A linguistic writing system is a way of visually representing sign in a language.
Origins of Writing
There were four independent inventions of writing.
- BCE 3500 Sumer - Cuneiform
- BCE 3000 Egypt - Hieroglyphs
- BCE 1300 China - Oracle Bone Script
- BCE 1000 Mesoamerica - Mesoamerican Script
Writing originated from accounting systems (~4000 BCE, in Sumer).
Pictographic Writing
Pictographic Writing
Sumer, ~3500 BCE.
A writing system where pictures represent things or ideas iconically.
Link to original
Ideographic Writing
Ideographic Writing
Sumer, ~3000 BCE.
Pictograms became conventionalized and stylized over generations into symbols representing ideas. While symbolized, they still represented meanings directly rather than specific words or morphemes, making them too vague for legal texts, proper names, or function words like “the” or “from.”
Link to original
Logographic Writing
Logographic Writing
Egypt, ~2900 BCE.
Each symbol conventionally symbolizes one word or morpheme. Symbols often represent words by the Rebus Principle.
Rebus Principle
From logographic writing, systems branched into two major directions: Phono-Semantic Hybrid Writing and Phonographic Writing.Link to originalRebus Principle
A symbol is used for the phonemic value of its usual referent
Link to original
Bee + Leaf = Belief
Phono-Semantic Hybrid Writing
Phono-Semantic Hybrid Writing
Phono-semantic hybrid writing maintains a logographic core while incorporating systematic phonetic elements.
Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Mayan script, and modern Chinese characters.
Chinese evolution
Link to original
Mayan script
Phonographic Writing
Phonographic Writing
Phonographic writing indicates sound/form only.
Kinds of Phonographic Writings
Syllabaries
Each symbol represents a syllable.
Japanese (Hiragana, Katakana)
Abjads
Alphabets that write only consonants, not vowels.
Arabic, Hebrew
Alphabets
Phonographic systems where each symbol indicates a single phoneme.
Link to originalHistory of Alphabets
Pros and Cons of Writing Systems
Logographic systems provide transcend the time, region, language, and permitting high visual information compression, but they negatively impact literacy rates. Conversely, phonographic systems facilitate easier literacy learning but lack long-term textual continuity.