Writing

Module 1

Evolution

History shows that men felt the need to communicate with his fellow beings
through means other than speech.

Man’s necessity to communicate ideas to his fellow beings, who are far enough
not to hear him speak, triggered the need for a writing system. Thus writing
originated with the idea of transferring language and ideas.

Human beings used various forms of picture writings systems for a long time in
different parts of the world to document their lives, before scripts were
formulated.

The communities of cave dwellers used complex drawings and paintings to

depict their lives and activities. The ancient Egyptians invented a kind of picture
writing called hieroglyphics which means sacred carvings.

The Chinese still use a kind of picture writing that is known as ideographic. Over
the time, the need to keep records and to send messages increased, and the
idea of indicating objects by means of pictures was further developed.

At present, most countries and people do not use picture writing except for road
signs and signs in the airports.

Though some cave paintings and rock paintings belonging to the Palaeolithic
Age have been found, scholars believe that the regular system of writing as
commonly understood was introduced not earlier than the 4th millennium B.C.

Though some cave paintings and rock paintings belonging to the Palaeolithic
Age have been found, scholars believe that the regular system of writing as
commonly understood was introduced not earlier than the 4th millennium B.C.

Writing has its origins in the fertile land stretching from the Nile up into the area
often referred to as the Fertile Crescent. The first known writing derives from the
lower reaches of the two greatest rivers in this extended region, the Nile and the
Tigris.

So the two civilizations responsible for this totally transforming human

development are the Egyptian and the Sumerian (in what is It has been
conventional now Iraq). to give priority, by a short margin, to Sumer – dating the
Sumerian script to about 3100 BC and the Egyptian version a century or so later.
Though some cave paintings and rock paintings belonging to the Palaeolithic
Age have been found, scholars believe that the regular system of writing as
commonly understood was introduced not earlier than the 4th millennium B.C.

Writing has its origins in the fertile land stretching from the Nile up the area often
referred to as the Fertile Crescent. The first known writing derives from the lower
reaches of the two greatest rivers in this extended region, the Nile and the Tigris.

So the two civilizations responsible for this totally transforming human

development are the Egyptian and the Sumerian (in what is now Iraq). It has
been conventional to give priority, by a short margin, to Sumer – dating the
Sumerian script to about 3100 BC and the Egyptian version a century or so later.

However, in 1988, a German archaeologist, Günter Dreyer, unearthed at Abydos,

on the Nile in central Egypt, small bone and ivory tablets recording in early
hieroglyphic form the items delivered to a temple – mainly linen and oil.

These fragments have been carbon-dated to between 3300 and 3200 BC.
Meanwhile, the dating of the earliest cuneiform tablets from Sumeria has been
pushed further back, also to around 3200 BC.

So any claim to priority by either side is at present too speculative to carry

conviction.

The oldest writings in the world are considered to be Sumerian, Egyption, Porto-
Elamite, Porto-Indic, Createn, Hittle and Chinese and their antiquity dates back to
3000 B.C.

The origins of these writings have a common stream and belong to the Proto-
Sumerian Pictographic System. And all these writings have the following five
stages:

Pictorial Writing: Originated in pictures, they are the most rudimentary stage of
writing, and are pictograms. Picture writing can be interpreted orally in any
language without altering the contents of the picture.

Ideographic Writing in which ideas are conveyed through pictures. For example,
an expedition is shown by a number of pictures of men with arms in hand. This
stage is called Semasiography or Forerunners of writing since real writing starts
from this stage of writing.

Word-writing or Logographic writing in which stage writing symbols are used for
words whose meaning doesn’t lend itself by pictures. Numerals are examples of
this stage of writing. Roman number X for ten is an example.
In Syllabic Writing stage, each symbol denotes one syllabic sound and has
phonetic contents. This is found in cuneiform and Egyptian writing.

In the Alphabetic writing stage, each sound has a symbol indicating a vowel
sound. All modern writings are alphabetic.

Most early writing systems begin with small images used as words, literally
depicting the thing in question. But pictograms of this kind are limited. Some
physical objects are too difficult to depict. And many words are concepts rather
than objects.

There are several ways in which early writing evolves beyond the pictorial stage.
One is by combining pictures to suggest a concept. Another is by a form of pun,
in which a pictorial version of one object is modified to suggest another quite
different object which sounds the same when spoken.

An example of both developments could begin with a simple symbol representing

a roof - a shallow inverted V. This would be a valid character to mean 'house'. If
one places under this roof a similar symbol for a woman, the resulting character
could well stand for some such idea as 'home' or 'family'. (In fact, in Chinese, a
woman under a roof is one of the characters which can be used to mean
'peace'). This is a conceptual character.

The punning kind might put under the same roof a sloping symbol representing
the banks of a river. The combined character, roof and bank, would then stand
for a financial institution - the type of 'house' which is a 'bank'.

Module 2

Importance of Writing

According to Breasted, the famous Orientalist, the invention of writing/script has

had great influence on human race than any other invention. It marked the
beginnings of civilisation. Writing skills distinguishes a civilised man from
barbarians.

The importance of writing lies in the fact that without writing - without books,
newspapers etc, life would have been different and difficult. The whole system of
civilization would have been a failure without the existence of writing.

If we cannot read about the achievements of the past, if it were not documented
in writing, any kind of writing system, our knowledge system will be paralyzed.
Writing is the most important means of communication; it is the vehicle of
civilization and culture, which is defined as ‘communicable intelligence’.
Like inscriptions, written records can offer information about personages and
events of history. Apart from being vital political documents, writings have great
cultural significance as well. Writings can also give glimpses of the social
conditions of the ages to which they belong.

The development of a writing system also helps us in understanding the

economic life of the past. The socio-political and cultural aspects of past life have
been unraveled before us through various written records. Art and literature of
the bygone eras around the word are studied from various written records.

Until the invention of magnetic recording, speech could not be captured or

preserved, except by fallible memories and by writing. But writing can be
preserved for millennia. Its permanence has made possible such human
institutions as libraries, histories, schedules, dictionaries, menu, and what we
generally call 'civilization.'

Standardization of language is the other advantage of writing. Spoken languages

have dialects—forms varying across geographical areas and social groups.

But in complex societies that use writing, the needs of communication encourage
moves toward a single written norm, codified by governmental, educational, and
literary institutions. The prestige of the written standard is then likely to influence
speech as well.

Spoken language, everywhere and always, undergoes continual change of which

speakers may be relatively unaware.

Written language, because of its permanence and standardization, shows slower

and less sweeping changes; the spelling of English has changed much less than
its pronunciation since Chaucer's time. This in turn is linked to the factors of
formality and prestige.

Non-literate societies have traditions, songs, rituals, legends, myths—composed

orally and preserved by memory. Such texts may be called oral literature.

By contrast, writing permits what is more often called 'literature', i.e. bodies of
text which are much larger and more codified than memory permits. Yet, even in
literate societies, dramatic performance and reading aloud remain important
traditions.

Module 3

Relation between speech and writing

The relation between speech and writing is very close. They are interrelated.
Traditional Western education inculcates the view that speech can be
‘represented’ in written form.

Alphabetic letters are thought of as ‘representations’ of individual spoken sounds.

Ideally, there is assumed to be a one-to-one correspondence between the
elements of the spoken and the written word. Yet, confusion between speech
and writings exists among people.

It is impossible to understand a writing system without the knowledge of speech

represented by writing and vice versa. In other words, writing is the graphic
counter part of speech and gives the spoken language a permanent and
concrete form. Writing system can be defined as the durable and visible
representation of language.

According to structural linguistics, the term language should be used for spoken
language or vocal language-communication by means of speech and the term
writing for writing language for communication based on language.

The differences between spoken and written languages are visible in all literary
languages, and writing gets an upper hand in the whole process called
developments of languages. Written language is used to preserve the older
forms of speech and it has an adverse effect on the growth and development of
speech.

Writing always determined and restricted speech. The growth and development
of traditional grammars of languages stipulates this view. If society’s language
system is rooted in a well developed writing system, other than speech, the
language does not undergo many changes.

The languages of the societies that are deprived of writing language system
witness radical changes. Unlike spoken language, writing system helps to
generate a standard and unity in the language system of society whereas spoken
language exhibits a large number of dialectic varieties.

As mentioned in the beginning, compared to speech, writing is a relatively new

invention since its origins can be traced back to comparatively recent past. In the
long course of history, language progressed from stage to stage. And in the
process, it passed through the different stages of logography, syllabography and
alphabetography.

Most literate people can convey the same messages in either speech or writing,
but speech typically conveys more explicit information than writing. Hebrew and
Arabic scripts indicate consonants but often omit symbols for vowels.
In Chinese, the symbols that correspond to words may give no indication of
pronunciation, or only partial cues. The spoken and written forms of a given
language tend to correspond to one or more levels and may influence each
other—as when 'through' is spelled 'thru'.

Conversely, in spelling pronunciation, people may come to pronounce the 't' in

'often' even though historically it had been lost. Some formal literary styles, like
Classical Chinese, acquire a life of their own in written form and have little direct
relationship to speech.

Even today, there are many world languages that can be spoken but have no
standard written form. Such languages can be expressed in writing using the
International Phonetic Alphabet.
Even from the point of view of syntax, spoken language usually has its own set of
grammatical patterns which sometimes may be quite different from that in written
language. In many languages, the written form is considered a different
language, a situation called diglossia.

Most contemporary linguists work under the assumption that spoken (or signed)
language is more fundamental than written language. This is because

• Speech appears to be universal to all human beings capable of producing

and hearing it

• There have been many cultures and speech communities that lack written
communication
• Speech evolved before human beings invented writing;
• People learn to speak and to process spoken languages more easily and
much earlier than writing

Module 4

Alphabetic Writing System

At present, most people or groups do not use picture writing. The order of the
present writing system is alphabetic.

Alphabetic writings systems are those in which graphemes typically have

reference to single phonemes. In an alphabetic writing system, there exists a
one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and graphemes. Each
grapheme represents only one phoneme.

An alphabet is a set of basic distinct visual symbols. It is specific to language.

Though many Indian languages have inherited and adopted the same
Devanagari alphabets as their own, the visual representation varies. The same
alphabet is represented one way in Bengali and in another way in Hindi.

The invention and adaptation of the alphabetic system of writing is a remarkable

development in human history. With a limited number of alphabets, we can write
any number of words.

The invention of printing press has stabilised the alphabetic writing systems
making reading and writing more common. It is hard to imagine a world devoid
of alphabets and writing.

The history of the alphabet started in ancient Egypt. By 2700 BCE, Egyptian
writing had a set of some 24 hieroglyphs which are called uniliterals. However,
although seemingly alphabetic in nature, the original Egyptian uniliterals were not
a system.

European Alphabets

Codex Zographensis in the Glagolitic alphabet from Medieval Bulgaria, the

Cumae form of the Greek alphabet, was carried over by Greek colonists from
Euboea to the Italian peninsula, where it gave rise to a variety of alphabets used
to inscribe the Italic languages.

One of these became the Latin alphabet, which spread across Europe as the
Romans expanded their empire.

Asian alphabets

The Arabic alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet, and other abjads of the
Middle East are developments of the Aramaic alphabet, but because these
writing systems are largely consonant-based, they are often not considered true
alphabets.

Most alphabetic scripts of India and Eastern Asia are descended from the Brahmi
script, which is often believed to be a descendent of Aramaic.

The term "alphabet" is used by linguists and paleographers in both a wide and a
narrow sense. In the wider sense, an alphabet is a script that is segmental at the
phoneme level; it has separate glyphs for individual sounds, and not for larger
units such as syllables or words.

To understand alphabets and writings system better, we need to learn about

scripts. We will discuss the relation among language, scripts, alphabets and
writing system in detail in the coming units.

Let us see what we discussed so far.

In this unit, we learnt the evolution of writing system. How and why the writing
system came into existence? It unravels the importance of writing system in a
culture and how writing system helps us to record the cultural, socio-economic
and political activities of a past or existing culture.

The unit tries to discuss the relation between speech and writing and how writing
standardised language practices. The evolution of alphabets, its different
components and the role it plays in formulating a writing system also have been
covered in this Unit. The various stages in the development of ancient writing
system are also being discussed in the Unit.

///////////////////////

OBJECTIVES

 To have in-depth understanding of writing.

 To learn the importance of writing system
 To understand the interdependency of speech and writing.
 To know more about evolution of alphabetic writing system.

SUMMARY

This unit deals with the evolution of writing system. How and why the writing
system came into existence? It unravels the importance of writing system in a
culture and how writing system helps us to record the cultural, socio-economic
and political activities of a past or existing culture. The unit tries to discuss the
relation between speech and writing and how writing standardised language
practices. The evolution of alphabets, its different components and the role it
plays in formulating a writing system also have been covered in this Unit. The
various stages in the development of ancient writing system are also being
discussed in the Unit.

FAQS (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)

Q) Why was there a need for writing?

 A) Because human beings wanted to communicate ideas through a medium
other than speech. They discovered an alternative communication method
called writing to record their ideas and activities.

Q) What is an alphabet?

A) An alphabet is a set of basic distinct visual symbols. It is specific to

language.

Q) Why is writing so important?

A) The importance of writing lies in the fact that without writing - without
books, newspapers etc, life would have been different and difficult. The whole
system of civilization would have been a failure without the existence of writing. If
we cannot read about the achievements of the past, if it were not documented in
writing, any kind of writing system, our knowledge system will be paralysed.
Since culture is defined as ‘communicable intelligence’, since writing is the most
important means of communication, it is the vehicle of civilisation and culture.

Q) Why do we say that speech and writing are inter-related?

A) The relation between speech writing is very close. They are

interrelated. Traditional Western education inculcates the view that speech can
be ‘represented’ in written form. Alphabetic letters are thought of as
‘representations’ of individual spoken sounds. It is impossible to understand a
writing system without the knowledge of speech represented by writing and vice
versa.

Q) What are the oldest writing systems in the world?

A) The oldest writings in the world are considered to be Sumerian, Egyptian,

Porto-Elamite, Porto-Indic, Creatn, Hittite and Chinese, and their antiquity
dates back to 3000 B.C.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Analyse the evolution of writing

2. Write a note about the importance of writing
3. Discuss the relation between speech and writing
4. Analyse alphabetic writing system

QUIZ
A-Why writing was invented
a) To create literature
b) To communicated ideas
c) To make administrative records
d) To write

B-The oldest writings in the world dates back to

a) 300 A.D
b) 300 B.C.
c) 200 B.C
d) 200 A.D
C- ---is a set of basic distinct visual symbols that is specific to language

a) A script
b) An alphabet
c) A vowel
d) A consonant

D- The history of the alphabet started in ancient ---

a) Greece
b) India
c) Egypt
d) Italy

GLOSSARY

Writing
Letters or symbols written on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a
language.

Speech
The exchange of spoken words or communication by word of mouth.

Alphabet
A character set that includes letters and is used to write a language.

Language
A systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional
symbols.

Structural linguistics
Structural linguistics is an approach to linguistics originating from the work of the
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. It first appeared in the mid-twentieth
century during the study of Indo-European Languages. It analyses how words
form and how those words are used together to form larger structures.

Ideographic Writing System

An ideographic writing system is writing method that uses graphic symbols to
represent objects or ideas. This system maintains single writing form or
morphemes or lexical items.

Pictograms
A symbol which is a picture that represents an object or concept, e.g. a picture of
an envelope used to represent an e-mail message. Pictograms are common in
everyday life, e.g. signs in public places or roads, whereas the term "icon" is
specific to interfaces on computers or other electronic devices.

Reference
1) Singh Upinder, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the
Stone Age to the 12th Century,Pearson Education India, 2008

2) Mahadevan Iravatham, Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to

the Sixth Century A.D. The Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies,
Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, 2003.

3) Allchin, F.R. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The

Emergence Of Cities And States, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1995

4) Salomon Richard, Indian Epigraphy : A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions

in Sanskrit, Prakrit and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages, Munshiram
Manoharlal, New Delhi, 1998

5) John P. Bodel, Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions

(History of Linguistics), Routledge, 2001.