LING 201
Writing Systems
Janice Fon
The Ohio State University
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What is a Writing System?
§ Definition: the process or result of recording spoken language using a system of visual marks on a surface; the concept includes the particular writing system
(orthography) which is available for a language, the choice and mastery of a particular medium of expression (handwriting or typing), and the product which emerges (the piece of writing)
§ Three types/stages of writing systems: l l logographic writing phonographic writing
• syllabic writing
• alphabetic writing
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Logographic Writing Systems
§ Definition: systems of writing in which each character represents a separate morpheme, also known as ideographic writing systems; the symbols in the system has no way of telling how the word is pronounced, they only represent meaning.
l l l
Sumerian’s cuneiform: earliest writing system dated from the 4th millenium BC and was used for over 3000 years throughout the
Near East on a wide range of languages; the system used wedgeshaped characters
Egyptian’s hieroglyphics: a writing system which used mainly pictorial symbols, especially applied to the form of pictography developed in Egypt c.
3000 BC though other systems can be found in China, the Indus Valley, Central America, and elsewhere
Chinese characters: a literary language recorded from c.
1500 BC.
Chinese is the only writing system in the world that remains logographic
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Sumerian Cuneiforms
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Mayan Hieroglyphics
Egyptian Hieroglyphics
5 6
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Chinese Logograms II
Chinese Logograms I
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Comparison of Pictograms
Chinese Logograms III
Earlier Form Later Form
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Syllabic Writing Systems
§ Definition: writing systems in which each symbol represents a syllable (ex) ancient Persian, Sanskrit, modern Japanese and Korean l
[J] basic phonotactic structure: CV
• there are 12 consonants, 5 vowels, 12
×
5 = 60 possible sounds/symbols l advantages: in a syllabic writing, you only need the amount of number of syllables possible in the language, much more economical and efficient.
l disadvantages: when a language has a complex syllable structure, there will have to be a large amount of symbols (ex) CVC 12
×
5
×
12 = 720
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From Logograms to Syllabary I
12
10
8
2

From Logograms to Syllabary II
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From Logograms to Syllabary III
[mulok]
[m]
‘owl’
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Japanese Hiragana Syllabary I
Japanese Hiragana Syllabary II
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Alphabetic Writing Systems
§
Definition: a system of consonant and vowel symbols that, either individually or in combinations, represent the speech sounds of a written language (ex) English, Cyrillic, Hindi l l l a problem occurs when the ancient Greek borrowed the
Phoenician syllabary system. Greek had CV, CVC, CCVC,
CVCC syllable structures, so they invent a way to cut down syllables to consonant and vowels by changing from syllabic to alphabetic, we can reduce the amount of symbols (ex) if Japanese were to use the alphabetic system, only 5 (vowels) + 12 (consonants) = 17 symbols are needed.
from linguistic point of view, alphabetic writing systems are most economic
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Russian: Cyrillic Alphabet
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16
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Subtype: Consonantal Alphabet
§ Definition: alphabetic writing systems in which only the consonants in words are written, and the vowels are left out (ex)
Hebrew, Arabic l it is not as difficult as it seems
• (ex) Ths sntnc s wrttn wth th vwl smbls lft t bt t s stll ndrstndbl.
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Hebrew
20
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