Development of Writing - Term Paper Example

Development of Writing Roll No: Teacher: 18th August 2009 Development of Writing Introduction Writing can be defined as the representation of the language in form of text with the help of various signs and symbols. Through the course of time human beings have used different types of written communications. Humans began the process of writing to fulfil their needs of accounting (Kitamura, 1985: Pg 54). In the fourth B.C, the complexity of trade and administration outgrew the power of human memory, therefore, writing became more dependable method of recording transactions in a permanent form. In Africa, the earliest markings of man were made for survival and ritualistic purposes. One of the oldest written references to King Solomon’s Temple is in form of inscription on a slice of clay. There are different types of writing systems which include logography, syllabaries, alphabets and featured scripts. Logography The grapheme which represents a word or morpheme is called a logograph. They are commonly known as hieroglyphics. However, hieroglyphics represent ideas more than words (Brown, 1998: Pg 63). They are visual symbols rather than phonemes. All logographic scripts rely on the principle of rebus. This writing system includes Logoconsonantal scripts and logosyllabic scripts. Syllabaries It is a set of symbols that represents syllables. It is phonetic system of writing. Syllabaries are best suited to language with basic syllable structure, for example Japanese (Carter, 1984: Pg 123). Normally it is made of a consonant and a vowel or just a single vowel. The Inuktitut orientation the symbols are used to indentify vowels and small symbols are used to write syllable consonants. Alphabets Alphabets can be defined as small set of symbols, each one historically represents phoneme of a particular language. A perfect phonological alphabet is the one in which letters correspond perfectly in different directions (Christin, 2002: Pg 87). Writers can predict the spelling of a word easily provided its pronunciation is given. Many languages often evolve of their writing systems and similarly the writing system have been borrowed other systems from different languages. The extent to which letters of an alphabet correspond with the phonemes varies from one language system to another. Featured scripts The featured scripts are the building blocks of phonemes which make up a language. For example the sound pronounced with lips can have some elements in common. It represents finer details than an alphabet. History The history of written communication follows the path of civilization which in turn, moves in reaction to changing cultural norms. The transfer of information and concepts from one individual to another was behind the invention of all kinds of writings by different civilizations. It’s around thirty thousand years when the first recorded evidence of written communication was found, these days which is very fast due to amazing advances in technology (Coulmas, 2003: Pg 135). Around 25,000 to 30,000 years before first humans painted pictures on cave walls. The composition found on the wall of Lascaux represented their own ways of communicating with the other worlds. The drawings depicted their religious beliefs and their everyday living style. In southern France, pictorial representations found in caves were the beginning of written communication for the mankind. The start of a writing system happened together with the transition from societies to permanent encampments. One of the examples of early symbolic writing was found in the excavation of Mesopotamia, dating 3100 B.C. The Sumerians developed a technique of writing on wet clay tablets. The Egyptians build up hieroglyphic writing and employed scribes to keep records of the tax; they used papyrus as material in which colours were less permanent than the wall paintings which were meant to last forever. The Chinese in the 1900 B.C. developed their style of writing. The earliest records of Chinese writing were preserved on bones (Brown 1998). They became role model for Japanese to form their own styles writing in around 500 B.C., the first alphabetic writing was found in Palestine about 180 B.C., which influenced early Hebrew writings in about (120 B.C). Greek alphabets are derivatives of Phoenician writings in 110 B.C. and became the main source of Latin alphabets that were derived from Carolingian script. (900 B.C.) The Chinese at first used clay tablets to express their thoughts but with the passage of time they were able to develop other ways of writing surfaces; the first light and portable surface was papyrus rolls and early papers were made of dried reeds in China in around 180 B.C., later Tsai Lun invented paper as we know it today (Dahlberg, 1984: Pg 20). With the invention of paper the face of print was revolutionized. In the 12th century A.D. Pi Sheng started to print on movable clay type and in the 7th century Chinese mastered wood block printing technique and this was the time when the first bound book on the market was available. Before the invention of printing press, books were based on monasteries. The method of writing was very laborious until the invention of movable type. Although the Chinese had basic concept of printing press, but Gutenberg of Germany was a man of visions and he developed movable printing press. His invention was revolutionary as it was the first mass medium to spread ideas in completely unique way. Gutenberg’s excellent idea helped in the creation of the first newspaper in Germany in the year 1608. Less than 90 years later England had the first newspaper printed, which was named “Daily Courant” In the year 1714, another important discovery took place. Englishman Henry got the first patent for a typewriter. In 1738, Pierre Simon invented point system type, which was finally standardized by Ambroise Didot. In the earlier days of writing and printing the different types had been called by different names. Each country had a different system. Didot worked out system in which around seventy-two points created on inch. This technique is still in use (Daniels, 1996: Pg 98). In the year 1840, lithograph and woodcuts from daguerreotypes were used to decorate the pages of magazines. Few decades later in 1882, the development of halftone press made easy to reproduce photographs in newspapers. In early nineteenth century the industrial revolution brought major changes in printing techniques. In 1811, Friedrich Koenig applied the method of steam power to printing press. Hand operated machines were replaced by rotary steam presses, which had the advantage of doing the same job in small fraction of the time. With the introduction of line casting machines the typesetting was transformed. The first one was the Linotype and the other one was the Monotype machine. The Line casting helped in good quality prints (Daniels, 1996: Pg 98). The industrial revolution made transfer of written information between cities and countries . In 1833, Joseph Henry invented the first electric telegraph, six years later in 1839 Samuel Morse developed and formulated the Morse code and then in 1844 he produced the first long distance telegraph line. Alexander Bain invented the first fax machine. In 1868 Thomas Edison invented mimeograph, which was the first copying machine, which might have inspired Chester to invent the photocopier almost a century later. The business life was changed with the help of Remington typewriter in 1875 (Brown 1998). Journalism also became accessible when Howard Krum developed Teletype, now the knowledge of Morse code was no longer needed to distribute information. In the year 1936 the first electric typewriter entered the market but gained its popularity after World War II. The key strokes in the electronic typewriter were electrically assisted therefore it allowed faster typing. With the introduction of Daisy Wheel typewriter and golf ball typewriter changed the way we typed. It allowed for greater range of fonts and styles which could be altered by changing the daisywheel or the golf ball cartridge. In the year 1966 IBM introduced the first word processor. Few years after in 1980 VisiCalc developed the first spreadsheet program which revolutionizes our business world. Word processors were single purpose machines. This allowed users to edit on screen and electronic storage. The early advertising for these machines advised managers that they can do the work of 10 typists. In 1966 we observed the arrival of light pen. This invention was the beginning of modern computer graphics. Photocomposition entered the market in 1945, but wasn’t popular until the early 1950’s. Photocompositions are on film, the scripts are projected on photosensitive paper and lenses are used to adjust the size of the image. This technology allowed overlapping of scripts. In the year 1971 the digital era in typesetting started. The earliest computer-based typesetters were hybrids between digital output and photocompositions. They both had command language for communication with out-put devices. In 1982 PostScript eventually emerged as the standard for typesetting. This was because it had powerful graphics handling system. The advances in printing technology made possible for newspapers, journals and books to be more accessible to wider audience. In the beginning the books were the items which belong to the wealthy society. But with the passage of time books found a way to every person who is seeking knowledge. In 1788, the first embossed book for blind people was published. For comic book lover the year 1904 was very special because the first regular comic book published that year. In 1940 the first book for children was published and the children were happy to see their first interactive book. These days the printing industry is going through a dry spell. This is due to the reason that printing become more expansive. To fight this problem the industry improved the use of digital printers that can produce quality paper books. Within five years, 70% of all printing will be done through World Wide Web, but the e-books are giving a very hard time to the printed books because it is very easy to use and many books can be downloaded on to it in form of file to read on a screen using button to manoeuvre text. Bob Sein founder of the developing software called TK-3; it’s used to write multimedia Books, the books which need constant updating to benefit from this advancement. But E-books and the Internet will never replace the printed version of the book. One feels nostalgic about books because he or she feels to flip through pages and collect them. Timeline of Development of Writing Year Civilization Type of Writing 3300 B.C 3100 B.C 3000 B.C 1900 B.C 1700 B.C 1000 B.C 900 B.C 500 B.C 180 B.C 120 B.C 110 B.C 700 A.D 1200 A.D 1608 A.D 1714 A.D 1833 A.D 1840 A.D 1868 A.D 1936 A.D 1940 A.D 1966 A.D Sumerian Mesopotamia Egypt Chinese Palestine Phoenician Carolingian Japanese Chinese Hebrew Greece Chinese Chinese Germany England Wet Clay Tablets Symbolic Writing or Inscriptions Hieroglyphic writing or Inscriptions Chinese writing on Bones First Alphabetic Writing Phoenician Alphabets Carolingian Scripts Japanese Writing Developed paper from dried reeds Hebrew Writing Greek Alphabets Derived from Phoenician Alphabets Wood Block Printing Movable Clay Type Printing First Newspaper First Typewriter Electric Telegraph lithograph and woodcuts from daguerreotypes used in Magazines First Mimeograph, Copying machine First Electric Typewriter Electronic Computer IBM, First Word Processor Evolution of Writing Earlier is Some Civilizations and Late in Others Writing started earlier in some civilizations and late in others because of many reasons. Some civilizations were more involved in trading and commerce as compared to other civilizations due to which, they felt the need of writing earlier on. Accounting is reported to be one of the foremost reasons to start writing. Therefore, China, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Sumerian civilizations, which were also a part of major trading and commerce in earlier times, were the pioneers of writing (Brown 1998). The civilizations that adopted writing lately were not involved much in trading and commerce due to which, they showed less interest towards development of writing. Egyptian writing may also have risen independently. The independent invention that we can track in great detail is the history’s oldest writing systems are known as the Sumerian cuneiform. People in farming villages had been using clay token of various kinds for accounting purposes, for example, recording numbers of goats and sheep and the amount of different types of grains (Christin 2002). In the last century before three thousand B.C., development in the accounting sector rapidly led to the first system of writing. One such example is the use of flat clay as a convenient writing surface. In the beginning, clay was scratched with pointed tools, and reed styluses were used for neatly making a mark into the tablet. Advancement in format was linked with the adoption of conventions whose requirement is now universally accepted. It includes that the writing should be organized into rows and columns like the Sumerians used horizontal rows as it is for modern Europeans. It also states that the lines should be read from top to bottom of the tablet. Nearly all writing system devises visible marks that represent spoken words instead of focusing only on ideas. After the excavation of many clay tablets from the ruins of the former Sumerian city of Uruk detected the early stages in the development of the solution. The first Sumerian writing symbols were picture of different objects for instance, a picture of a bird or a dog (Diamond, 1996: Pg 219). Those pictorial signs consisted of numerals and a noun for the visible objects. The resulting scripts were only accounting reports in a telegraphic form. Slowly the forms of the symbols became more conceptual when reed styluses replaced the pointed writing tools. Old signs were used to help create new signs to produce new sense, for example, to signify eating a sign of head was combined together with the sign of bread (Christin 2002). The early Sumerian writing styles were composed of non-phonetic logograms. It means that it is based on the specific sounds of the language. Sumerians adopted this phonetic principle and they began to use it for much more than just writing abstract symbols. They transformed it to write syllables or letters consisting of grammatical endings. For example, in English it’s not clear how to draw visual representation of common syllable. Sumerian writing came to consist of a mixture of two signs i.e. logograms and phonetic signs (Christin 2002). The logograms refer to a name; whereas, phonetic signs are used for spelling syllables, letters and determinatives which are used to resolve ambiguity. Apart from Sumerian writing style other independent origins of writing comes from societies of Mesoamerica. The Mesoamerican writing is believed to have originated from Old World. The types of Mesoamerican writing were completely different from any other ancient writing system (Christin 2002). There are many know Mesoamerican scripts and almost every script is similar to the other. Zapotec is one of the earliest Mesoamerican scripts. It originated in southern Mexico around six hundred B.C., in Lowland Maya region one of the oldest know writing script is found which corresponds to A.D. 293. The Mesoamerican and ancient western Eurasian writing bear witness to the underground universality of our ancestor’s creativity. There is no special relation between Mesoamerican and Sumerian languages. The Sumerians invented solutions before 3000 B.C. and early Mesoamericans reinvented these methods around 600 B.C (Diamond, 1996: Pg 215). Egyptians and the Chinese to be considered later and all the writing systems developed anywhere in the world is the descendants of the systems, which are modified from early Mesoamerican or the Sumerian writing methods. That was the reason that only few independent writing systems faced the difficulty of inventing it. It is a well-known fact that Sumerian writing took at least thousands of years to develop. As we can see the fundamentals of human society that was focused on whether a society will ever find writing useful. Many other civilizations besides Sumerian such as Ancient Indians and Ethiopians evolved theses fundamentals (Diamond, 1996: Pg 218). Once the Sumerians have developed a complete writing system their principles of their writing spread rapidly to other civilizations before they could have gone through the necessary experimentation with writing. Therefore the potential for independent experiment with writing were aborted. The spread of writing happened by either tow contrasting methods. This is parallel throughout the history of technology and ideas. Such inventions assume whole new forms such as blueprint copying. Conclusion The evolution of writing is associated with the history of mankind. Further historical periods saw progress in writing, which helped humanity in numerous ways. Writing enabled civilizations and cultures to accurately document and report their history, findings, research, and inquiry. It also played a prominent and vital role in the preservation of human culture. Logography was a type of written communication which consisted of words and morphemes. It was also known as hieroglyphics which consisted of ideas. They were visual symbols that were extensively used by various civilizations. Other forms of writing like syllabaries and alphabets were also developed in order to arrive at appropriate conclusions and inferences. Developing a writing system from scratch must have been more difficult than adapting one. The first scribes settled on fundamental principles that we now take for granted. This is because they have to decompose a continuous sound into speech units. Than those units were taken as words which include syllables and phonemes. They had to learn to identify the sounds or speech through variations in volume, Pitch, phrase grouping and individual idiosyncrasy of pronunciation. They had to make a decision that their system of writing must ignore all these variations. They had to plan a way to represent sounds by symbols. References Diamond, J. 1996. Blueprints and borrowed letters. In: guns, germs and steel. A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years. pp 215 - 239 Hyman, Trina Schart. The Alphabet Game. New York: Seastar Books, 2000. Kitamura, Satoshi. Whats Inside? The Alphabet Book. Italy: A & C Black, 1985 Brown, Michelle P. (1998). The British Library guide to writing and scripts: history and technique. Toronto: University of Toronto Press/ London: The British Library. Carter, M. L. & Schoville, K. N. (Eds.) (1984). Sign, symbol, script: An exhibition on the origins of writing and the alphabet. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press Christin, Anne-Marie (Ed.). (2002). A history of writing: from hieroglyph to multi-media. Paris?: Flammarion. Coulmas, Florian. (2003). Writing systems: an introduction to their linguistic analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Dahlberg, Wolfgang. (1984). The alphabet: Pattern, history and perspective of the earliest classification system. International Classification, 11(1), 13-20. Daniels, Peter T. & Bright, William (Eds.). (1996). The Worlds Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press . Read More