- "Writing systems are the foundation of literacy and literacy learning, with all the social and psychological consequences associated with literacy activities."
The development of writing systems and their influences on language and culture.
Prehistoric Art: Evidence of early forms of human communication through drawings and symbols.
Sumerian Cuneiform: The first written language, developed in Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE, using wedge-shaped markings on clay tablets.
Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A writing system developed by the ancient Egyptians, using pictorial representations of objects and ideas.
Phoenician Alphabet: The earliest known version of the modern alphabet, developed by the Phoenicians in the 12th century BCE.
Chinese Characters: A logographic writing system developed in ancient China, using pictorial representations of words and concepts.
Greek Alphabet: The letters used to write the Greek language, which were adapted from the Phoenician Alphabet.
Roman Alphabet: The letters used to write the Latin language, which were adapted from the Greek Alphabet.
Medieval Manuscripts: Handwritten copies of religious texts and other manuscripts produced during the Middle Ages, often featuring ornate illustrations and calligraphy.
Printing Press: The invention of the printing press in the 15th century revolutionized the way books and other written materials were produced, making them more widely available and affordable.
Modern Writing Systems: The development of new writing systems in recent centuries, including shorthand, Braille, and digital writing technologies such as Unicode.
Pictographic: A type of writing in which words are represented by simple pictures or symbols.
Ideographic: A type of writing in which each symbol represents an entire concept or idea.
Logographic: A type of writing in which each symbol represents a word or morpheme.
Syllabic: A type of writing in which each symbol represents a syllable.
Alphabetic: A type of writing in which each symbol represents a sound or phoneme.
Abjad: A type of writing in which only the consonants of a word are represented.
Abugida: A type of writing in which each symbol represents a consonant with an attached vowel.
Semanto-phonetic: A type of writing in which each symbol represents both a sound and a meaning.
Hieroglyphic: A type of writing used in ancient Egypt, in which pictures and symbols represent both sounds and ideas.
Cuneiform: A type of writing used in ancient Mesopotamia, in which wedge-shaped symbols were impressed onto clay tablets.
Runic: A type of writing used in ancient Germanic languages, in which symbols known as runes were used to represent sounds and meanings.
Brahmic: A type of writing used in South and Southeast Asia, in which symbols called syllabaries are used to represent sounds and writing.
Hangul: The Korean writing system, in which symbols represent sounds and are arranged into syllabic blocks.
Chinese characters: A highly complex writing system in which each symbol represents an entire word or morpheme, and is composed of strokes which are arranged into specific patterns.
Egyptian hieratic: A type of writing used in ancient Egypt which was a simplified form of hieroglyphic. Each symbol represented sounds and was more quickly written by scribes.
Roman script: The writing system developed in ancient Rome, in which letters represent sounds and are arranged into words and sentences.
Arabic script: The writing system used for the Arabic language, in which diagonal strokes and dots are used to represent different sounds and emphasis.
Cyrillic script: A writing system used in several Slavic languages, in which letters derived from the Greek alphabet represent both sounds and meanings.
Braille: A writing system used by the blind, in which dots are arranged in different patterns to represent letters and words.
Morse code: A system of communication developed for telegraphy, in which different sequences of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers.
- "More complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing, systems of ideographic or early mnemonic symbols."
- "True writing encodes the content of a linguistic utterance so that another reader can reconstruct, with a fair degree of accuracy, the exact utterance written down."
- "The earliest uses of writing in Sumer were to document agricultural produce and create contracts."
- "Soon writing became used for purposes of finances, religion, government, and law."
- "These uses supported the spread of these social activities, their associated knowledge, and the extension of centralized power."
- "Writing then became the basis of knowledge institutions such as libraries, schools, universities, and scientific and disciplinary research."
- "These uses were accompanied by the proliferation of genres, which typically initially contained markers or reminders of the social situations and uses."
- "The social meaning and implications of genres often became more implicit as the social functions of these genres became more recognizable in themselves."
- "As in the examples of money, currency, financial instruments, and now digital currency."
- "These uses supported the spread of these social activities, their associated knowledge, and the extension of centralized power."
- "The earliest uses of writing in Sumer were to document agricultural produce and create contracts."
- "Writing then became the basis of knowledge institutions such as libraries, schools, universities, and scientific and disciplinary research."
- "These uses supported the spread of these social activities, their associated knowledge, and the extension of centralized power."
- "More complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing, systems of ideographic or early mnemonic symbols."
- "Soon writing became used for purposes of finances, religion, government, and law."
- "Writing systems are the foundation of literacy and literacy learning, with all the social and psychological consequences associated with literacy activities."
- "Writing then became the basis of knowledge institutions such as libraries, schools, universities, and scientific and disciplinary research."
- "The social meaning and implications of genres often became more implicit as the social functions of these genres became more recognizable in themselves."
- "As in the examples of money, currency, financial instruments, and now digital currency."