Writing Systems

1 The firstthing to point out about writing systems is that they are not universal, unlike a lot of the things we are talking about.

Writing is a technology, something discovered by some groups of people but not others. There's no similar variation in 'language' per se; we don't findgroups of people who don't have language, but there are plenty of groups of people without writing (or numbers, to pick another example).

Once somebody discovers writing, of course, the idea tends to spread quickly ...

2 Writing systems are partly shaped by the media that they're typically used with ... : found mainly in , maybe starting around the firstcentury AD.

Designed for etching on stones.

t- B , - * EA t=L To+A

3 Writing systems are partly shaped by the media that they're typically used with ...

This image is in the public domain.

Futhark: old North Germanic writing system, dating back to 2nd century AD: again, mostly scratched on stone, wood, metal. 4 Writing systems are partly shaped by the media that they're typically used with ...

Cuneiform: made with reed tip on clay: starting 30 centuries BC.

This image is in the public domain.

5 Writing systems are often classified by the amount of information included in each symbol: • Logographic: each symbol approximates a 'word' • : each symbol approximates a 'syllable' • : (not unlike a syllabary... ) • : each symbol approximates a ''

6 Logographic

7 Logographic: ...and .

1!J 'horse'

V tx. nil 'woman'

8 Logographic: ...and Chinese characters.

},!J ma 'horse'

V fr. nil 'woman'

�),Q ma 'mother' ('character referring to a woman, which sounds sort of like "horse"')

9 Logographic:

Don't exactly refer to 'words'...

� xuan 'choose'

-¥ shou 'hand'

10 Logographic:

Don't exactly refer to 'words'...

� xuan 'choose'

-¥ shou 'hand'

�----r"�+ xuanshou 'athlete, player on an athletic team'

11 Logographic: one advantage: they're very useful for distinguishing homonyms! shi shi shI shi sh1 shi, shi shI, shi shi shi sh1.

12 Logographic: one advantage: they're very usefulfor distinguishing homonyms! shi shi shI shi sh1 shi, shi shI, shi shi shi sh1. 'A poet named Shi lived in a stone house and liked to eat lion flesh, and he vowed to eat ten of them' shi shi sh1 shi shI shi shi shI shi shi shi sh1 � * i� ± 1itl! �' � 3�f' � 1t + 3�f 0 stone room poet Shi give name like lion vow eat ten lion

13 each symbol stands for a 'syllable', typically a CV sequence.

Linear B Cherokee Japanese ma M lf,- * ma. me f ot � me . mz V H Jr m1 mo �, � mo mu tr � mu

14 Syllabaries

Common for logographic systems to be supplemented by syllabaries:

� xuan 'choose' [Mandarin]

"� ('""" �� era.bu 'choose, will choose' [Japanese] �rv,�"� ) +�" era.nda 'chose' "�1-� �v� f_iv' era.banai 'won't choose'

15 Syllabaries

Common for logographic systems to be supplemented by syllabaries:

'\� � xuan 'choose' [Mandarin] �----r"�+ xuanshou 'athlete'

'\� ("'"" �� era.bu 'choose, will choose' [Japanese] �rv,�'\� ) +�" era.nda 'chose' "�1-� �v� f_iv' era.banai 'won't choose'

16 Syllabaries

Common for logographic systems to be supplemented by syllabaries:

'\� � xuan 'choose' [Mandarin] �----r"�+ xuanshou 'athlete'

'\� ("'"" �� era.bu 'choose, will choose' [Japanese] �rv,�'\� ) +�" era.nda 'chose' "�1-� �v� f_iv' era.banai 'won't choose' �----r"�+ senshu 'athlete'

17 Syllabaries

Japanese hayai 'early, fast' ...

18 Syllabaries

1P zao 'early'

Jfil sll 'fast'

19 Syllabaries

1P zao 'early'

Jfil sll 'fast'

lpV '\ haya.i 'early' ( 1P� souchou 'early morning')

JfilV '\ haya.i 'fast' (Jfillt sokudo 'speed')

20 Abugida

Sort of like a cross between a syllabary and an alphabet ...

Tibetan Tagalog C'-... � 1� I I !_J. q· !_J � �· a . q· ' - pl pu pe po bi be � - er m- fa- ff ff ·bu t C t T tu tu bo 0 ff� ff filfil L I _J c � � t r ti ti lO tau Tagalog © source unknown. This content is excluded fromour Creative Commons license. Tibetan and Devanagari scripts © source unknown. This content is excluded from our Creative For more information, see Commons license. For more information, see https://ocw .mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/. https://ocw .mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/.

21 Cree syllabics table courtesy of http://www.creedictionary.com/syllabics/maskwacis.php. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information,see https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/. Abugida II . a i 0 h w Cree syllabics < V A > I I 0 ow pa pe pi po p ( developed by C u n J t I I James Evans in ,_ ta te ti to t b q p d I the 1830's, \ ki I originally for ,_ ke ko k Ojibwe; now 'l r J used in Cree, ;e chi cho I ch i J I Inuktitut) t r t ma I me I mi mo m ) Q_ I -0 CT ..D t na ne ni no � \, I � + � sa se Si so I s + 7 � � � I

I ye I yi yo I y

22 Symbols represent (more or less) .

Roman all people

Cyrillic Bee JIIO,IJJ1: vse ljudi

Mkhreduli 83DQ0 0�080060 qvela adamiani

Hebrew "J:l ,:, ynb lk ➔ kol benei '"m d 0i g a 0

-� Hangeul 2 § £!:z._1-g =�=�------�> ; eu n n eu modeun ingan-eun ; n n

23 Direction of writing left-to-right? right-to-left? top-to-bottom?

boustrophedon?

Image courtesy of PRA on Wikipedia. License: CC BY-SA. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/.

24 Whatinformation is represented?

• regular phonology?

stop /ti top /th / It'! caterpillar / r/

25 Whatinformation is represented?

• regular phonology?

stop /ti top /th/ Latin It'! caterpillar / r/

German Hand /ti 'hand' Hande /di 'hands'

Turkish tat /ti 'taste' tadt /di 'his/her taste'

26 What information is represented?

• regular phonology? • ?

: Hebrew "J:l ,:, ynb lk ➔ kol benei 'all people'

27 Whatinformation is represented?

• regular phonology? • vowels? • ends of syllables?

Linear B . . a�VY� mt n1 so ➔ Amnisos (place name)

28 Whatinformation is represented?

• regular phonology? • vowels? • ends of syllables? • tone? Tibetan �1 � h h pa p a p a

29 Whatinformation is represented?

• regular phonology? • vowels? • ends of syllables? • tone?

Tibetan �1 � � pa pah, pah, °'

30 Whatinformation is represented?

• regular phonology? • vowels? • ends of syllables? • tone?

Tibetan �1 � � pa pah, pah,

...... � I ('bla', 'gla') °'� � la la la

31 What information is represented?

• regular phonology? • vowels? • ends of syllables? • tone?

Hmong (Romanized Popular Alphabet)

, po pob (High) po (Mid) ' po po pos (Low) po" • (High Falling) V pOJ po pov (Mid Rising) (Creaky) PQ porn (Low Falling Breathy) PQ pog

32 Whatinformation is represented?

• regular phonology? • vowels? • ends of syllables? • tone? • syllable boundaries, word boundaries, sentence boundaries...

Tibetan

bod skad Tibet language 'Tibetan'

33 Writings ystems are often conservative...

Tibetan �

bod skad /ph57 kr7/ Tibet language 'Tibetan'

34 Writings ystems are often conservative...

Tibetan �

bod skad /ph57 kr7/ Tibet language 'Tibetan'

English knight(< OE cniht 'boy') ...

35 Writing systems are often conservative ...

but on the bright side:

photograph

photography

36 Writing systems are often conservative ...

but on the bright side:

photograph foragrref

photography fathagrafi

37 Writing systems are often conservative ...

but on the bright side:

photograph f oragrref (British fotagraf)

photography fathagrafi

38 MIT OpenCourseWare https://ocw.mit.edu/

24.917 Conlangs: How to Construct a Language Fall 201 a

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