Importance of
communication for
civilization evolution
L2
Ing. Jiří Šnajdar
2014
In the first part of our explanation is necessary to
stress the dominant role of communication for
civilisation evolution in individual phases.
• In oral phase of understanding was markedly
limited the human´s memory as in information
volume so in time and space interference –
people were dependent on their own
experience, parents´ telling and vicarious
experience, which the parents got from their
ancestors.
The triviality of historical memory, which changed
in the third generation into an approximate, rather
mythological picture of the world, restricted also
the ability of projective behaviour.
In the pictures of more distant time horizon of
history, which miss an objective fixation, the
ontogenetic experience changed into a form of
magic rituals, where the ability to anticipate the
rightfulness of natural cycles replaced the hope in
favour of higher power (gods) – for example
solstice was not a cycle, that repeats implicitly
every year.
In consciousness of oral communities it was only a
possibility, belief. Only the ability to fix the
periodicity of time sequence in relation to nature
phenomenon opened the way for formation of
purposeful solidarity of farmers.
Time-space dimension of cognition and
communication
Mediation
impersonal
Reliable
mediation
Subjective
experience
Magic solidarity
Myth
Magic rituals
Project of the future
Extrapolation
People of the oral culture were also limited in perception of
“enlightenment” on the time axis and in description of their
being in space. The world was reduced to the sphere
accessible by walking from sunrise to sunset. Only the first
pictograms enabled to trespass these boarders in form of
tentative maps.
One of the first crucial milestones of the civilisation
development was the human ability to fix immediate
recognition and to reproduce it consecutively. It was not
necessary to interpret the experience of individuals again
and again from the beginning, recognition became the
architecture of mutually connected interpretations.
The writing in all its forms is a visual record of recognition
by means of different defined signs (symbols, icons,
indexes). The oldest writing types are pictograms or
ideograms. According to last researches is the origin dated
from 5th thousand B.C. Roughly one thousand years later
arisen in Sumerian civilisation wedge-shaped writing and
this almost parallel with written records in Egypt.
According to relation spoken language and graphic record
we divide the writings into three categories :
• logographic
• syllabic
• alphabetic
Sumerian civilisation
•
Logogram
is the unique graphical sign, that represents a word in its
whole. Every graphic sign represents one word/morpheme
(the smallest unit of language, that has a meaning),
logographic writings require attaching of signs different
formed for all morphemes/words of a language.
This burdens usage of this type of writing with necessity to
know by heart big number of signs. So was very narrowed
number of population able to read and write.
Logogram
For example in Egypt were scribers a caste with special
position. By signs recording they frequently used specific
personal simplifications, which consequence was nonexplicitness of record interpretation.
Some logograms use also today more effective (phonetic)
sign systems : for example morphemes “1,2,…” etc. use all
western languages, as they represent in each languages
other phenomenon (jedna, eins, uno).
At present lives on one significant logographic writing in
Chinese. Chinese logograms are used in different
modification grade also in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese
and other east Asian languages.
Syllabary
is set of graphical signs representing phonetic syllables,
from which are composed morphemes (words). A graphical
sign in Syllabary represents sound of a consonant,
followed by sound representation of vowel.
Syllabic writing is suitable for languages with relatively
simple syllable structure (for example Japanese, where the
number of possible syllables is not bigger than one
hundred).
Alphabetic writing
Uses separate signs for individual phonemes/phones of
spoken language. It is the simplest system, which goes
around with few of signs/letters.
To save number of signs is used also their combination,
i.e. digraphs (foe example in Czech “ch”, in German “tsch”
for the phonetic “č”).
The other possibility is to provide the basic Latin signs with
signs – diacritical (for example in Czech inverted
circumflexes and long-signs over basic sign).
Alphabetic writing
The first phonetic writings were already among wedgeshaped writings. Most of the wedge-shaped writings were
syllabic or half-syllabic.
The developmental round-off reached the alphabetic writing
in old Roman alphabet, connected with the Hellenic and
Phoenician writing.
Hellenistic civilization
From Phoenician base come out also most of the other phonetic
writings (Semitic writings - Hebrew, Arabic, Indie).
The signs are organised for individual languages into exemplary
lines with settled sequence of phones, usually called according to
first signs (example Czech ABC, order in Cyrillic is called Cyrillic
alphabet).
Progress in writing communication we call follow in few levels .
1. Economy connection with number of graphical signs necessary
for description of some phenomenon or activity
High number of signs in system of logographic letters
• worsen the economy of recording (high number of
individually differentiated signs)
• extend time, necessary for adoption of sufficient number
of individually differentiated signs
• reduce sphere of people that have access to writing and
reading (reduce democracy of access to knowledge and
cognisance)
2. Effectiveness of information transfer in relation with fixate
/ transport media.
clay plates, the record was done on, were relatively heavy,
which reduced volume of transported information. Besides
the clay plates came under destruction easily (fall, dunk)
and was difficult to do a large systematic archive from
them.
• Papyrus invention from view of transfer media
development meant a technological revolution. Volume
of information in relation to weight of media and
flexibility was in comparison with clay plates many times
higher. Papyrus showed also lower inclination to
accidental destruction and was significantly easier to
create from individual records a systematic archive.
• Only stabilisation of relations of significant and signifié in
graphical form with possibility of long-term fixation
enabled to define clearly the law norms (Rome law
became the source of law conception of Western
civilisation) and to define clearly proprietary relations
(records of proprietary law).
Sources :
M.L.Defleur and S.Ball-Rokeach, “Theory of mass communication”