How to Write Around the World (And Which Ways Are Best)

How to write around the world (And which ways are best)

Jason Merchant Professor, Department of Linguistics Chair, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures Associate Dean for Languages University of Chicago

Humanities Day, October 2015

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 1 / 47 Is there a right and wrong way to speak?

Plato’s Cratylus, or On the correctness of names

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 2 / 47 The basic units are therefore linguistic units: words, morphemes, syllables, or phonemes

What is writing?

Writing is a system to represent language (not ‘thought’) in visual form

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 3 / 47 The basic units are therefore linguistic units: words, morphemes, syllables, or phonemes

What is writing?

Writing is a system to represent language (not ‘thought’) in visual form

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 3 / 47 The basic units are therefore linguistic units: words, morphemes, syllables, or phonemes

What is writing?

Writing is a system to represent language (not ‘thought’) in visual form

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 3 / 47 What is writing?

Writing is a system to represent language (not ‘thought’) in visual form

The basic units are therefore linguistic units: words, morphemes, syllables, or phonemes

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 3 / 47 1 This.sen.tence.does.n’t.have.few.er.than.ﬁve.syl.la.bles.in.it.: Syllables are the basic unit of poetic meter (scansion), etc. 2 Phonemes: distinctive units of sound in a given language: consonants (k, b, h, ...); vowels (a, e, ...); diphthongs (ai, au, oi, ...); tones

1 teachers: a word consisting of three morphemes 2 teach-er-s: stem-sufﬁx-sufﬁx Syllables and phonemes:

Linguistic units

Words and morphemes:

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 4 / 47 1 This.sen.tence.does.n’t.have.few.er.than.ﬁve.syl.la.bles.in.it.: Syllables are the basic unit of poetic meter (scansion), etc. 2 Phonemes: distinctive units of sound in a given language: consonants (k, b, h, ...); vowels (a, e, ...); diphthongs (ai, au, oi, ...); tones

2 teach-er-s: stem-sufﬁx-sufﬁx Syllables and phonemes:

Linguistic units

Words and morphemes: 1 teachers: a word consisting of three morphemes

Syllables and phonemes:

Linguistic units

Words and morphemes: 1 teachers: a word consisting of three morphemes 2 teach-er-s: stem-sufﬁx-sufﬁx

Linguistic units

Words and morphemes: 1 teachers: a word consisting of three morphemes 2 teach-er-s: stem-sufﬁx-sufﬁx Syllables and phonemes:

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 4 / 47 2 Phonemes: distinctive units of sound in a given language: consonants (k, b, h, ...); vowels (a, e, ...); diphthongs (ai, au, oi, ...); tones

Linguistic units

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 4 / 47 Linguistic units

Words and morphemes: 1 teachers: a word consisting of three morphemes 2 teach-er-s: stem-suffix-suffix Syllables and phonemes: 1 This.sen.tence.does.n’t.have.few.er.than.five.syl.la.bles.in.it.: Syllables are the basic unit of poetic meter (scansion), etc. 2 Phonemes: distinctive units of sound in a given language: consonants (k, b, h, ...); vowels (a, e, ...); diphthongs (ai, au, oi, ...); tones

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 4 / 47 Phonemic systems and syllabaries are phonographic systems

Major types of writing systems

Type Symbols represent Example Logographic morpheme or word Chinese hànzì Syllabary syllable Japanese kana Abjad C (V optional) Hebrew, Arabic Alphabet consonants, vowels Greek, Latin, Cyrillic

Alphabets and abjads are phonemic systems

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 5 / 47 Major types of writing systems

Type Symbols represent Example Logographic morpheme or word Chinese hànzì Syllabary syllable Japanese kana Abjad C (V optional) Hebrew, Arabic Alphabet consonants, vowels Greek, Latin, Cyrillic

Alphabets and abjads are phonemic systems Phonemic systems and syllabaries are phonographic systems

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 5 / 47 Sumerian: The language of Sumer, ca. 3000-2000 BC

The world’s ﬁrst historical civilization

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 6 / 47 Sumerian writing: Cuneiform

‘Cuneiform’ means ‘wedge-shaped’, from the shapes the stylus made in clay

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 7 / 47 Became logographic (one symbol = one morpheme/word) First place we see evidence of phonographic writing: the use of symbols to represents sound (syllables or segments) rather than just concepts or ideas (3000-2700 BCE) Made possible by the use of the rebus principle: a symbol could be used for any word that was pronounced like the word whose meaning it originally represented.

Sumerian writing: Cuneiform

Began as pictographs (stylized representations of objects or properties thereof or relations between)

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 8 / 47 First place we see evidence of phonographic writing: the use of symbols to represents sound (syllables or segments) rather than just concepts or ideas (3000-2700 BCE) Made possible by the use of the rebus principle: a symbol could be used for any word that was pronounced like the word whose meaning it originally represented.

Sumerian writing: Cuneiform

Began as pictographs (stylized representations of objects or properties thereof or relations between)

Became logographic (one symbol = one morpheme/word)

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 8 / 47 Made possible by the use of the rebus principle: a symbol could be used for any word that was pronounced like the word whose meaning it originally represented.

Sumerian writing: Cuneiform

Began as pictographs (stylized representations of objects or properties thereof or relations between)

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 8 / 47 Sumerian writing: Cuneiform

Began as pictographs (stylized representations of objects or properties thereof or relations between)

Became logographic (one symbol = one morpheme/word) First place we see evidence of phonographic writing: the use of symbols to represents sound (syllables or segments) rather than just concepts or ideas (3000-2700 BCE) Made possible by the use of the rebus principle: a symbol could be used for any word that was pronounced like the word whose meaning it originally represented.

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 8 / 47 From logograms to cuneiform

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 9 / 47 Hieroglyphics mixed logographs....

Determinatives...

Egyptian

Meanwhile, the Egyptians were up to something similar Rosetta Stone: Jean-François Champollion

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 10 / 47 Determinatives...

Egyptian

Meanwhile, the Egyptians were up to something similar Rosetta Stone: Jean-François Champollion

Hieroglyphics mixed logographs....

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 10 / 47 Egyptian

Meanwhile, the Egyptians were up to something similar Rosetta Stone: Jean-François Champollion

Hieroglyphics mixed logographs....

Determinatives...

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 10 / 47 Egyptian

And, eventually, some phonographs:

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 11 / 47 In Pinyin transcription: shui3, da4 ‘water’ ‘big’ Today most characters consist of two parts: a semantic radical (bùshouˇ ) and phonetic determinative

Chinese writing: ‘Characters’

Originally pictographs, developed into logographs: what do the following mean?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 12 / 47 ‘water’ ‘big’ Today most characters consist of two parts: a semantic radical (bùshouˇ ) and phonetic determinative

Chinese writing: ‘Characters’

Originally pictographs, developed into logographs: what do the following mean?

In Pinyin transcription: shui3, da4

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 12 / 47 Today most characters consist of two parts: a semantic radical (bùshouˇ ) and phonetic determinative

Chinese writing: ‘Characters’

Originally pictographs, developed into logographs: what do the following mean?

In Pinyin transcription: shui3, da4 ‘water’ ‘big’

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 12 / 47 Chinese writing: ‘Characters’

Originally pictographs, developed into logographs: what do the following mean?

In Pinyin transcription: shui3, da4 ‘water’ ‘big’ Today most characters consist of two parts: a semantic radical (bùshouˇ ) and phonetic determinative

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 12 / 47 Maya glyphs: Writing of the Mayan empire, 2000BC-900AD

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 13 / 47 Maya glyphs: Writing of the Mayan empire

Palenque:

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 14 / 47 Maya glyphs: Writing of the Mayan empire

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 15 / 47 Maya glyphs: Writing of the Mayan empire

Partly logographic:

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 16 / 47 Maya glyphs: Writing of the Mayan empire

Partly syllabic:

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 17 / 47 Maya glyphs: Writing of the Mayan empire

Sometimes both

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 18 / 47 Japanese katakana: Mostly a syllabary

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 19 / 47 Almost a true syllabary (ﬁnd the exception): (The ‘v’ in the last column stands for a front mid unrounded nasalized vowel)

Cherokee: 86 symbols (syllabographs)

Invented from scratch in the early 1800s by Sequoyah

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 20 / 47 Cherokee: 86 symbols (syllabographs)

Invented from scratch in the early 1800s by Sequoyah

Almost a true syllabary (ﬁnd the exception): (The ‘v’ in the last column stands for a front mid unrounded nasalized vowel)

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 20 / 47 Cherokee: 86 symbols (syllabographs)

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 21 / 47 Hint: How many vowels do they have? How many consonants? How do these combine? A syllabary would be a nightmare for a language like English... how many distinct possible syllables does English have?

Syllabaries and phonemic inventories

Suspect anything about the phonological properties of these languages?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 22 / 47 A syllabary would be a nightmare for a language like English... how many distinct possible syllables does English have?

Syllabaries and phonemic inventories

Suspect anything about the phonological properties of these languages? Hint: How many vowels do they have? How many consonants? How do these combine?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 22 / 47 Syllabaries and phonemic inventories

Suspect anything about the phonological properties of these languages? Hint: How many vowels do they have? How many consonants? How do these combine? A syllabary would be a nightmare for a language like English... how many distinct possible syllables does English have?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 22 / 47 The origins of writing in Greece

Earliest deciphered Greek: Linear B (ca. 1400-1200 BC)

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 23 / 47 First major phonemic script However, it was still an abjad: no vowels Descended from pictographic Proto-Sinaitic via Proto-Canaanite

Back to the Ancient Middle East: Phoenician

Developed by Semitic peoples somewhere in Phoenicia (now Lebanon) 1000 BCE?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 24 / 47 However, it was still an abjad: no vowels Descended from pictographic Proto-Sinaitic via Proto-Canaanite

Back to the Ancient Middle East: Phoenician

Developed by Semitic peoples somewhere in Phoenicia (now Lebanon) 1000 BCE? First major phonemic script

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 24 / 47 Descended from pictographic Proto-Sinaitic via Proto-Canaanite

Back to the Ancient Middle East: Phoenician

Developed by Semitic peoples somewhere in Phoenicia (now Lebanon) 1000 BCE? First major phonemic script However, it was still an abjad: no vowels

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 24 / 47 Back to the Ancient Middle East: Phoenician

Developed by Semitic peoples somewhere in Phoenicia (now Lebanon) 1000 BCE? First major phonemic script However, it was still an abjad: no vowels Descended from pictographic Proto-Sinaitic via Proto-Canaanite

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 24 / 47 Phoenician

Name Proto-Canaanite Phoenician Gloss

’aleph ‘ox’

taw ‘mark, signature’

mem ‘water’

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 25 / 47 Phoenician

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 26 / 47 Hebrew

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 27 / 47 Wht’s wrs: nglsh wrttn wth n vwls, r... Englesh wretten en sech e wee thet evere vewel es repleced be e sengle sembel? Duus thu fruquuncu uf thu sumbul muttur? Whqt qbqqt qf Q wqrq tq pqck q mqrq qrbqtrqrq sqmbql? I e uue o ei ay oe o e ea iou e oe ee?

Wht s th bg dl hr?

S th strctr f nglsh n mr r lss clr wtht th vwl lttrs?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 28 / 47 Englesh wretten en sech e wee thet evere vewel es repleced be e sengle sembel? Duus thu fruquuncu uf thu sumbul muttur? Whqt qbqqt qf Q wqrq tq pqck q mqrq qrbqtrqrq sqmbql? I e uue o ei ay oe o e ea iou e oe ee?

Wht s th bg dl hr?

S th strctr f nglsh n mr r lss clr wtht th vwl lttrs? Wht’s wrs: nglsh wrttn wth n vwls, r...

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 28 / 47 Duus thu fruquuncu uf thu sumbul muttur? Whqt qbqqt qf Q wqrq tq pqck q mqrq qrbqtrqrq sqmbql? I e uue o ei ay oe o e ea iou e oe ee?

Wht s th bg dl hr?

S th strctr f nglsh n mr r lss clr wtht th vwl lttrs? Wht’s wrs: nglsh wrttn wth n vwls, r... Englesh wretten en sech e wee thet evere vewel es repleced be e sengle sembel?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 28 / 47 Whqt qbqqt qf Q wqrq tq pqck q mqrq qrbqtrqrq sqmbql? I e uue o ei ay oe o e ea iou e oe ee?

Wht s th bg dl hr?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 28 / 47 I e uue o ei ay oe o e ea iou e oe ee?

Wht s th bg dl hr?

S th strctr f nglsh n mr r lss clr wtht th vwl lttrs? Wht’s wrs: nglsh wrttn wth n vwls, r... Englesh wretten en sech e wee thet evere vewel es repleced be e sengle sembel? Duus thu fruquuncu uf thu sumbul muttur? Whqt qbqqt qf Q wqrq tq pqck q mqrq qrbqtrqrq sqmbql?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 28 / 47 Wht s th bg dl hr?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 28 / 47 But the Greeks borrowed the symbols and made the ﬁrst true alphabet (

A useful development

Phoenician was an abjad...

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 29 / 47 A useful development

Phoenician was an abjad... But the Greeks borrowed the symbols and made the ﬁrst true alphabet (

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 29 / 47 A useful development

The Greeks re-appropriated certain symbols to serve their phonemic needs. Phoenician Greek symbol name value symbol name value a ’alep¯ [P]Aα alpha [a] e he [h]EE epsilon [e] y yodh [j]Iι iota [i] h heth [è]Hη eta [E:] o ’ayin [Q]Oo omicron [o] w waw [w]Yυ upsilon [y] ([i])

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 30 / 47 The Greek alphabet

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 31 / 47 Alphabets from the Greek: Latin, Cyrillic, etc...

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 32 / 47 The Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 33 / 47 Our own alphabet: the Roman or Latin

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 26 letters, well suited to writing Latin: how about English?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 34 / 47 breath, breathe, meth, seethe, bath, bathe th is a digraph: two letters used to represent one sound Old English had letters for these: þ (‘thorn’) and ð (‘eth’): ðis vs. þin

Phonemes of Midwestern American English: 24 consonants

Cf. tin, thin, thing, this, thick, tick, sick: 3 sounds in each

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 35 / 47 th is a digraph: two letters used to represent one sound Old English had letters for these: þ (‘thorn’) and ð (‘eth’): ðis vs. þin

Phonemes of Midwestern American English: 24 consonants

Cf. tin, thin, thing, this, thick, tick, sick: 3 sounds in each breath, breathe, meth, seethe, bath, bathe

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 35 / 47 Old English had letters for these: þ (‘thorn’) and ð (‘eth’): ðis vs. þin

Phonemes of Midwestern American English: 24 consonants

Cf. tin, thin, thing, this, thick, tick, sick: 3 sounds in each breath, breathe, meth, seethe, bath, bathe th is a digraph: two letters used to represent one sound

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 35 / 47 Phonemes of Midwestern American English: 24 consonants

Cf. tin, thin, thing, this, thick, tick, sick: 3 sounds in each breath, breathe, meth, seethe, bath, bathe th is a digraph: two letters used to represent one sound Old English had letters for these: þ (‘thorn’) and ð (‘eth’): ðis vs. þin

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 35 / 47 Phonemes of Midwestern American English: 15 vowels and diphthongs

beat, bit, bet, bat, boot, put, but, bought, (ro)bot, a(bout)

bait, bite, bout, Boyd, boat

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 36 / 47 o as in women ti as in nation = ﬁsh!

How do you pronounce ghoti?

gh as in enough

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 37 / 47 ti as in nation = ﬁsh!

How do you pronounce ghoti?

gh as in enough o as in women

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 37 / 47 = ﬁsh!

How do you pronounce ghoti?

gh as in enough o as in women ti as in nation

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 37 / 47 How do you pronounce ghoti?

gh as in enough o as in women ti as in nation = ﬁsh!

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 37 / 47 1 Fewer than 10% of words are abbreviated in texts 2 Abbreviations have always been with us 3 To abbreviate presupposes some spelling 4 Texting is supplementing, not supplanting, speech; it is not replacing any equivalent form of written communication 5 Autocomplete is already ending abbreviations

Txting: The Gr8 Db8, lol

Is texting destroying the English language?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 38 / 47 2 Abbreviations have always been with us 3 To abbreviate presupposes some spelling 4 Texting is supplementing, not supplanting, speech; it is not replacing any equivalent form of written communication 5 Autocomplete is already ending abbreviations

Txting: The Gr8 Db8, lol

Is texting destroying the English language?

1 Fewer than 10% of words are abbreviated in texts

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 38 / 47 3 To abbreviate presupposes some spelling 4 Texting is supplementing, not supplanting, speech; it is not replacing any equivalent form of written communication 5 Autocomplete is already ending abbreviations

Txting: The Gr8 Db8, lol

Is texting destroying the English language?

1 Fewer than 10% of words are abbreviated in texts 2 Abbreviations have always been with us

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 38 / 47 4 Texting is supplementing, not supplanting, speech; it is not replacing any equivalent form of written communication 5 Autocomplete is already ending abbreviations

Txting: The Gr8 Db8, lol

Is texting destroying the English language?

1 Fewer than 10% of words are abbreviated in texts 2 Abbreviations have always been with us 3 To abbreviate presupposes some spelling

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 38 / 47 5 Autocomplete is already ending abbreviations

Txting: The Gr8 Db8, lol

Is texting destroying the English language?

1 Fewer than 10% of words are abbreviated in texts 2 Abbreviations have always been with us 3 To abbreviate presupposes some spelling 4 Texting is supplementing, not supplanting, speech; it is not replacing any equivalent form of written communication

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 38 / 47 Txting: The Gr8 Db8, lol

Is texting destroying the English language?

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 38 / 47 Comparing orthographies

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 39 / 47 Comparing orthographies

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 40 / 47 Comparing orthographies

‘Whole word’ reading strategies are inferior to phonemic training

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 41 / 47 Comparing orthographies

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 42 / 47 Comparing orthographies

Jason Merchant (U Chicago) Writing systems 43 / 47 2 Coinneochaidh mé ‘I WILL keep.’ 3 ach tiocfaidh sé ‘but he WILL come’

Writing