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TITLE Exploring the . INSTITUTION Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA. REPORT NO ISSN-0889-8197 PUB DATE 95 NOTE 21p. AVAILABLE FROMExploratorium Mail Order Dept., 3601 Lyon StreetSan Francisco, CA 94123 ($5 plus shipping; quantityprice available). PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Exploring; v19 n2 Sum 1995

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *; Archaeology; Contrastive Linguistics; Diachronic Linguistics; English; Games; Language Patterns; *Languages; *Letters (Alphabet);* Grapheme Corresponaence; *Spelling; VisualAids; *Written Language

ABSTRACT This issue of "Exploring," is devoted primarily to examination of alphabets and the languages they represent.Major articles include: "Shrinking the Alphabet" (PatMurphy), a comparison of alphabet composition for different languages;"The Puzzle of " (Paul Doherty), a history of archaeologists'deciphering of an early form of written language;"Letters Take Shape" (Judith Brand), a comparison of letter forms and print throughhistory and across cultures; "How Do You SpellThat" (Richard Brooks), an exploration of spelling and linguistic consistency. Games,lists of further reading for most articles, regular featuresof the magazine (letters, reviews, and museum news), and a large wall poster(not included here) chronicling the evolution of the modernRoman alphabet are also included. (ISE)

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PO,O1S 01 view Or 00.Olons Stated .11 frIt5. COCUITOO1 au not necessarily represent otlicual OER1 position or policy From The Director

Dear Friends:

People have produced a number of different alphabets to record the world's lat guages. some of which you'll learn about in this issue ofEvplormg.But I'd like to call attention to a very special alphabet, one that is important to all of us regardless of which languages we speak. It's an alphabet of just four lettersA. C. C. and Tand it represents the language of DNA. the chemical language of life. This language shapes physical characteristics such as your eye color and height, and it also influences your susceptibility to certain diseases. In every cell. A. C. G. and T (which stand for the chemicals adenine, cytosine. guanine. and thyminel form a seemingly endless Vol. 19, No. 2, Sum;ner 1995 string of 3 billion letters. What finally gives meaning to this combination of chemical -tii,) r building blocks is the precise order of tlw letters along the string. A. C. G. and I form about MAO . or genes. which are compiled in 2.4 rolumes. or chiomosomes. This 4T4-Vit, genetic information is like a huge, personalized encyclopedia one that is presen: ill all the cells of Your body. You can explore all the conundrums that surround the language of life and the genetics Erpiorinits'a magazine oCsdence. art and human tion, probe& by the Etploratorium,&Poring of human beings in the Exploratorium's current exhibition, Diving into the Gene Pool. communicateso less that museum exhibits cm't easily You can investigate the basic chemistry of DNA and learn how our cells transcribe, translate, demonsiraie,,extending the museum beyond its physical walls. Each issueconcentrafton a Single topic, examining it from x.".4.: and proofread our genetic code as the go about their task of synthesizing proteins. At other variety of viexpdine'lliis focus allows us to investigate and exhibits, you can find out how DNA fingerprinting works, or how geneticists determine the discuSS nuerconnectioms between apparendv unrelated phenomena, revealing thc asential tinily of nature. order of the four letters in DNA. Dit.ing into the Gene Pool also emphasizes some of the ethical, social, and legal issues Eviloronie,sent quarterly to inembeN and siibcritx.rs surrounding the current genetic revolution. Would you want to know whether you were Jr aisceptible to a particular disease if there %%ere no cure at ailable? Could ou be excluded Art Director:Ma:1k McGowan. Production Editors: judalt Brand. M.trk Nichol front health insurance or life insurance on the basis of a genetic test? .. Design & Production: David Parker Of course. the Exploratorium catwot provide answers to all the emerging questions, but Production Assistant: Emehne SI:um Xurctlei Assitaiit Editor: Ellen Klages we invite you to contribute to the dialogue in the "Points of View" section of Diving into Research: Gam Crtiunse the Gene Pool. Consider the case studies provided, read the talk-back board to find out other Publisher: Dr Robert SeniKr people's viewpoints, and then add your own. If you have access to the Internet. you can also Editorial Board:- subscribe* to the ETHEX listserver. an on-line discussion of these ethical issues, developed by Dr. Paul Doherty (chair), DireCtor. (Alter for reaching and teaming_ the Exploratorium in collaboration with the International liioethics Institute. Pa) Murphy, Dimictor of Publimions I look forward to seeing you at the e\hibition. Ruth Brwm. Director, Editorial Department Sally Duensing. Science and Museum lamson Michael Peamse. Curator

Exploratorimn Board_ of Directors Sincerely. F Van Kasper,Chaoman. 0Steven liurrill. Slam Black Case, Kenneth L Coleman, William E Cram. Donald R Dixon, Pamela S Duffy, Keith G. Eickman. Elizabeth ksip Evans, Jeffrey A. radler. Lynn C. Fritz. I larvey Glasser. Mae King Go, Adele J. Goldberg. Jank5 II. Herbert II. Charlm M. lobson Ill, Arlene I logan, Douglas I Mills, Richartl J. Holloway, William J. Hume, Nelson M. Ishlyanta. Craig W. Johnson, C. Richand Krandich, Julius R. Krevans. !Sala S. Manian. Doriglas G. Moore. I towanl iN. Nemerosski. Go&y Delacôte Michael Painter. George E. Pake, Vincent L Ricca. Robert Executive Director IA.ViS Roe. Kathetme Schiffeler, Rogersiliomil. E. Payson *To subscribe to ETHEX, send us the Smith Jr!, Peter C. Wendell. Allison Williams:Board 0 following E-mail message: Directors.Emerdus. Williamr. Coblentz. M Cook, Moses Lasky, Bernard hi Oliver, Wolfgang Pannfsky: Imwrary &lard Members- Charles. Itht7er. AIN Ralph - TO: istprocoexpioratoeium.cdu K Davits From. 1,..our name and E-mad address] Subleci Hume h1;m1,1 Please disect editorial correspoittletnx LIplunng Magazine, c/o the Exploratonum. 3601 Iyon St , San Itouls ol messaec mikcnbc etheS lx our name] 'raneimPAA0413.1b. Internet addim exploringgyexploratonuin edu

Sulscoptions: S18/vear tothViduals. S !1nsear institutions. ifilvear subscnhers outside North Amenca I or more tolonmition. cill till tn.I MO. III CARER' nu. experonent, in publication were designed with 'Arts .Ind qiCies, in mind Hut rsvn the stinple.4 ans its or thr most conmum materials C.111 he Mruntil when nnshandled DINNil I ,- 0111Inc,I1 MIMPitl 5011 re exploring or experunenong 555 50889 8197 nic Exploring Me /*babel REST COr'Y AVAILABLE - / I

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; , r-' ..._MICEMLrdilliqUaligi ...... r--... .1 , MES.,...... 1-211 1 .... I No, ar.z.Z=2,...4","=2:==2.212711 ...... ,I::: a ;:%,--- ) FX%----14 : c- r %v. ____r-, c ! ar, N; _ ---,..----- 'UMW .---- ,_------,-- - - . '4 The Puzzle of Linear B L Insert47: by Paul Doherty 4 4 hundredrears ago. archaeologists /A Starypf Letters:../ discovered tablets bearing an-unknown The History of the,- langudge Ilere are the 5:liws that helped solve Aflodern Roman Alphabet, notery- '',ginning tIkjfpqizówff alphab( , I _the Iyioeykianol,11.00 gc.7-1,bepostep -rring-&-T.5" this issue traces the major changes to the letters we use today. 1111Vc---, 146. . /4i11 r e: -* I 1j) e- '( IY1 1, taits4r, Departments

2 First Word .11111x Shrinking the Alphabet I Letters Take Shape by Judith Brand 12 Square and curved. tgictraitd tlim.rel4orate y Fragments ; Short Subjects and streamlinedhie-4 of tellers bac - changed throughoUt historr from the time ol the Romans to the ageal&computer. 1 14 ! a - f , Thir -.( - 1 ,- ( ( I'l ! ;.,11 ! ! ir/ , i i--, Ask Us '-iiiiw -Do You SP-eli Thai Sound? ' Answers to Readers' Questions by Richard Brooks rr ffind out whr pronouncing :fords bulb 14 i . I . common and unlannhar may,.. not help mu , ,- - r---- r / . ;..,i,, " put them in writing. Reviews & Resources Try This! Tools & Toys Abccp.v,4rign.Antognients, / Related Reading by Ellen Klages Credits & Acknowledgments Chalknge .rourself with these alphabet games. 16 Exploratorium News - Partnerships in Education ExploringThe Alphabet

_ First Word hr Pal .Iluiphr

hen the find yourself running short of Es and Is and Os. include in the gameand the appropriate value Exploratorium staff In general. you'll be low on vowels--there are to assign to each letter. That's why the English began talking about this issue forty-four vowels in the English version. but only language version provides twelve Es, each worth of Evp/oring magazine. thirt -four in the Norwegian. even if you count only one ma but only one Q. which is worth ten Judith Brand, the magazine's the if and the As and Os. You may not miss the Q points. Mosher included many /s so that players production editor (soon to be or X or Z. letters that don't appear in the could make words ending in -ing and -ion. editor). described an unfortunate game of Norwegian game. But what are you going to do iat brings us back to that troublesome Scrabble. When Judith was visiting Norway, she with those extra Ks and Es and/s? Norwegian Scrabble game. Though English and and her traveling companions decided to play a It turns out that the distribution of letter tiles Norwegian more or less share an alphabet. game with the hotel's Scrabble set one rainy m a Scrabble setwhich always seemed some- Norwegian words use some letters more frequently afternoon. They (km their tiks and settled down what arbitrary to meisn't arbitrary at all. than Englishand sonic less frequently. Trying to playbut soon discovered that they couldn't. Before deciding how many copies of each letter to to spell out English words using the distribution The game just didn't work. Player after player was stumped. They could make a few short wordslike dog or co/but not long ones If you're an English speaker playing with a Scrabble game That seemed strange to me. Scrabble is made for Norway, you'll quickly find yourself running Scrabble. right? You choose letters and make words What's the problem? short of Es and Is and Os. It turns out that the distribution On the lid of the Scrabble game box. you'll find a list of the letters of the alphabet. Beside of letter tiles in a Scrabble set isn't arbitrary at all. each letter. you'll see the number of points you earn for using that letter and the number of tiles include in the game. the inventor of Scrabble, an of letters appropriate to Norwegian is. as Judith printed with that letter. Joe Edkv (two-time out-of-work architect named Alfred Mosher, discovered, a difficult proposition. Imagine National Scrabble Champion) of the National painstakingly analyzed English word structure. playing after all the Es have run out. Scrabble Association was kind enough to proside )bviously sonic letters appeared inure frequently That would lie a challenge, but I'm confident us with the sanie information (rom Scrabble than others but which ones? that it can be done. Why am I so sure? Well, games designed for use in various languages. To figure out the relative frequency with playing Scrabble s%ithout Es is not so different When we compared the letter lists for English Juid which letters were used in English words. MosliCr from the creation of a lipogram. a piece of Nomegiao (opposite ), we jound the examined the front page of the ,Veu. )Ork wow writing in which the author has disallmed the problem. Take a look, and you'll see what I mean and counted how many times each letter of the use of oiw or more letters. If ou're an English speaker playing with a alphabet appeared. Armed with this mformation. For centuries, writes have been creaung Scrabble game made for Norway, you'll quickly he decided how many tiles with each letter to works that lack letters. Perhaps the most diligent

Exploring The A/ptietbe/ of the Greek hpogram ram as Tryphiodorus. a But Ecklers work pales to insignificance English ScrabbleNorwegian Scrabble poet ot the fifth cenum . Tryphiodorus wrote a beside I fuid. a recently published novel written A Ipoint 9 tiles 1 7 tiles twent -fourN ohmic epic poem on the adventures in French be Georges Perec and translated 1) 3 points2 tiles ,4 points3 tiles ot Odysseus In the fiNt hook. titled Alpha. he Gilbert Adair. The entire novel, a detective story 3 points2 tiles 10 points 1 tile onnued the Greek letter alpha. In the second about the disappearance of a character named 2 points4 tiles 1 point 5 tiles book, titled Bela. he did %\ithout that letter. One Anton \Owl, intuits the letter E. As James Kincaid I point12 tiles I point 9 tiles by one, he excluded every letter of the Greek wrote in a Nor }brk Thnes review of the book: 4 points2 tiles 2 points4 tiles alphabet. Latin writer Fulgentius followed "Imagine having virtually no past tense: no defi- 2 points3 tiles 2 points4 tiles Tryphiodorus's lead and wrote a book with nite article: few personal pronouns: no here. H 4 points2 tiles 3 points3 tiles twenty-three chapters. Eadileft out one letter of there, where, when: no be: no elephant: no (!e. Ipoint 9 tiles 1 point 5 tiles the Latin alphabet.. ear, nose, elbow: no yes: no love: no sex!" 8 points Itile 4 points2 tiles In more recent thnes. A. Ross Eckler is noted Perec and his translator manage the task s points Itile 2 points4 tiles for creating lipogranunauc versions of "Mary Had quite handily. and for that. I salute them. If you 1. I point 4 tiles I point 5 tiles a Little Lamb," I icre's -Polly Owned One Little want to get a feeling for the magnitude of their In 3 points2 tiles 2 points3 tiles Sheep.- his version of the poem omitting the feat. try rewriting "Mary Ilad a Little Lamb- or Ipoint 6 tiles 1 point 6 tiles letter. .I. some other simple verse without am //s. (You'll 0 I point 8 tiles 2 points4 tiles Polly owned wit, sheep. find Eckler's versmn on page 14.) 3 points2 tiles 4 points2 tiles Rs fleece shone while like snow. If you give up halfway through. join the club. Q 10 points Itile none Ererv ronon where Pollv went Though nu a professional writer, reputed to be I point 6 tiles 1 point 6 tiles The sheep did surely go: good with words, this sort of endeavor is beyond I point 4 tiles I point 6 tiles lle followed her to school one time. me. The effort of rewriting "Mary Had a Little 1 point 6 tiles 1 point 6 tiles laich broke the rigid ru e: Lamb" without any //s made me cranky and frus- I point 4 tiles 4 points3 tiles The children .1rolicke.l in their room trated. I could probably do without Z or Q or even 4 points2 tiles 4 points3 tiles to see the sheep m I. but that", v.here t drz% the line. W I i)oints2 tiles 8 points 1 tile I love the letters of the . every He has also done veisions of the poem that omit X 8 points Itile none last one of them. If I ever find myself in Norway the letters S. //. T and L.. And as a finale, he wrote Y 4 points2 tiles 6 points1 tile on a rainy afternoon, challenged to a game of one version that uses 011Iy half the letters of the Z 10 points Itile none Scrabble on a Norwegian set. I will smile and alphabet:L. C. D. E. II ILJLX, P. R. S. and T none 6 points Itile abdicate graciously while murmuring softly about none 5 points2 tiles how I simply can't do without the X. 0 A none 4 points2 tiles

lf you're used to the English sersion of Scrabble. playing with a Russian Scrabble game. like the one here. is nen more frustrating than playing with a Norwegian game. See if you can find these words that use the Cyrillic alphabet: doctor, velociped (bicycle). rost- bif (roast beef), vodka. alligator, da (yes), and nyet (no).

_ THE PUZZLE OF 3

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i/it Oe(iphernlent of linear ft allinied art haeohi ists to read tirstliand ate ttt nts ot ltron/r \QC hit'. 10146, !able!. the Winoans &sit-the ittos the% delended the Greek Psi°. AINK'l 0 AN( If NIlI ORY

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languages. Assuming that linear B follmed the often on the tablets from Crete but were absent WHATDO THE TABLETS. SAY? same pattern as Cypriote. he looked for symbols from those found at Pylos. Ventns guessed that On the tablets. the Minoans wrote detailed accounts. for vowels and for consonants followed by vowels. these words were the names of towns and that the inventones. and lists, such as the following. He then examined how frequently linear B char- most common ones mentioned were and Koldos the shepherd holds a lease from the acters occurred in words. Analysis of the its harbor. Amnisos. names that survive today. If village: liters of wheat: beginnings of words indicated that symbols the characters representing these two towns were one pair of wheels bound with bronze, unfit resembling a double axe. a throne. and a capital ko no soanda mi ni so.the double-headed axe for service: A with an extra was indeed the vowela. to the mistress of the labyrinth, one amphora tr. A. fc bar might be In linear B as in Cypriote. there was no way to of honey. vowels. represent a lone consonant like the final s of The last example is particularly interesting A EIOU Ventris was .VnossosOr to represent two consonants in a row. since the palace of Ko-,ssos is associated with King particularly Vowels were added between consonants, and thes Minos. who, according ts, legend. kept the interested in at the end was dropped. The character forsoin Minotaur imprisoned in a labyrinthine maze. The tij E word endings. mi ni soalso appeared at the end of one of the is named for King Minos. SX SE SI SO SU Emmett Bennett words fortotal.Therefore, the linear B words for No one yet had determined totalbecame toso andtom.the phonetic spellings knows why linear that the vertical of the masculine and feminine forms of the Greek B disappeared. g 7. 9columns of words forlotatKmffIng the s \ mbols for to. .0. Archaeologists T TE T1 TO TU symbols on and so enabled Ventris to figure out other words. figured out one The pattern of vowels and consonantssome tablets He then announced to the world that linear B was reason why in Cypriote script proyided a clue cru-were numbers ancient Greek written with a different alphabet. examples of the cial to the interpretation of linear B. In deciphering After Ventris published his decipherment in script are rare. these symbols, he theorized that the two charac- 1952. Blegen released a previously unpublished Normally made ters alongside the numerical totals at the bottom linear B tablet. The so-called Tripod Tablet bore of unbaked clay. , of most columns were probably the linear B word drawings of various containers and included a the tablets were . fortotal.Ventris noted that tripod. Next to the tripod was a word which, intended as a

two words marked the according to Ventris's decipherment. translated to temporary Archaeologist first discov- T numerical totals. Both had ti ri po.It is a word that English has borrowed medium. The ered linear B tablets at the palace of the same character, from the Greek. Minoanswould Knossos on the isle of Crete in 1900. Two symbols. for hut the word on tablets with In the best tradition of science. analysis of data break up the tablets, mix the pieces with water. to and sa. spell one form of the drawings of men used an led to a theory that then explained new discoveries. and shape new tablets. Perhaps the contents were linear B word ending character different Linear B was a script for writing late copied onto paper before the clay was reused. for total. from the ending on tablets Greek and was in use at the time of the Trotan War. If you are intrigued by this story, you might with pictures of women. Knowing that Latin. around 1240 B.C. Its decipherment never proved take a crack at another script. linear A. Tablets Spanish, and French nouns have endings that that Carl Blegen had found the palace of King written in linear A are found throughout Crete. not indicate gender. Ventris believed that the two. Nestor. More important. however, the deciphered just in and around palaces. Linear A shares ten linear B endings also indicated gender. script allows us to read one of the earliest forms of characters with linear B. but it has never been Another clue was that some words appeared the . from over 3.200 yeam ago. deciphered. The puzzle awaits. .0.

near B tablet resealed that the word tripod originated over 3.000 years ago. ExploringThe Alphabet .....1.1

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by Judith Brand

OOK FOR A MOMENT at the inscnption from the Trai an shown below. Ion will recognize the letters even though you may not he A 4 able to read the Latin words. ^1 40 By the first century A.D., when the column wiLs erected. the Romans were 4 using an alphabet of twenty-three capital I lettersletters that we still use today. During the passing centuries, however, different writing tools (chisel, pen. printing press. and computer) and different writing materials (stone, papsrus. vellum, and paper) have brought about modifications in letterforms. Along the was-. different sts les of writing have emerged. and new letters base been added to accommodate the

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ument built in Rome to commemorate Emperor jrcloilts.kars a Latin inscription caned in capital letters four o ie,OWLitegins a ith "The Senate add the people of Rome to the ,\iVMSNe a Trojan. son of Nena Augustus." 9 Exploring The Alpheibel As: D 1. V [TA $ OLITARiA AVCOS,14MINI5 NO VI QVII5V505V5011.0IV distinctive sounds of x-height had elements that ascended above MIOLVIA TA NITA Tit014A ...1.4.4,.....reprol.n.1.41 various languages. or descended below the average Farnot mom.. (.4 ,rt.w The elegant lapidary. or stone- character height. Today we call Anwrn ft. mom,. omme cut, capitals on the Trajan Column, probably these lowercase letters. The Bible and other ..sIo tomb. nr ammo io f. drawn first with a stiff brush, were incised with a religious works were copied in uncial and semi- gibe. ...pm., ...or...ha. ...M., N... gra..., Pommel ep tlat-edged chisel. Although these kters contain uncial writing. The Romans also developed a 4 4,4* welow dm. ....ncobe beautiful curves. there seems to have been a pref.. second form of cumve writing, called minuscule to 0.re. A imIto Imimmonmt. Moo eretice for angles. Yhich are more easily cut. The cursire. which incorporated lowercase letters 6 Nemallel as well ; .14 thin lines perpendicular to the ends of the ell After the collapse of the western Roman 14 4 mml.f Empire in the fifth century. scribes continued to it ...M...

SQUARE CAPITALS use uncials mid sennuncials for formal ;pan- 4.141011, do- strokescalled serr/are a visually pleasing way to finish a stroke with a chisel. carolinsun intnuiCtik' The fannal manuscripts ol the Roman period were written YYith a reed pen On papyrus. in scripts. Cursive writing, however, began to vary square capitals resembling the lapidary letters. from region to region. resulting in what are Fourteenth-century scribes revived the read- able, elegant Carolingian minuscule for l'hese capitals. tune-consuming to yy rite, required called mama/ hand:. Italian. MeroYmgranin works such as Petrarch's De Etta Solitaria of several strokes per letter. But the result wits a France, Visigothic in Spain. Germanic, and 1345 (above). In the 42-line Bible (below). manuscript of considerable dignity, thought suit- Insulin. or Anglo-lrish. These national hands Gutenberg used to repin.ate the manuscript hand of the mid-1400s. able for important works such as the poems of would later influence early forms of type in Virgil. Various other various parts of letterforms were also Europe. Mulatahimtto tuna it employed by the According to type Romans. depending on scholar Daniel Ittto fus.Poft Igttatio nth the writer's purpose. Berkeley Updike. the tot immittibuottituttat9 Informal YYriting, for Historians debate whether serifs originated as a way of emergence of these example. was done in refining the stroke of a letter written with brush and inknational hands from u libuntaatatagstin (left) or of finishing a stroke carved in stone v, ith a an early cursive. a Roman cursive is chisel (right). qui flowing wi iting in analogous to the iutuatii.flunts which the pen rarely leaves the page between evolution of the Romance lanuages from Latin r tot ututut.stwitamapu a letters. Unlike today's informal writing, however. Without the strong central authority of the empire. this was a cursive of all capital letters both the spoken language :1,id the writing sty le tam mozuttaiim By the fourth century. the Romans were using developed distinct regional characteristics after tamombula letters that were rounder and lacked serifs. These letters, called undals. were easily formed hy reed fpitaimtatt tin musky or quill pens and could he YY ritten more quickly gothic ufra quabiata Mae attai 47 tuft a

1 .1Brati Charlemagne. who became king of the Franks tomato:it a "1 romam baliktmctot -68 and later ruled much of Western Europe. irratIthiuntdirtUt telphuttl was a patron of learning. Ile wanted to preserve than the squaw capitals. But clot quickly enough. tlw important works of the past, and he set idta rot obis. Ina 1 ; ks scribes hurried to fulfill the increased demand exacting standards for both scholarship and Igue Cr* for their products. :1 fundamental change evolved llis scribes, who studied the Roman \:ew loterforms called sennuncials. or seimuncial writing. created a lowercase alpha Inuitie minibus= ittp ball uncials \Yere developm, same Of WW1 bet known as the Carame. or Carolingian. ftit Autt Wits abitatiiina,

Exploring Me A/phabet 1 13EST COPY AVAILABLE minuscule praised bycalligraphers for the writing of a calligrapher. Most likely its grace and clarity he saw ' imself competing With the calhg- An imporL it characteristic of this rapher to produce a faster, cheaper alphabet was that, in general. each letter product. rather than practicing a nov. art. stood alone. There were fewligatures.or As printing continued to follow the letter combinations that are joined precedents of handwriting, new types together and written as one character, such were modeled on the humanist hand of as the "fi- still used in type. The the Renaissancea style of type we call Caroline minuscule is a direct ancestor of roman. Working in Venice in the late the lowercase script and type forms that we 1400s. the French printer Nicolas Jenson use today, and the treatment of the letters produced remarkably beautiful roman as separate units explains why this type that was successful in its own time alphabet was easily adaptable to type. and is still used as a model tod:ty. In The Caroline minuscule spread !SOO. a humanistic cursive was trans- througho.it Western Europe. but it was lated into type by the influential Italian followed by a second wave of national printer Aldus Manutius. This type was hands. By the thirteenth century. writing calledAldineafter its creator, hut we styles that employed narrow, heavy letters know it asitalicthename used by the had emerged. These manwcript styles are early imitators of Aldus's work. known by a variety of names. the most We think of as a subset of descriptive of which isblack letter. roman. and we often use it for because the black c:ilor of these heavy within . Bill in the sixteenth letters oYerpowered the light background century--the age of the italic, particu on which they were written. St. Gregory the Great, known as an avid writer, appears on a carved lady in Italyentire books were set in ivory relief with three equally diligent scribes. The small panel These black-letter hands are also known as these types. The narrow width of italic decorated a German church service book from the tenth century. Gothicaterm introduced by the Italian letters resulted in smaller. less expensive humanists of the fifteenth century. The human- books that could reach a wider readership. ists. who revived Carolingian writing along with invented the printing press. Printing from From Jenson's time until our own, a great their study of classical Latin texts, usedGothicas movable type was developed in Asia considerably variety of roman have been created. a term of derision: to them. the black-letter forms earlier. although printing was probably invented They're grouped into classes based on characteris- were barbarous. so they named them after the independently in Europe. Gutenberg's Bible is of tics such as the way the serifs are formed and the barbaric Goths Yvho had nivaded Rome in the such high quality, however, that it is unlikely to variation between the thick and thin parts of the fifth century. have been the first European attempt at printing. letters. Some of the changes in typefaces were due Scholars theorize that printing in the Netherlands Et Salomon ex pfona may have preceded Guteliberg's efforts. Gutenberg will never lose his place in history. though: he is Garamond Ition6 conflitui:& dmi still credited with inventing a machine that cast type in quantity. enabling the production of books i. fua.Inprincipio ante tor the "mass market- of the time. Gutenberg's motivations are interesting to Bodoni

Type designed and printed by Nicolas Jenson consider. Ile was apparently trying to create a Old style, transitional, and modern typefaces. in the fifteenth century. facsimile of the manuscript page. Ile designed a large number of ligatures. for instance, which to technologyimprovements in the printing The Gothic li;md began as a condensed form 1l mid have been unnecessary except to emulate press and the availability of different kind.s of paper of the Caroline minuscule. probablY LS a space made more delicate Imes possible. for example. say mg device, and evolved into narrow. pointed ontibuscrebris poffint cosfip oh/stile. the style of the t irst roman types.

letters This formal sty le was popular when r (Indere folem,fi firte. most closek resembles letteiwritten \Nub a pen printmg was developed in Europeit was the s parfirit,aut pnempsNeptuno l'here's a gradual transmon from thick to thin hand imitated in the Bible printed in about I iSS H circa afixoirides,a o1entid strokes and not much overall difference in tl,ick- ;Ind attributed to Johannes Gutenberg. ,!ey. 7ransinonal types, introduced in the Most ot us have been taught that Gutenberg sivteenth-century type designed by Aldus Manutius. eighteenth iel1R111 and designed tor a smoother

Exploring Me Alphabel 11 . L?LLR.IRP modern Sans Serif TYPe TYPe TyPe TYPe 19111-2ICIC 19131...2CMC 1011-1211IMC.1MZOC

paper. hat e inure contrast between thick and thin strokes. 11Ith the thin strokes much finer than foeciaz., hOse ol kdd sit I e it pes The strokes ot inridern pes. deteliqlt.d in the late eighteenth and earls TRAJAN nmeteenth centuries. change abruptly bent een thick and thin :id have eten more contrast. The more people to design type than in the past. An explosion of activity has led to the creation of many new typefacesthere may be as many as 20.000 to choose from today Engravers rode Old StyleGothic Fraiche Some of the current experimentation w ith Script TYpes Type Type lethAsel c. 160-1Elth C ISch-lOth C.1511,--fft C. 19A-2Cit C. seritS are perfectly straight. and the resemblance is ba.sed on forms of handwriting...1 to pen -tt ritten letters is distant. called Tekton. for instance. :s based on Typefaces from these three classes of roman the lettermg style used by architects. There are a tt pe are all in use todaII You hate a computer. number ot new script typefaces such as Ex Ponto. ou mat find Garanmnd told stslem. Baskemlle It's even possible to hat e a personal designed Humanist HumanistTexture Round Gothic (transitional). utd liodoni (modern) on the tont based on tour handwriting. lSee roofs Tots. Cursive minuscule14th-1911CGothic Cursive 15111-lah C 150,16th C 15M C 14th-lith C. menu. TiV printing a document in each of these page 1.4 1 Next year's holiday. letter front Cousin laces and see whether you can discern the differ- Emma may be created on her computer with ences among then characters based on her own illegible scrawl. The twentieth ceroury is the centuN of the Other contemporary type designeN look to the sans serif typeface. yyu llelvetica being the past. seeking inspiration front earlier type forms example V(111.c seri f typetype without serifs and and from calligraphy. The typeface used in usual b with strokes 01 equal weight --wdoel- Exp/ornig Is a condensed form ot Garainond. a oped in the early nineteenth century. probably recent revival of a typeface designed in sixteenth- from the kttering used by sign painters. century France by Claude Garamond. The Bodoni illustrated on the opposite page is a 1994 design TEKTON based directlY on type created by Giambattista Bodoni in the eignteenth century. A typeface Ex 2onto called Poetica. issued in 1992. recalls Italian calligraphy front the sixteenth century. A new (m=jin mat a - me Anglo- halm(Spanish) typeface based ou the famous Jenson roman will . ,ro-talc. Simon ScAPel nth c 1414rAid ietsith c: According to type designer Sumner Stone. sans let be released soon. There is even a nett capital- -14;411,1; serif type has been embraced in our time by letter typeface called Trajan. based on the industrY and corporate culture because it is untra- lapidart letters of ancient Rome ditional. functional, impersonal. and univesal. It Graphic designers. as well as many other is the type of subway signs and highwat signs and people with personal computeN. !Lit e access

of the ubiquitous office memo almost endless variety of tYpefacesw,:faCes liblusculeUncial Rolm Rustic Although the sans serif letterfonn clearly Cursive rth-sx c Heff-taidel Capitals that can be formal or tanceptill"sfrong or delicate. Ira C occupies a place of maior importance. many plain or dramatic: tvo,A,Kes4` mat can evoke any people who work with type kel that it isn t effec historical per. Set any mood. Typography can tie HI small sins and is unsuitable for long provide a interpretation of content. passages of let others argue that serif and sans unhanc,,ig a tt riter's ttork But if it's mismatched tst sent typelaces are equalb legible, and that we re \kith die writer's ideas. typography can mislead or simplt moe accustomed to sent tt pe 11-0111 conft.se the reader. Cursive Square Capitals Capitals 7110%,i reading 1)1)4\mmmil newspapursl'he results front The next tune you pick up a book or an adver- ist-Std C ist-401 C ..., .tudies are mconclusitehut it s something to tising brochure, or perhaps as ou glance through think about when 'oil choose a tk Mace for Your tlus magame. take a look at the tpetaces used next rept in or ()them kcuineilt and host the tt pe is arranged on the page Honk The twentieth centun is also the age ol the about what the type suggests concerning thi

computer a tool that lets millions ot people watvrial sw, Are about to read Then tind out it *omen lapidary Capitals swive) tt petaces lor themsehes and allows III:111s those y Null promises are Iitlfmlled V KOK -&t, 400 Exploring /he Alphabet 12 9 13E81 COPYAVAII 7- hen I was, oh, spelling of a word. Step is a good example of a word in which every sound is represented eightish, I asked my by a single letter. When ou pronounce it. you dad to buy me a can hear four sounds that correspond to the four letters. pair of the "sweedy Compare this with the word thought. Say shoes" that I had at. the word aloud so you can hear the different seen in his mail- sounds. The letters lb stand for the first sound, ough the second, and t the last. Seven lettem order catalog. are used to represent these three sounds. He looked puzzled after I Latin used an adaptation of the Etruscan posed the question. Knowing that his hearing alphabet from about the seventh century B.C.. was less than perfect. I repeated my request a tad This Latin alphabet, also called the Roman louder and pointed to the picture of the "sweedy alphabet. had twenty letters that represented shoes." "You mean suede?" he said. -Yeah," I the sounds of its fifteen consonants and its five replied halfheartedly and somewhat embar- vowels. Although it lacked a strict one-to-one rassed. as I began to focus more on the weird correspondence of letters and sounds, it was word than on the snappy footwear I coveted. quite close. When Latin speakers started This episode shoots my confidence in borrowing words from Greek, they adopted reading and spelling. I had trusted that spelling Greek letters to stand for some of the sounds the words I said and pronouncing the words I previously unheard in I.atin. By the time the saw written down would be relatively straight- adapted the Roman forward. Little did I know then about all the alphabet, before the sixth century kD., it had complexities and subtleties that make up the twenty-three letters. Three morej. u, and story If spelling. Suede is only one of many wwere added to the alphabet between the words in the English language that is not late sixth and late fifteenth centuries. spelled the way it sounds. Standard American Englishthe English we hear spoken on TVhas twenty-four conso- Sitortage and nant sounds represented by twenty-one letters and One of the twelve basic vowel sounds represented by five Redunciancie You can do whatcha want, main reasons for the discrepancies between leaers. With an alphabet of twenty-six letters, spelling and. sound in the English language is English is short of the ideal one-to-one sound-to- the alphabet itself. When the relative merits of but don't step on my letter correspondence. Because of this shortage of different alphabets are discussed, an alphaOet is letters. some sounds have to be represented with commonly considered the most efficient when it blue wed shoes! digraphs. two letters that function as a single has one and only one letter for each sound in letter. Ch, gh, and lb, for example, act as single the language. units when they are part of the same syllable. In This sound-to-letter correspondence means by Richaid Brooks words like church. rough, thigh, and thy, these that there is no ambiguity or redundancy in the digraphs serve as single sounds distinct from the

1 0 Exploring The Alphabet elcRT COPYAVAILABLE sounds of the individual letters that make up where in England, the look and sound of the the digraph. language might be very different. The alphabet ako has redundant lettersthat Printing presses helped increase levels of is. some sounds can be represented with more literacy. Not only were more books available, but than one letter. For example. circle and syrup they were published in English as well as in Latin. have the same initial sound represented by As part of the new Renaissance passion for The Meld Chaw Party different letters. Other letters represent more than learnedness, English scholars enriched their OOOOOOOOOOO one sound. like the g in gothic and gentle. All of discourse with fine Continental embellishment, Derivation of selected words used in tbis this helps create confusion and inconsistency. chiefly words borrowed from Latin and Greek. passagefrom Alice's Adventures in Wonderland As this pattern continued to engage the elite, reveal the diverse borrowings that have Standarcazation to words borrowed from other languages entered the entered the English language. _ite 1-Zectle Our linguistic fore- English language mainstream and began to bears did not set out to create spelling inconsis- influence the spelling of native English words. "Have some wine," the March Hare said in an encour- tencies. Centuries ago. English words were spelled aging tone. much as they sounded. The word knight has been Littcptiotic Alice looked all round the table, but there was spelled much like this for the last thousand years. /WeltingPot Rules of English nothing on it but tea. "I don't see any wine," she and each letter was meant to be pronounced. spelling have tot," fairly ornate to handle the remarked. Since all letters in a word were uttered, there were inventory of sounds that have come into the "There isn't any," said the March Hare. no silent letters, like thep in psycholog or the b English language from a great variety of sources "Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it," said Alice in debt. Manuscripts of the time were hand- from Germanic languages, such as Old English angrily. written, and the dialects of the writers were and Scandinavian; from Romance languages, "It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being reflected in their transcriptions. Whether they such as Latin and Norman French; from Greek; invited," said the March Hare. were writing in their best formal Latin or in the and from other languages in Europe and else- sernacular, they spelled the words the win that where in the world. Borrowed words, the standard March: From the Old French marz, derived from the they pronounced them. This practice preserved source for new sounds in a language, were Latin term Mends Martisthe "Month of Mars," regional dialects and provided a generally accu- initially adopted whole. Both their spelling and who was the god of war. During Mail, amorous mile rate record of the pronunciation of the times. their pronunciation were essentially kept intact. hares cavort through the English countrysidehence The beginning of printing in England. in With continued use, the pronunciation of the expresion "mad as a March hare;",. 1476, marked the beginning of the discrepancy these borrowed words, or loan words, conformed Encourage: From the Old French encuragier, liter- between spelling and pronunciation. When to the prevailing rules for English words, or the ally "to hearten or give courage to," froin the Latin printers started committing words to type, they sounds of these words were incorporated into the cor, meaning "heart." initially tried to follow the spellings in medieval English languagebut their spelling continued Alice: From the Middle EnglishAlys, the Old French manuscripts, even though the pronunciation of with little change. One example is the sound Alia, and the Old High German Adalbeidis. There is words had changed substantially since the represented by the letter s in the word measure alsoAlicia, a modern invention based on Latin. Middle Ages. Some printers had scholarly preten- and by the second g in garage. which came to Table: From the Latin tabula, meaning "board" as sions and tried to correct the medieval the English language from French. Initially this well as "table." In the English expression "room and board," board refers to meals. treatments of words. Other printers, who weren't sound was heard only in the particular words that ,native speakers of the English language, were English borrowed from French. Later the sound Tes: From t'e, in the Chinese dialect of Xiamen, a simply dreadful spellers. was adopted for other words that weren't French derivation also reflected in the French tbe, the Spanish te, and the German Tee. All but forgotten is Many of the printets' ways of spelling, regard- in origin, such as cashmere. thaw, the seventeenth-century English word for the less of linguistic consistency, were preserved for Words from other languages will continue to same beverage, from Mandarin cb'a . many years to conic. An example is the wordfitult. enrich the English language. The easiest ones to Very: From the Middle English verai, which came It was once spelledfauk and was pronounced the assimilate are simple to spell in their native from the French vrai and the Latin verus. Each same asfought. Because it was thought to he language. such as enchilada from Spanish. Or means "true." Usually the short everyday words in related to the wordfalse. the letter/was inserted. they can be transcribed phonetically into the English are Anglo-Saxon in origin, but here one of Hundreds of years later. this I was pronounced. Roman alphabet. such as hibachi from Japanese. the most common words is exposed as an immigrant London had a notable effect on the English Of course, word.s aren't borrowed simply because from the Mediterranean. language we use today because the earliest presses they're easy to assimilate. As our contacts with Civil: From the Latin ciris. meaning "city." The were located there. The prestige associated with people around the globe increase, we will need to March Hare, whose name indicates rural begin- learning from books made the London dialect of borrow wordsincluding those that are difficult nings, may hardly be the one to point out breaches the fifteenth century worth emulating. If the to pronounce and frustrating to spellthat in civility. earliest printing presses had been located else- reflect our shared knowledge and experiences.

Exploring The Alphabet I 1 -. 14 dEST COPY AVAILABLE Fraarnents

1959, they put together the best of In English. we readthe letters four different systems to create in a word from left to right. But some wordshke mnm. peep. "Shaw's alphabet." In accordance with Shaw's will. Hannah. and rotatorread the his play Androcles and the Lion same backward as they do forward. became the new alphabet's show- These words are calledpalindromes. piece. A special edition of the play from the Greek word palindromos. which means "running back printed the text in Shaw's alphabet next to the conventional alphabet to again." Sentenceseven groups of sentencescan also be palin- show off the new system's efficiency. Shaw, who felt that the traditional dromes. In a palindromic sentence. alphabet was not flexible enough to the words themselves aren't neces- 0.4 record all the sounds of the English sarily palindromes; instead, the language, expected his alphabet to entire construction can be read For archaeologists,one of the numbers to letters of the alphabet become the primary writing system backward or forward. first steps in deciphering an ancient and then analyzing the resulting for the English-speaking world. Most palindromic phrases don't inscription is figuring out which mathematical patterns. people of Instead. Shaw's alphabet has make much sense. but you might be way to read it. This isn't always a many different beliefs and cultures become a linguistic curiosity, with able to come up with rationales for simple task. Even English. which is have hoped to uncover deeper one delightful feature: since it some of these: customarily read from left to right, meanings than words themselves records the sound of the spoken Eva. can I stab bats in a cave? is sometimes read from top to may reveal. Some look for concealed word, anyone reading the original Was it Viols toilet I saw? bottom (on the spine of a book, for messages in the Bible; others search text out loud pronounces the words Ten animals I slam in a net. instance), or even in a circle (on the for prophecies and predictions. For with a distinct British accent. Tarzan raied Desi Arnaz rat. edge of a coin or the inside of a the Enghsh alphabet, proponents of Straw? No, too stupid a Jad. seal). Modern Arabic. like ancient these beliefs usually number the I put soot on warts! Egyptian, reads from right to left. letters consecutively: A=1. B=2, In these daysof newspapers and No devil. .Vo garden. One Traditional Japanese is read from C=3, etc. Intriguing relationships computers, it's easy to take the dragon lived on. top to bottom: some ancient Greek such as these have been found: written word for granted. But before

texts are read from bottom to top. KEEP 11+5+5+16 =37 the printing press, the laboriously Other languages switch back and .27 copied documents created by Early dictionarieswere son:?- +OFF 15+6+6 forth. Linguists call this character- monastic scribes were rare and times little more than collections of GRASS "-I-18+1+19+19 istic boustrophedon. which means priceless objects. In the twelfth difficult words. (After all, why would ARM + BEND = ELBOW "ox turning" in Greek. It refers to century, stealing a manuscript was a anyone need a dictionary for the KING + CHAIR = THRONE the way an ox plows a field, going serious crime. As one hand-copied easy ones?) As a result, they've ALL + VOTE = DEMOCRACY first in one direction, and then medieval Bible warned:"Ifanyone become valuable sources for rare turning and going in the opposite take away this book, let him die the words and linguistic curiosities. An direction. Some early Greek boustro- In his will,British playwright death; let him be fried/in a_pan; let infamous entry from a 1930 dic- phedons read from left to right with George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) the falling sicknesyand. fever seize tionary was the word dord. which the letters facing in one direction, offered a prize for the creation of an (according to the book) meant him; let him he broker. on the and then, on the next line, from alphabet based on the sounds of wheel, and haiiged. Amen." "density." Later editions of the same right to left with the letters facing in English words. Between 1957 and dictionary omitted the word. What the opposite direction. Wooden 1958, the executors of Shaw's estate happened toit? Apparently, a tablets found on Easter Island in the gathered almost 500 proposals, in compiler of the 1930 edition had 1960s display an interesting form of made an unfortunate mistake. The boustrophedon. The reader reads folder in which he had collected across one line, then flips the tablet e \ IN_ S17\.Jecz instances of both D and d being 4 upside down to read the next line. \ (4 e used K. abbreviations for the word densitv was marked "D or * If George Bernard hence dord made its surprising For centuries,people have been any s alptISIDOUsa prevailed, this is searching for hidden meaning in appearance. how we would be the written word. By a.ssigning reading his famous Rae, "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plidn." 12 dESICOPYAVAILARLg 15 Try 7his! by Ellen Klages

bec '01417(111 1»tuse1ite,..IS

There are twenly-six letters in the Lnglish alphabet. Theoretically they can be combined in (counting.i. as a consonant). Most words have a any of 403.290.000.000.000.000.000.000.000 dijjerent wa.i.s. Most (Obese. however just balance of both, but some words have unique create nonsense. Ilere are some of the more practical and interesting combinations jOr you vowel and consonant combinations. to play with. (Answers on page 14). 0 Two words in English contain all the vowelsa. e. I. o. uin alphabetical order. Do you know what they are?

4. What two words use all the vowels in reverse order?

Most words have more consonants than vowels. Can you think of a fourteen-letter word that starts with a consonant, then alter- nates vowels and consonants?

0 What one consonant can you use thirteen times to make the letters below into a sentence? ARIMACINAROYLEISLESS ARAVATINTHANAILINIOLO.

C.? %1:,,G.to SAY CAN 0 What do people have but men. women. and children don't?

@ What happens twice in 71 moment, but only once in a month, and never in a thou- word contains twenty-six letters. LETTER PERFECT 0 tfhat sand years? but has only threesyllables? (i) If you go to the end of the world. what do A pangram is a sentence that contains all twent Whatsunusual about the order ol these you find? six letters of the alphabet. The best pangrams use numbers? the fewest letters: a perfect pangram contains 0 How many peas are in a peck? 8 's 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2 twenty-six letters. As you can see from the exam- The first three riddles play with the fact that when ples below, as the number of letters decreases, so we read words as units of meaning, we don't does the meaning of the sentence. 01I'VE SAID NAY 1-YXS think of them as collections of letters. The last Bypre! My quick study of lexicography riddle works because the names of smile letters of If you hke secret messages, here's a simple way to the alphabet sound like whole wordsp (pea). won a prize! (41 letters) use alphabetical order to create a code. Write c (sea. see).(tea), i (eye). The file boxing wizards jump quickly. (31) down the alphabet in the regular order. Under it. Quartz job vex'd cum finks. (26) write the alphabet in reverseso it starts with Z wimisaweishwordalmaimis-valleyl and ends with A. jagSA S

What's the shortest pangram you can make? ABCDX1PCIIIIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Letters that sound like words can also be used to ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIIIGFEDCBA create sentences that look like random letters until you read them aloud. 010RD PERFECT. In this code.A= Z, B= Y.and so on. 0, I C U. (Oh. I see you.) If you find pangrams too confining, try creating L-N S X-M-N-N U. (Ellen is examining you.) The sentence "THIS IS IN CODE" a sentence or with twenty-six would come out"GSRH RH RM XLWV." Try to "translate" these three. Once you get the wordsin alphabetical order, like this: hang of these riddles, you may want to try to Able-bodied. conscientious dustmen 0 Can you translatethe sentence below. make up your own. emptying filthy garbage handle indescrib usingthereveme 0 D N-M-E S N J-l.. able junk. Kitchen leftovers make noxious OVG'H ERHRG GSV @ I M N I,-F IMND+ S. odors. Iwoducing quite revolting .%tenches. VCKOLIZGLIRFN! MIS unwholesome vegetation nym7 R N T-S? I F N l.-R-G 9 Xthily yiddCOIL (tly E PLAY *IrJi1,1Ali4mMt;IMIollahow: (Extra challenge: Can you create one that uses a mord`that realh begins with an X?) Tlw twenty-six letters of the alphabet are divided intofivevmvelsaAtwenty-mwonsmnts

Explori n g The Alphabet 13

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READING TI-IEPAS1 RUNES

currents. In spite of the tendenc for water to douse the candle. Walker reported that his experi- ment w.orked well. (Walker rectnnmended that if ou want to try this experunent, you should keep a second flaming candle outside the shower to relight a doused wick. but that you should take care not to let the unattended flame catch the bathroom on fire.) From the telltale movements of the candle flame, Walker discovered that the patterns of airflow inside a hot shower are actually qui4t complex. Air immediately around the warm Tools & Toys falling water is drawn, orentrained,into the spray. Some of this air heats up and rises to the I was about three when I mastered the top of the shower stall: the rest flows to the alphabet song. I've been told that I marched Why does a shmer curtain become attracted to bottom of the stall. Air from outside the shower around my nursery school shouting ou while You're taking a shower? flows in from above and either side of the curtain "Elemenopee!" at the top of my lungs for several l/att IE. to .eplace some. but not all. of the air trapped by days. I thought I had a handle on this whole Sent from cyberspace tb: falling water. Inside the shower, there is less alphabet thing until Mikey Zuckov joined our air available. This causes a region of lower pres- second-grade class midyear. His mother was from I know the feeling. After a long workout at the sure between the curtain and the water. The Russia. and for show-and-tell he brought in a gym, I look forward to a nice hot shower, and higher atmospheric pressure outside the shower first-grade readerin C,yrillic. I ran home with instead I Often get a chise encounter with a pushes on the curtain, and before vou know it. the astounding news tit... there was another clammy shower curtain.know it's not my mag- you're feeling the unwelcome caresses of a cold alphabet, only to have my mom pull out the netic personality attracting the curtain. so I've sheet of plastic. encyclopedia and show me that there were also suspected it has something to do with airflow. Taking an especially hot shower only enhances Greek letters. and Hebrew. and Arabic. It was Somehow, the outside air pushes against the the effect. Air heated by hot water draining from the mind-boggling. shower curtain, which in turn pushes against nw floor of the shower flows along the outside of the Fortunately for my seven-year-old brain. Mom unsuspecting leg. curtain and gives it an extra push toward your leg. didn't tell me about Egyptian hieroglyphics or lead Walker. who for.tittars wrote the Amateur Of course, you could partially solve this Maya Ohs. But now I know a lot about these Scientist column for.scientilic American.investi- problem b taking a cold shower. If that doesn't and other fascinating writing systems, thanks to gated this curious bathroom phenomenon in the appeal to you. you could attach weights or theReading the Pastseries ($9.95 per book. magazine's June 1988 issue. To study the air magnets to the bottom of the curtain or try plas-. University of California Press). Each of these currents in mid around his shower, he brought a tering the wet plastic to the inside of the shower. slim volumes covers a single alphabetic topic lighted candle into the shower stall and watched That's usually enough to keep it from invading runes, linear B. cuneiformdiscussing history. the direction the flame v.as drawn toward by your space. archaeology, and linguistics. The books are illus- trated with maps and photos that put the ancient languages into a vivid context. First Word Abecedarian 3 ter:similitude For a simpler introduction to letters and g (A grimacing gargm le 1,10, (troin page it Amusements symbols. I recommend a beautiful set of wooden 'Answers Won) page I aggrinating than a giggling Man Owned a Little Lamb gigolo I Alphabet Cubes ($50.00). One face of each (without Hs) Word Perfect cube has a letter in the Roman (English) 0 Say Can F C? Iran-Faint d a lade Limb I alphabet I The letterp alphabet: four other faces have Cyrillic. Greek. 11, fierce u ?alr a, ova/ 2 'M(l re Arranged 2 The leiter m Hebrew, and Arabic letters. The sixth side of each ei place it, nnare, u ent order eight foe four now The letter d cube has part of a puzzle consisting of cuneiform o rlaad, roarld Now l'se Said NI) Ms P,lhar ul Ila characters. The whole set comes packaged in a I LET S \lst I THE EXPLol(11111(11 broke a mut lau I) S-A S X-L-N wooden box with a handy chart and a minihistory Vowel Play 'oar dadoa, I The enemi of all five alphabets 'tut absternuao laraua 2I am ail VII mn in the Iorest I lamb incid, till These blocks are nice to hold, but you can't 2 unnoherabli. ,whortmental ; WIn are Ion in lean, Aclualk lime an allelic, tell the difference in the letters t)touchthey're painted on On my Read a Mat: Braille Alphabet

1I ExploringThe Alphabet placemat (S4.2.9 ).I can actualh feel the raised Related Reading N j.: Word Wa s Press, 1992. This am usmg letters of the Braille alphabet This washable voluine contains an alphabetical listing ot er plastic m:tt is dii ided into squares. each with a The Puzzle of Linear Bby Paul Doherty palindrome the author could uncover. printed picture and a word, Ipp/e. Bud Reading the l'ast: Linear B and Related .scopts Credits & Acknowledgements Zebra --,111(1 also a raised letter and by John Chadwick. Berkelo. I'mversity of word in Braille. California Press. 198". This short, readable larSTRATIONS are by Da% id Barker unless other- To find out !now about Braille and other account of the decipherment of linear B is wise noted. PAGE 3 AND PAGE 14. Poems from alphabets. I readWri Iing: A Fact and Fun complete with illustrations of hnear B texts. Almanac of trim& al Play by Willard S.P. Esm. Book ($8.9i,Addison-Wesley) by Amanda The Code breakers In David Kahn. New lork: New York: Clarkson Potter. 105. PAGES 4-5. Photo Lewis. illustrated by Ileather Collins. Five chapters MacMillm 196. One chapter describes the and illustrations from the CD-ROM Scientific have pictures. examples. and diagrams about decipherment of many ancient texts, including Amerkan: Evploring Ancwnt Cilbw. San alphahets and symbols: pens. tpewriters. and other linear B. with good examples of the deciphering Francisco. Sumena, 1994 PAGES 6-9- Photos coin- writing tools: handwriting and calligraphy: hooks prcicess tesv of the John M Wing Foundation Me Newberry And printing: and reading and writing. It's a great Library. Special thanks to Sunnier Stone of Stone book for kids. full of both information and actni- Letters Take Shape byJudah Brand 'l)pe Foundry for his kind assistance, and to Fred ties: Chinese brush painting: making your own I /oho Calligraphr: ils History and Technique In Brady of Adobe S stems for generously supplying chalk. paper. or hook, even imah zing our hand- Marc Drogin. Montclair. NT: Allanheld. (Nun several of the typefaces illustrated in this article. writing. & Co., 1980. Instructions for wnting twelve Square capitals by Gary Crounse. I decided not to analyze my handwriting different manuscript styles are provided, along Carolingian minuscule. and Gothic lettering from half the time I can barely decipher it. But that with a concise. well-illustrated history of callig- Medieval Calligraphy: Rs libtory and Technique was before 1 got Inv own Personal Font (599.95, raphy front the Roman Square Capital through by Marc Drogin, Montclair, Allenheld. Osmun Signature Software, Mac or Windows). l'he the Humanist Bookhand. & Co.. 1980. Type development time line adapted company sent me a form to fill out, asking ine to The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert friim On Vone: The Art and ISe of Typography on write odd words like (ailithe. rybema. and Bright:1.st. 1 ancouver. Ilartle & Marks. 199.2. the Personal Computer by Sumner Stone, San kagrels inside little blue boxes. The words cover Bringhurst clearly and elegantly explains the Francisco: Bedford Arts. 1991. PAGES 10-1 l. just about any letter combination you can think principles of typography and and Thanks to Dr. Geoffrey Pullum for his wit, wisdom. ofincluding marks. So I filled the presents samples of many individual typefaces and insight on all inatters linguistic. PAGE 14: form outas neatly as I couldand mailed it Illustration by Melissa Alexander. PAGE 16: Photo back. In just afew weeks, How Do You Spell That Sound? by Amy Snyder. by Richard Brooks rry .In Introduction to Language. 7bird Edition lw Zirso.4.1te 4 Create, WA Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman. New hawAeitil York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1083 This Persootlind" beginning linguistics textbook makes for inter- esting reading. The clear, informal style is dosed I gota computer disk ill the with comic strip illustrations of a number of mail When I loaded it into my system and linguistic phenomena. opened up my 51ord-processing program. there The Origins and Development of the English was McGee. a font that's mv very own hand- Language. Second Edition by Thom:LS Pyles writing. Now I can print out landwnttell New York: Harcourt Brace Jo% anovich. 10" t letters that people can ac'md h read! This standard text. though technical, is reward- --Betsy McGee ing for the dedicated lay reader and a treasury Next Issue of information Except lOr Personal lOnt. all of these items are amilable Jimn the Exploratorium Store. a here Try This! Abecedarian Amusements Why doti't you ever see giant ants? How do mu can shop in person or order by plume at by Ellen Klages moviemakers use tiny models to make real 1-800-.159 9899. Prices and aratlaInhtv are The 0.v/ord 6.111dt. ord 0(1111(W In Tony istic disasters on the big scrcen? What would vdlled to change To order l'ersonal Font lugarde. New York- Oxford I'mversm Press. happen to your house if it suddenly doubled (and many other hwalicrifing limb) contact 1984. 1Vavs to pla with words, letters. and in size? You'll find fascinating stories of size. s'Ignature .siyncare. .489 Nora./ Eighth Stred. language lill this interesting compendium scale, and stnicture in the next issue of Hood RU.er. OR 97031: / -SOO- 925 From .1 to toklInorl The Dictionary of Exploring magazine. Palindromes by Stephen I Chism Morristown.

Exploring The Alpbabel .1.:;gorazzriurn lews hy Charlotte Moser

\\ hen the E xploratontim's Science Prognun. ft sciences Department begim intensive education untratiie. to plan its current exhibition. the compani contracted 'Anti w Into the Gene Pool. in the Scl , t3el 1993. kei step to be included Exploratoritnn (SITE) to in the stur 01 genetic research tram thirty teachers from \\ as the 'mention of:1 compli- seven school districts in cated device called the auto- Northern California. Oregon. nued DNA sequencer and Washington in the use of This machine. numfactured inqtfiry-based teaching in in the mid- Mos b Applied science education. Bios\ stemsa Ba Area Ho- For two weeks. from April technolog compam that has $0 to May 12. teachers from since merged .\ ith Perkins- SITE conducted workshops In lmer. a New jerscybased presenting theories of light firmroolutionized the speed and color with inquiry b which the human genorne instruction. This is an area could be decoded. The disco\ er for vhich the Exploratorafin accelerated b decades the field Partllerships ill Edtrativill has recently received a S.3.5 of genetic research :md its appli- millian grant from the cations.the theme of the National Science Fotmdation museum's Diving nth) the Gene Pool exhibition had an opportunity to develop an educational "Children learn better through doing, hut --We had this idea tor an exhibit called Cod.- product and make a kind of p.nbackto euucation. teachers must be trained in how to move away Ing the Code and approached Applied Bir-vstems As one of the few museuros taIng a leader . from textbook-driven instruction into teaching for funding.- recalls Charles Carlson. director of ship position nationally in science education through hands-on exploration. Staff development the museum's Life Sciences Department. The reform. the Exploratorium provides unique pair- to train teachers is critical in science education company's enthusiastic response delighted Carlson ings for corporations committed to community reform.- explained Nancy Thomas. national .ind his staff Not only did Applied Biosystems involvement. particularly in the field of educa- contributions manager at Hewlett-Packard. 11-P contribute S32.0V.0 deielop the interactive tion. Offering expertise in teaching hands-on has sponsored the K-0 Ilands-On Science Program educational exhibit. hut it entered an active part- science and access to schools irvolvea for three years as part of the company's Corporate nership with the Exploratorium to develop the science education reform. the Exp'oratorium Citizenship oblective It now supports science content of the Crackmg the Code exhibit. soled as a testing ground for n3,re than one education ni twenn five school districts through- "Andre Marion. the company's founder and high-tech corporation csterest,,d in making an out the country. CEO. a longtime Exploratonum supporter. thought educational impact. The Exploratonum has collaborative projects our exhibit was a wonderful idea.- said Carlson Apple Computer, for instance, entered into a in the works with other computer companies. As "Ile opened up his lab and sent out his R&D statf jomt research protect with the Exploratonum part of the Science Learning Network, a national to help us develop the exhibit. As a result, we got 1992. following the donation of equipment from consortium of six science museums, the Explora- a firsthand feel for how ir;.1 is sequenced. The 1pple's now-defunct San Francisco Multimedia torium will kiork lith [nisvs to develop a new experience made a tremendous impact on Our Lab to the museum in 1090. That contribution science education sofm are program. Computer planning for the Gene Poo/ exhibition led to the creation of the Center for Media and gifts and loans for special museum exhibitions, Successtul partnerships like the one between Communication. now one of the museum's core such as the .11ultnnolto Plioground. are often the Exploratorium and Applied Bios stems go one departments. It oversees such public programs as accompanied hi slat!' assistance in addition to step beyond the corporate contributions oicr6as- the Internet Station and the new Learning Studio barb are loans. Quantum Corp.. for instance. ingly necessary to keep the museum's programs Since then, as part of its Media Rich Colla- developed the exhibit Hon Bard Disks li.ork. t unded and its doors open These collaboration, boratie Learning I MER ICI El prolect. Apple has which was used in the Multimedia Plnrground are designed to allow each party to buikl upon worked continuously with tlie Exploratonum It Such collahoratne partnerships enrich the the other's expertise develop science programs in a intiltimedia Exploratonum. the corporate culture of compa- 'The partnership a ith Applied Biosstems telecommunications protect conducted in the nies. and the commumn at huge. For all parties resulted in our developing an important perma- Ross School District in Mann County. This spring. concerned, the pa\ back is knowmg that some- nent exluhit for the Exploratonum.- said the Exploratornfin provided a Unique service for thing concrete has been done to make this a Carlson Applied Rios)stems, on the other himd. Ilewlett-Packard. As part of its K-6 Ilands-on better world to hie in 9

II) o Explori ng The /*babe/ dEST COPY AVAILABLE oratorium Back issues Supporters

Major Donors Ridgei C. Euers Exploring Backlist Mr. and Mrs. F.arren Hellman lanuan 1 -March 31. IN; Dr. and Mrs. II. Richard Johnson II uou'd like to fill out sour $50.000 and above Internattonal Data Group Evplorm gcollection, or if (mCre Anonymous LSI Logic CAT interested in ans of the topics listed 'rhe William I.hone Eriiid of the Tides Topline Toys below. the following issues of Fon ndat pon r.S. Venture Partheis Evploringare still available. $25,000 and above T.B. Walker Foundation Eup/oringBridges:Find out about Quantum Corporation $1.000 and above natural bridges--on the earth and Cnis..; Corporation Alonzo Pririting Co.. Inc on the moonand watch the San Anonymous Francisco ky Bridge go up in a $10,000and above Blue Print Seri ice Group. Inc. historic photo essa. Acuson ("orpornon Crystal Ge ser Water Compan( Cho roll &Moon g Nothing:I.earn Domaine Chandon Deloitte & Touche 1.1,P how the ins enuon of the zero N1s. Pamela S. Duff\ and Ernst & Young LLP roolutionized mathemaucs and Mr. Gerald P. Voachum Fritz Companies. Ilk' exanune the sunial sillily of Guenoc Estate Winery GAP Foundation tuning outand the Buddhist Mr. and Mrs. Scott R. Heldfond Genentech. Inc. philosophy of tuning in. Mr. Richard J. Holloway Dr. Harvo Glasser Exploring The Sound Ms. Sally I.ilienthal -Ms. Joan D. McCaule Spectrum:Discover what the Ms. Kathleen McLean The Ann M. Martin Foundation, litc. sounds of a thunderstorm can tell Network General Corporation Morris Foundation You and notice the melodies of Pacific Gas and Electric Cowan% No Enterlirbe Associates machines. Includes .1 full.color Page Street Press Pillsbun Madison & Sutro Sound Spectnun chart (folded). Mr. and Mrs. Max Palevsk Mrs. Paul L. Wattis Arthur and Toni Rock Dr. and Mrs. Mejandro Zaffaroni St. Supky Vineyards and Winery Other Issues: $5,000 and above Explwing Puzzles and Problems See's Candies Exploring Chips & Changes Ashfield & Company. Inc Mr. and Mrs. John Stuppin Exploring Rhythm Explorin,g Cities Berlex Laboratories Vector Laboratories. Inc. Evploring Spinning Things Coindisco Foundation/Mr. and Evploring Dirt Mr. and Mrs. Brooks Walker Ir. Evploring Sports Mrs. Vincent I.Ricci Mr. and Mrs. Alfred S. Wilsey Exploring The Ear Martin and Shoshana Gerstel aploring Tools Wilson. Sonsini. Goodrich & Rosati Exploring Edges Dr. Adele). Goldberg Evploring Transformations Foundation Exploring Electricity Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund Evploring Underground Matching Gifts IBM Corporation Exploring Energy Clorox Company Foundation The Exploratorium Home Mr. Craig W Johnson Exploring Fakes First Interstate Bank of California Laboratory(Special S10.00 issue) Mr. and Mrs. C. Richard Kramlicii Exploring Fire GAP Foundation KRON-TV/Chronicle Broadcasting Household International Explorin,g Food Ordering Information for Compam R it Macy & Compam .Inc. Exploring: Frank Oppen- Back Issues Mr. Da% id Packard Transanwrica Foundation heimer Memorial Edition Paragraphics Price S; on each (shipping S2 no for lost coli. add ;Oz 1.01' each additional coin I Sierra \entures Exploring In the Dark ro place 311 order or tor more intorination Ruby M Sisson Trust Exploring Hands please call Levi Strauss Foundation Exploring Ice 1-11--0 ;idISIS Synopsis. Inc Expl(ring Mentor 1011 tree 1 sou 55,1 Nni $2.500 and above Exploring More Music Li s.i ci Slit No" Asset Management Compam Slut tour ordcr ii apIonni; Mone) \jir.uirIiii \lad orth.t t is mminent Bank of Anwrica Exploring Navigation it,Ol Lion :ARK Sail Francisco. 15 ii 12 ; Bechtel Group. Inc Exploring Patterns Ptirkli.N order, are %%destine For intema Chalone Wine Group 11,11.il or t. \rt., delnen seti ice plearsc call Decorathe Plant Service Evploring Photography for a quotation

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