Chapter 12: Writing - The ABCs of Language

Question 1

petroglyphs*

Answer 1

A drawing on rock made by prehistoric people.

Question 2

pictograms*

Answer 2

A symbol in a writing system that resembles the object represented in a direct way; a nonarbitrary form of writing.

Question 3

ideograms / ideograph*

Answer 3

A character of a word-writing system, often highly stylized, that represents a concept, or the pronunciation of the word representing that concept.

Question 4

logographic / word writing*

Answer 4

A system of writing in which each character represents a word or morpheme of the language, e.g., Chinese. See ideograph, logographic writing.

Question 5

syllabic writing*

Answer 5

A writing system in which each syllable in the language is represented by its own symbol, e.g., hiragana in Japanese.

Question 6

phonographic symbol*

Answer 6

A symbol in a writing system that stands for the sounds of a word.

Question 7

rebus principle*

Answer 7

In writing, the use of a pictogram for its phonetic value, e.g., using a picture of a bee to represent the verb be or the sound [b].

Question 8

consonantal alphabet*

Answer 8

The symbols of a consonantal writing system.

Question 9

alphabetic writing*

Answer 9

A writing system in which each symbol typically represents one sound segment.

Question 10

Pinyin*

Answer 10

An alphabetic writing system for Mandarin Chinese using a Western-style alphabet to represent individual sounds.