The Anthropology of Language: An
Introduction to Linguistic
Anthropology
Chapter 7
Writing and Literacy
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Most of us are pretty good at
interacting with writing,
but we seldom define our terms.
• Writing:
– Graphic representation of language
• Recording language by visible marks
• Symbols that convey thought
• System of storage and retrieval
• Literacy
– The skill of ciphering and deciphering texts
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How Does Writing Work?
• Using marks to represent sounds, ideas/meanings
– Phonetic sign: mark that represents one or more sounds
• English sign <s> = the sound [s]
• Arabic sign <‫ = >س‬the sound [s]
• But <s> can also = [z]
• And <x> = [ks]
– Semantic sign: mark that represents specific idea/meaning
• <2> in English, French, German, Swahili, etc.
– Combining phonetic and semantic signs:
• <2nd> (English)
• <2e > (French)
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Classic classifications
• Based on predominance of sign types
– Semantic vs. phonetic signs
– Ideographic/logographic vs. syllabic/alphabetic
systems
• Assumed progression from semantic to phonetic
• This assumption does not hold up in the face of the
existing data
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Contemporary classifications
• Recognize that all systems use combinations
– Pictographic
– Rebus
– Logographic
– Syllabic
– Logosyllabic
– Alphabetic
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Even Pictographs must
be deciphered
• Pictures/images represent things
– Meanings can be extended
• Drawing of a sun can equal warmth
• But extensions require cultural context:
Is this a picture of a woman in a skirt,
or a man in a kanzu, a Swahili robe?
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Writing Systems
• Writing and symbolism
– Universal symbols? Arbitrary symbols?
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•
•
•
•
•
•
What is writing?
How does writing work?
Kinds of systems
Analyzing writing systems
Developing/having writing
Literacy and representation
The ethnography of writing
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What is Writing?
• Graphic representation of language
– Recording language by visible marks
– Symbols that convey thought
– System of storage and retrieval
• Generally considered secondary to
speech
• Complete vs. partial writing systems
– Complete: any and all thoughts and words
– Partial: limited in what they can convey
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How Does Writing Work?
• Using marks to represent sounds, ideas/meanings
– Phonetic sign: mark that represents one or more sounds
– vs. phonetic symbol: linguistic transcription of a single sound
• <s> vs. <ш> vs. <‫ >ש‬vs. <‫ >س‬vs. <σ> = [s]
• <ch> in English vs. French vs. German
– Semantic sign: mark that represents specific idea/meaning
• <2> in English, French, German, KiSwahili, etc.
• <2> vs. <٢> vs. <..>
– Combining phonetic and semantic signs:
• <2nd> (English)
• <2e > (French)
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Kinds of Writing Systems
• Old-fashioned classifications
– Were based on predominance of sign types
• Semantic vs. phonetic signs
• Ideographic/logographic vs. syllabic/alphabetic systems
– Assumed progression from semantic to phonetic
– Are now understood to be ethnocentric
• Contemporary classifications
– Recognize that all systems use combinations
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pictographic
Rebus
Logographic
Syllabic
Logosyllabic
Alphabetic
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Pictographic “Writing”
• Pictures/images represent things
– drawing of a sun = the sun
• Pictographs alone are not complete writing
systems
– Meanings can be extended
• Drawing of a sun can = warmth
• Extensions require cultural context:
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Rebus Writing
• Picture represents words that sound the same:
– Drawing of the sun represents (in English):
• Sun and Son
– Drawing of a star represents (in Sumerian):
– [an] = Star, Heaven, Sky-God
• A major breakthrough in writing
– Allows for sentences like
• Eye sea ewe, Eye c u, Got 2 go
• Independently discovered in:
– Sumeria 3,000 BCE
– China 1,500 BCE
– Mayan America 0 BCE
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Logographic Writing
• Signs stand for words (or ideas)
• Also called Ideographic
– One sign = one word
• sign for sun = the spoken word “sun” [sən]
• @ sign = “at” (in English), “herring” (in Czech)
• May have evolved from pictographs
– Becoming more abstract over time
Chinese sign for [ma] horse;
Sumerian sign for [an] star
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Syllabic Writing
• Signs stand for syllables
– A sign for sun = the syllable “sun” [sən]
• sunken, sunder, sundry, sunshine.
Cherokee
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Logosyllabic Writing
• Signs carry both semantic and phonetic
information
– Useful when words are written alike
– Determinatives help to clarify:
• Semantic determinatives help to clarify meaning
– Chinese [yang] = “sheep” & “ocean”
– Semantic determinative for water produces “ocean”
• Phonetic determinatives help to clarify pronunciation
– English <2> = “two” “second”
– Phonetic determinative <nd> produces “second”
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Alphabetic Writing
• Signs stand for individual sounds
– e. g., consonants & vowels
• English sign <s> = the sound [s]
• Arabic sign <‫ = >س‬the sound [s]
• Arabic sign < َ > = the sound [a]
– Goal not always achieved:
• English sign <x> = [ks]
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Beginnings of Alphabetic Writing
• 17th century BCE
– Akkadians/Phoenecians adapt Sumerian system
• From CVCV syllabary to tri-consonantal roots
– Signs used for consonants (and vowels)
» Aleph-bet / Alif-bet
• 9th century BCE
– Greeks adapt Phoenecian system
• More vowels, fewer consonants
– Reassigning some C signs to Vs
» Alpha-bet
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Khipus
• A special case
– Tying knots into cords
• Calendrical
• Economic
• Historical data
– May be a full-blown writing system
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Analyzing Writing Systems
• Determine the principles/strategies
– Syllabic, alphabetic, etc.
• Identify units
– Graphemes
• Smallest segment of speech represented in system
– Sounds, syllables, whole words
– Allographs:
• predictable variants of graphemes
– English print and cursive styles; initial and final shapes
– Lexemes/Frames
• Units of writing surrounded by white space
• Look for minimal pairs, similarity of shapes
– e.g., the Japanese exercise in the Workbook
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What Does it Mean to Have Writing?
• Association with “civilization”
• Does an introduced writing system “count?”
– The Lahu example
• Developing new writing systems
• How are words put together? CV, CCC, etc
• Issues of identity
– Spelling in the Comoros
» French? Arabic? African? Phonemic?
• Promoting literacy
– So what is there to read?
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Writing, Reading, Identity, Power
• Learning to read and write
• Defining literacy
– Using what writing system?
• Defining correctness
– Night vs. nite
• Writing and representation…
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Writing and Representation
• Entextualizing speech
– Getting words onto paper
• Questions of representation
– Rapid speech
– Dialectical speech
• couahfee; warsh, crick
• gonna - goin’ - gon’ - gwine
– Power and politics in representation
• Writing “Cousin Joe”
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Writing and Literacy
• Defining literacy
• Promoting literacy
– So what is there to read, and who has time to
read it?
• Literacy associated with particular projects
• Literacy associated with particular skills or types of
cognition
• Understanding the impacts of literacy
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Literacy and Literacies
• What does it mean to be literate?
– kinds of literacy: print, map, computer
• Defining literacy
– Literacy as technology
• Autonomous approach
– Literacy as practice
• Practice approach to literacy
• New Literacy Studies
• Ethnographic approach
– Taking context and experience into account
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The Consequences of Literacy
• Literacy and Orality
– Abstract, generalizing, context-free, objective
– Concrete, particularizing, situational, subjective
• Bantu abstractness (ubuntu)
• Vai triliteracy
• Chinese and Indian literacies
• Literacy and linguistic awareness
– Writing “changes the way we think about
language” (Coulmas)
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Literacy and Permanence
• Written records vs. oral traditions
– Finding archaeological sites in the Comoros
– Following clues from oral tradition
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Literacy in Cross-Cultural Perspective
• The ethnography of reading/writing
– Heath’s practice approach to literacy events
– How does reading/writing function in a culture?
– What kinds of things are read/written?
• Letters, cards, lecture notes, PowerPoint slides
– Reading/writing styles (and linguistic capital)
• Trackton, Roadville, Maintown
– Ideas about reading/writing
• When is handwriting preferred to typing?
• And vice versa
– Condolence letters, form letters, job applications
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Literacy and Power
• Issues of access
– Who should read/write?
• Issues of colonialism
– Destroying Mayan writings
– Introducing “book authority” in New Guinea
• Issues of standardization
– Dialects and politics
• Issues of reform
– Changing spellings
• Americanizing English
– Reforming scripts
• Nationalism and orthography in Ukraine
• Scriptal change in Turkey
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Ways of Reading/Writing
• Linear vs. multimodal reading/writing
– The Machine Is Us/ing Us
• Public vs. private reading/writing
– Blogging
• Challenges to standardization
– L337
– Teh kitteh
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Creating a Language
• Optional:
– Create an orthography for your language
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Next:
• How and When is Language Possible?
– Read:
• Textbook Chapter 8
• Workbook/Reader:
– Ottenheimer & Ottenheimer (pp. 157-161)
– Prepare to do:
• Writing/Discussion Exercises (W/R pp. 163-166)
• Language Creating (W/R p. 171)
• Conversation partnering (W/R p. 172)
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