Writing Systems.ppt

Writing Systems 1. Types of Writing Systems Logographic (Morphographic) Syllabic Alphabetic 2. Origin of Writing 3. Development 4. Spread 1. Types of Writing System Logographic 1 symbol = 1 word or morpheme Mandarin Chinese 我們 喜歡 學 語言學 Wo.men xihuan xue yuyanxue. I.Pl enjoy study linguistics “We enjoy studying linguistics.” Syllabic 1 symbol = 1 syllable Japanese べ た べ た (hiragana) be ta be ta ‘sticky’ ア メ リ カ (katakana) a me ri ka ‘America/US’ Alphabetic 1 symbol = 1 phoneme Korean ? ? ? ? ? ? h a n k ? l ? ? han k?l ‘Korean’ ‘writing’ 2. Origin of Writing pictorial sign (picture of plow) object (plow) pictorial sign object name of object ‘plow’, ‘to plow’, ‘plowman’ pictorial sign name of object apin ‘plow’ Origin of Sumerian Cuneiform Early Chinese Characters 3. Development: Rebus Principle Rebus Principle and Chinese Characters 勿 wu ‘animal’ 勿 wu Negative imperative 非 禮 勿 視 Fei li wu shi. be.not Li do.not look ‘If it does not adhere to Li do not look at it!’ Graphic ambiguity: 勿 wu ‘animal’ 勿 wu Negative imperative = Create new character 牛 ‘ox’ Semantic classifier 牛 + 勿 物 wu ‘animal’ 牛 + 岡 犅 gang ‘cow’ 牛 + 生 牲 sheng ‘domestic animal’ 牛 + 羲 犧 xi ‘sacrificial animal’ 4. Spread of Writing Cuneiform Borrowed as Syllabary: Old Persian Japanese Syllabaries from Chinese Characters Chinese Hiragana 安 あ a 加 か ka 世 せ se 天 て te 乃 の no 不 ふ fu 呂 ろ ro Manyoshu: Chinese characters used for sound and meaning value 世間乎 何物爾 Yononaka=wo nani=ni world=Acc what=Dat 将譬 tatohe-mu? compare-should “To what should I compare this world?” Content words used for meaning value: 世間 ‘world’ yononaka 何物 ‘what’ nani 将譬 ‘should compare’ tatohemu Function words used for sound value: 乎 Accusative case wo 爾 Dative case ni Logograms to Alphabet: Phoenician Phoenician to Greek:Vowels Added * *