Week 6 - Writing Systems Flashcards
What exactly is it that you know when you know a language?
Knowledge of a language is knowing how meaning is associated with linguistic form.
Writing system definition
a set of VISIBLE or TACTILE signs which REPRESENT Linguistic units.
- NOT necessarily a rep of the SPOKEN LANG
Two basic types of writing system
Logographic
Phonographic
Logographic definition
symbols represent whole words or morphemes
(morpheme: a meaningful morphological unit of a language that cannot be further divided (e.g. in, come, -ing, forming incoming)
Phonographic definition
symbols represent sounds or sound sequences
“Sign” definition & 3 types
‘sign’ = relation between SIGNIFIER and what it SIGNIFIES
ISI = 3 types
ICON
SYMBOL
INDEX
Icon
(iconic sign) def
‘Fit to signify’ by virtue of a PHYSICAL RESEMBLANCE between the sign and what it stands for.
Index
(indexical sign) def
directly “POINTS” to what it signifies, as a
PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCE
- animal track = index of animal
- smoke = index of combustion
There is a casual link btwn indexical sign + its source (NOT ARBITRARY)
Symbol
(symbolic sign) def
fit to signify ONLY by virtue of some AGREEMENT it doesn’t signify
- i.e. ARBITRARY + CONVENTIONAL
Spoken Lang mostly symbolic (arbitrary link btwn Phonetic [dɔg] + what it signifies).
[bɐz] tho, iconic component?
Complex. ISI components.
Historical Pre-cursors to writing SUMMARY
iconic:
- PETROGLYPHS carved in rock (40k BP)
- ROCK PAINTING (30k BP)
symbolic:
- ISHANGO BONE (math tool?)
- Le Placard bone markings (13-15k BP)
- MESO CLAY TOKENS (>10k BP)
- abstract symbols for numbers may be crucial aspect
Proto-Writing
Early graphic systems - restricted set of symbols (LIMITED FUNCTIONS - i.e. not tru writing system)
- PROPERTY MARKS
- TALLY
- PICTOGRAMS
Not necessarily REP specific words/other ling. expressions
(NOT ALWAYS CLEAR DISTINCTION btwn PROTO- and WRITING)
TRUE writing system definition
TRUE WRITING SYSTEM
- can REP graphically ANY utterance which can be PRODUCED by a LANGUAGE
Pictograms/Pictographs
ICONIC.
communication, not art
- images that RESEMBLE objects/situations. REP those or related obj/sit
- unsystematic, variable
- MAY be INDEPENDENT of word/Ling expression
- INTERPRETED, not READ
pic of glass = glass
Ideograms
Character REPRESENTS IDEA/CONCEPT of a thing rather than LINGUISTIC EXPRESSIONS (words to say it)
a character symbolizing the idea of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it. Examples include NUMERALS and CHINESE CHARACTERS
pic of glass = beer, glass in general, the glass industry, or intoxication,
Where are ideograms in modern writing systems?
Limited places.
- NUMERALS
- MATH SYMBOLS
x, =
not 1 to 1 correspondence w specific words/expressions
eg10x2=20
‘ten times two equals twenty’
‘ten multiplied by two makes twenty’
‘ten twos are twenty’
So ‘x’ REP CONCEPT, NOT SPECIFIC EXPRESSION
When was writing invented ?
Invented only about THREE TIMES, INDEPENDENTLY
- Fertile Crescent, Middle east (MESOPOTAMIA,EGYPT) 3200BCE
- China (SHANG DYNASTY) 1500BCE
- Mesoamerica (OLMEC, ZAPOTEC, MAYA)
Logograms
Graphic sign, DIRECTLY REPRESENTS a Ling element, esp, WORD or MORPHEME
withOUT REP FORM (sounds)
- ‘&’ REP the word ‘and’ without separately representing the individual phonemes /æ/ /n/ /d/.
- © REP the word copyright
DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING (early)
Pictograms –> Logograms
Part of “LINGUISTIC LEAP” which prod. TRUE WRITING
some logograms (eg. abstract numbers) may have been DE NOVO
iconic –> Symbolic
Describe Iconic –> Symbolic change
happens in 2 types of changes:
FORM –> highly iconic –> less iconic –> symbolic.
change to ARBITRARY RELATIONSHIP between FORM and LING ELEMENT
MEANING may inc. NON-RESEMBLED OBJECTS + RESEMBLED OBJECTS
- Lips = Mouth, inc, teeth, lips - legs = walk
Phonogram
sign DIRECTLY REPS 1 or more SOUNDS of a lang
- used in COMBO to rep SEQUENCE of SOUNDS in words of that lang
Examples of Writing systems using logograms
- Chinese characters
- Egyptian hieroglyphics
(< Greek hiero ‘sacred’ glyph ‘carve’) - Mesopotamian cuneiform (Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite)
- Mesoamerican hieroglyphics (Olmec, Zapotec, Maya)
- Egyptian hieroglyphics
NO SYSTEM EXCLUSIVELY OR PREDOMINANTLY USES LOGOGRAMS
The Phonographic Leap
Logograms correspond to word of language but NOT SOUND
Phonograms are symbols which DO REPRESENT SOUND
Phonographic Rep developed from Logographic Rep thru RECOG of PHONOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS btwn diff words.
- Homophones (phonologically identical to all or part of a word)
- (systematic) phonological correspondence
- (unsystematic) phonological similarity
the REBUS PRINCIPLE definition
A word is represented by the sign used to represent an identical sounding or similar-sounding word.
HAIR symbol, also rep HARE
SUN symbol, also rep SON
Rebus Principle in development of writing systems
- 1st developed 3000 BCE in SUmerian
- “Ti” for arrow = “Ti” for Life
- “Mu” for tree = “mu” name + “mu” my suffix
Symbol then rep sequence of sounds rather than word
Rebus and Syllables
Syllable = grouping of sounds in word
- Vowel + Surrounding Consonants CVC
Dog = Monosyllabic Au-to-mo-bile = Polysyllabic
Polysyllabic word can be represented by multiple signs of Monosyllabic words
consonant-only Rebus
"leaf" rep consonant sequence /lf/
so, also use for:
- life
- loofah
- loaf
-elf
Egyptian consonantal phonograms:
mono-consonantal
Bi-consonantal
tri-consonantal
ACROPHONIC PRINCIPLE
Logogram re-interpreted to represent JUST first sound(s) of a word
- ‘apple’ could be used to represent /æ/
CONTROVERSIAL BUT WIDELY ACCEPTED
EG
Egyptian: “fVt” for horned viper also used for “fVn” for pleasant
- gave rise to abjad (alphabet representing (mostly) consonant phonemes)
COMBINED SYSTEMS:
Phonological and Semantic components?
Some systems combine
- Logogram
- Semantic indicator (determinative)
- phonetic indicator
Chinese writing PHONO-SEMANTIC to a large degree
character for ya - ‘duck’ 鴨 composed of
- 甲 jiaˇ ‘carapace’ as a merely similar phonological indicator
- 鳥 niaˇo ‘bird’ as a semantic indicator
