentsinhistory
Tolookatextinctwritingmethods
Tocompareourownwritingsystemswithothers
Course Focus
Howwritingworks?

Thecoursefocusesonwritingingeneralandthewayitfunctionsas
anentityinahumansocietyandculture

Howitrepresentslanguageandotherformsofmeaning

Bytheendofthecourseyoushouldbeabletoroughlypiece
togethertheeventsinhistorythatledtochangesinwritingforms
andmethods,aswellasimportantmomentsthatledtowhy
differentwritingsystemsareusedaroundtheworldtoday.

Theimportanceofwritingattheworkinglevelandthesocietallevel
Management of Classes/Tutorials
Thecourseconsistsof11sessions coveringmostmajorwriting
systems,ancientandmodern.(1sessionwillbethemidterm)
Therewillbe3tutorials heldoverthesemester(detailsafter
adddrop)
Assessment:
MidtermQuiz 30% helddirectlybefore readingweek(28/2/17)
Coveringthe5lecturespriorandall5allocatedchaptersfromtextbook
Tutorials participationandpreparation 10%
FinalAssignmentPlan/Outline 10% aonepageplanofyour
approachtothetopicinyourfinalassignment(submitted~3weeks
beforefinaldeadline 18th April,2017)
FinalAssignment 50% 2,500wordessayonachosentopicgiven
toyou(Deadline 8th May,2017)
 Timetable
Lecture Topic Chapter Date
1 IntroductiontoWritingSystems 1 17/1/17
2 Cuneiform 2 24/1/17
~ CNYBreak 31/1/17
3 EgyptianHieroglyphics 3 7/2/17
4 MayaGlyphs 5 14/2/17
5 Chinese 4 21/2/17
6 MidtermQuiz 28/2/17
~ ReadingWeek 7/3/17
7 Semitic 9 14/3/17
8 Greek 6&12 21/3/17
9 Roman 13 28/3/17
~ PublicHoliday(ChingMing) 4/4/17
10 Indian 10 11/4/17
11 (New)Syllabaries 8 18/4/17
12 Korean 11 25/4/17
Required Course Textbook
PleasepurchaseTheWriting
Revolution:Cuneiformtothe
InternetbyAmalia E.Gnanadesikan
(2009)
Availablenowatthebookshop.

Makesanexcellentreadingcompanion
(fromadifferentpointofview)
What is Writing?
Writingisthesinglemostimportantsignsystemever
inventedonourplanet Coulmas(1989,p3)
Comparewithspeech:
Speechconsideredmorecentraltolanguage
Speechisinnateandacquired
Speechisnotconsciouslyinvented
Writing:
Manysocietiesandlanguageshavenowritingsystem
Writinghastobeconsciouslylearned(notacquired)
Constructedandfunctionsdifferentlyfromspeech

Writingisaculturalachievement ratherthanauniversal
propertyCoulmas(1989,p3)
What is Writing?
Intermswhenitoccursinhumanhistory,itoccursverylate.
Humanshavebeenarguablyexistingfor50,000years
Writinghasbeentracedbackonly5,000yearsago

Oncewritingwaswrittenondurablematerials(stone,clay,wood,
etc.)itcanbecarefullyanalyzedbetterthanancientspeech
writingleavesarerecord.

Anextremelyimportantinventionandcanonlybecomparedtothe
controlleduseoffireandagriculturalknowledge intermsofimpact
tohumans.

Bothhightech(nowabletocommunicatetextelectronically)&
lowtech(allyouneedisapenandpaper)
Life Without Writing
Veryhardtoimagineourownliveswithoutwriting
Wehavetoimaginethatsocietydoesnothavetheuse(and
impact)ofwriting
Majoreffectsondailylives oureverydayreadings
Majoreffectonsociety cities,countries,communities
Basiccivilizationwouldnotbeabletofunction
Religionsandlawswouldbeverydifferent
Historicalrecordswouldnotexist(onlyviacommonmemory)
Sciencewouldalmostnotexistotherthanrudimentaryforms
Educationwouldbefamilybased
Communitysizeswouldberestricted(infrastructurewould
collapseoveracertainsize)

Averylimitedanddifferenthumanworldwouldexist.
Early Writing
Whenitwasinventedearlysystemswerecomplexand
onlyafewcouldlearnandmasterit.
Tookmuchtime,trainingandmoney,thusrestrictedto
aprivilegedfew thescribes
Manywerepriestsandusedthescriptforreligious
purposes
Otherswererulersormembersoftheirhousehold
Ordinarypeoplewereilliterateandconsideredthese
signsasmysterious
Tothescribesknowledgewaspower.

Beascribe!...
Youareonewhositsgrandlyinyourhouse;
yourservantsanswerspeedily;
beerispouredcopiously;
allwhoseeyourejoiceingoodcheer.
Happyistheheartofhimwhowrites;
Heisyoungeachday.
fromPapyrusLansing,c.1000BC,aschoolbook(Lichtheim 1976,inPowell2009)
Uses of Early Writing
Gnanadesikan(2009)assertstherewere3mainusesofearlywriting:
Stateadministrationandbureaucracy
Tradeandcommerce
Religiouspractices

Theoriesofwritingoriginsofwritingsaythatitcameoutoftheneedto
keeprecords accounting.Areliablewayofrecordingtransactions and
thatareunderstandabletoothers

Theaboveneedsledtopracticalproblemsandwritingwasapractical
solutiontothese.
Problemsinclude:
Keepingrecordsoftransactions
Conveyinginformationoutofvoicerange
Leavingmessageforthegodstoknowabout
Writingprovidesasolutiontotheseemergingproblems bymakinga
conventionalsystemforvisuallymanifestinglanguage.(Coulmas1989)
Aformofsocialproblemsolving resultinginacommonsolutioncalled
writing
Consequences of Writing
Abletohavelargecommunitieslivingtogetherinrelativepeace
Abletohaveamorejustandfairsociety
Abletoempowerpeoplewitheducation
Abletomakerecordsofwhatyoulikeorwhatisnecessary
Abletoestablishandmaintaininfrastructure,organizationsand
governments
Abletousewritingforonesownparticularpurpose writinga
diaryorwritingalaw
andmuchmore
Functions of Writing
MnemonicFunction memorysupportive
Abletowritedownandretaininformationthatwouldloadnormal
memory;abletolistorwritedownanything(things,recipes,todo
lists,messages,thoughts,diary,events,etc.)

DistancingFunction communicationbeyondthevoice
Speakerscanexpandtheirrangeinspaceandovertime;leavinga
messageonadoorandcarvingsomethingintostonetoberead
thousandsofyearslater;messagecanbeunderstoodlaterandnot
necessarilythere

ReifyingFunction tomakespokenvoiceintoanobject
Spokenvoiceexhibitsrapidfadeandoncespokenisgone;writing
canmakethespokenwordintoanobjectthatisphysicalandcan
betransported,kept,readatalatertime
nowinterpretationofthemessageliesinthetextnotthespeaker;
speechalsoboundbythehere,nowandI thewrittenwordis
thusdetachedfromthesebounds
thecodebecomesanobject;languagebecomesvisible,canbe
investigatedandregulated;writingisstable
Functions of Writing
SocialControlFunction abletoregulatesocialconduct
Theideasoflaws,rightsandstandardsarecloselylinkedtowriting;
becomesdepersonalizedrulesforliving,andapplyingcertain
behaviourinsociety;appearsinsignsandbanners,statutelawbooks
Havebeeninuseincivilizedsocietiesforthousandsofyears
Registrationofmembersofacommunityfortaxation,voting,etc.

InteractionalFunction allowsforhumanstocommunicate
Anadditionalmediumforhumanstointeractwitheachother;
writingletters,postingFBmessages,instructionstocarryout
something(will),etc.
Noneedforthespeakertobepresent

AestheticFunction literatureandpoetry
Peoplecanreadtextsforpleasureandappreciation;differenttypes
oftextsareavailableforpeopletoenjoy
FromCoulmas(1989)
Definition of Writing
Rogers(2005)defineswritingastheuseofgraphicmarksto
representspecificlinguisticutterances(p2)
Writingisnotlanguage butwritingrepresentlanguage(and
onlylanguage)(notmessagesinpaintings,etc.)

HowaboutthisCheyenne
Indianletter?
Other Definitions
Writingisasystemofmarkingswithaconventionalreferencethat
communicatesinformation(Powell,2009:13)

Coulmas(1989)doesntgiveaformaldefinitionbuttalksabout
writingsfundamentalcharacteristics:
1. itconsistsofartificialgraphicalmarksonadurablesurface;
2. itspurposeistocommunicatesomething;
3. thispurposeisachievedbyvirtueofthemarksconventionalrelationto
language.

Writingisnotlanguage,butmerelyawayofrecordinglanguageby
meansofvisiblemarks(Bloomfield1933:21)

Writingisdefinedasasystemofmoreorlesspermanentmarks
usedtorepresentanutteranceinsuchawaythatitcanberecovered
moreorlessexactlywithouttheinterventionoftheutterer.(Daniels
1996:3)
 Aspects of Writing
AccordingtoRogers(2006),therearethreebasicwaystocreateawriting
system:
1.inventanewwritingsystem
StartingfromscratchwithnopreviousknowledgeofanyWS
Happened23timesinhumanhistory rare
Mesopotamia(5,000years),China(3,500years)andMesoAmerica(2,000years)

2.borrowawritingsystem
Muchmorecommonaroundtheworld(withtheexceptionofChinese)
JapanborrowedfromChineseWS
Egyptians(probably)borrowedfromtheSumerians
SemiticscriptscamefromEgyptian
GreeksborrowedfromtheSemiticsystem
GreekalphabetborrowedfromtheEtruscans
RomansborrowedfromtheGreekalphabetforLatin

3.creationofanewwritingsystem
Quiterare;involvesborrowinggeneralprinciplesfromoneWStoanewone
e.g.Cherokee,Cree,Pahawh Hmong,Bliss
Sometimescreatedforfictionalworlds(J.R.R.Tolkien LordoftheRings)
Relationship of Writing to Language
Variesdependingonthesystem
Finnishalmostacompleteonetoonecorrespondencetophonemes
Chinesealmostonetoonetomorphemes
InHebrewonlyconsonantsarewrittensincethereadershouldknow
themissingvowel.
Somelanguageshaveamixtureofsystems,likeJapanese,with
charactersfromChineseandakana whereeachsymbolrepresentsa
mora(CVorCattheendofasyllable)
EnglishusestheRomanalphabetbuttherelationshipisnotalways
corresponding
/i/ <ee>,<ea>,<ie>,<ei>,<y>,<i>
Inmeet,meat,siege,conceive,city,spaghetti
<ough>intough/f/,cough/f/,through/u/,though//
Relatedtothephonologywithsomevariationsbutstronglyshaped
bythelexicalandmorphemicconsiderations(Rogers2005,5)
Relationship of Writing to Language
Twolargecategories phonograms andlogograms

Sotherelationshipcanbesimpleorcomplex,sometimesthe
relationshipisstraightforwardornotconsistent
Manylanguagessharethesamealphabetbuthavedifferent
rulesfortheirlanguage.
Therearenoperfectwritingsystem.
PurePhonography PureLogography

Finnish Chinese

PurephonographyFrench
Finnish English Japanese Japanese
Chinese Purelogography
English Korean

Phoneticnotation Cryptographiccodes
Structure of Writing
Terminology
Phonetictranscription /kt/
Narrowphonetictranscription [kt]
Graphemictranscription <cat>

InternalStructureofWriting
Thesearetherulesorconventionsthatareindependentfrom
language
Directionofwriting Englishis andArabicis
Chineseis butcanalsobe
Internal Structure (cont.)
Alsoindividualletters/characterscanvarywithinatext
Arabiclettersvaryonhowtheyarejoinedtoothers

Chinesefillsinanimaginaryrectanglewithaverydefinite
strokeorder

KoreanHangularealsoinsyllableblocksbutinapredictable
manner

Cuneiformwascurvedononesideandflatontheother you
needtoreadtheflatsidefirst,thenthecurvedside

Otherfontandformattingconventions
 Allwritinghasalinearorganizationunderlyingit elements
arepredictableandreproducible

Sometimesnonlinearelementsarealsopresent
e.g.omissionofvowelsinArabic
Writtenelementsareonlyconsonantsandlongvowels
Graphemes and Allographs
Intermsofwriting,therearevariationsintheforms(handwriting
andfontdifferences)
gor g;aor ;for f or f
Parallelscanbetakeninnotationfromformallinguistics
phoneme allophone
morpheme allomorph
GRAPHEME isacontrastingunitinawritingsystem
<b>contrastswith<p,r,w,d,t>
definitionintermsofgraphicelements,notlanguage
ALLOGRAPH isavariationofagrapheme(font/handwriting)
Conditioningfactors:styleofhandwriting;typeoffont
Classesofallographs:upper&lowercase;fonttype;Roman,Bold,Italic
Afullcollectionofgraphemescanconstituteunitsofawritingsystem
e.g.graphemicsegmentalunitsforEnglishformanalphabet
othernonsequentialgraphemesarenotthealphabet punctuation,
numbers,unitsigns($,,),wordspace
Allographs
Certainrulesareassociatedwithwhichallographtouse
CapitalizationRules:

Exceptionsarepossibleandrulesaredifferentforeachlanguage

Inasense,upperandlowercaseletterspairsareincomplementary
distribution whenyougetone,youdontgettheother.

FreeandBoundGraphemes
Freegraphemes:thosethatcanappearindependently
a,q,l,o,u
Boundgraphemes:thosethatneedahosttoappearproperly
accentmarks +a=
 Heresanexampleofalessfamiliarscript/language,Sanskrit.

Bounddiacriticscanappearinfourdifferentpositions
pre,post,above,below
Ligatures
Thejoiningofgraphemesinaparticularwritingsystem
Sometimestheyarecombinedmerelyforaesthetic
reasonsandhasnoaffectonthemeaning non
structural
<fl>vs<fl>
Sometimesitscombinedtoformanewgrapheme
structuralligature
<a>and<e>combinetofor<>andisaseparate
letter/grapheme
Therearealsoquasiligatures combinationsofletters
thatarenotjoinedbutalwaysappeartogether
<aa>toform//inDanish
<ll>and<ch>inSpanish
Phonographic Writing Systems
Definedasasystemthatusessymbolstorepresentthe
phonemesofthelanguage.
DominatedbythewritingsystemsthatusetheRomanalphabet.
Isthereaonetoonerelationship?
Somelanguageshaveahighcorrespondence,e.g.Spanish,but
withexceptions(<hora>is/ora/,b/vinterchange)

Englishneedsmorphologicalinformationtoknowhowtheword
ispronounced
you ewe yew Uturnareall/jiu/
<oo>iseither/u/infood,boot,loop,or/ /inlook,wool,good

Inphonemicwritingsystems:
Segmentalsymbolsarecalledletters
Thecollectionoflettersiscalledanalphabet
 Moraic Writing Systems (syllabic)
Basedonasoundunitcalledamora,whichcanphonologically
appearasanopensyllable(onset+nucleus,CV)oratthecoda(C)
ExamplesareJapanesekana,Cherokee,CreeInuktitut
Previouslyknownasasyllabicwritingsystem,butshouldupdateas
perRogers(2005)

/k////p/ /k//p/ /kp/

alphabet mora syllable
Morphograpic Writing Systems
Basedonmorphemesofalanguagewheretheprimary
connectionbetweenthewritingsystemandthelanguageis
fromgraphemestomorphemes.
Morphograpicisamoreaccuratetermoverlogographic(word
writing)sinceitconsiderswordsandmorphemes.

Chineseisprobablytheonlyandmostwidespread
morphographicwritingsystem.
NonSegmental Graphic Elements
Punctuation differsbetweenlanguagesandwritingsystems
addsadditionalinformationinformatandboundary
includeswordboundarygrapheme,insertedbetweenwords
comparewitholdLatintextswithoutboundaries
NonSegmental Graphic Elements
Otherexamples:
Tibetan syllableboundariesaremarkedwitharaiseddot

Chinese characterseparation

Korean syllablesizedunits
Unit Discrepancies
Theseinvolvedifferencesbetweenthenumberofunitsinthe
linguisticgraphemicrelationship.
1unit 2+units,or2+units 1unit
POLYGRAPH:morethanonegraphicunitrepresentsonephoneme
e.g.<sh>as//,<th>is//or//(alsoknownasadigraph)
POLYPHONE:asinglegraphemerepresentsmorethanonephoneme
e.g.<x>inboxis/ks/

ContrastiveDiscrepancies
Wheredistinctcontrastsinspokenlanguagearenotrepresentedin
writing(read,read)
or
Distinctcontrastsinwrittenformsarenotrepresentedinthespoken
form(two,too,to)
 Contrastive Discrepancies
HOMOGRAPHY phonologicaldistinctionsareneutralized
graphemically(Rogers,2005)
<read>as/id/and<read>as/d/
<ough>intough/f/orthough//orthrough/u/

HOMOPHONY graphemicdistinctionsareneutralizedphonologically
(Rogers,2005)
<seem><seam><cede><siege>areall/i/

Canbecomplex <th>canbe//inthen,/ /inthink,/t/inThames

Summary
Writing,asasingleinvention,aspermeatedandtransformedall
aspectsofhumanlifeandcivilization
CanbetracedbacktotheMiddleEast,ChinaandMesoAmerica
Differentsystemsusesymbolstorepresentspokenlanguagein
differentways
Thislecturehaslookedatthewayswecaninvestigatescripts
aroundtheworld
Nextlecturewewilllookcloselyattheearliestwrittenlanguage
cuneiform
Readings and Question

Pleasereadchapter1TheFirstITRevolutionofGnanadesikan
(2009),p.112

Pleasealsothinkaboutthefollowingquestion:
Withtheuseofnewertechnologieslikeebooks,smartphones,
computermonitorsorprojectors,wherethevisibletextisthereif
thedeviceisworking,doweneedtoupdatethedefinitionof
writing?
Howwouldyousuggestupdatingit,andifso,how?

Prepareforshortdiscussionatbeginningofnextclass.
(participationwillbenoted)