Big Questions: Who Came up with the First Letters? by Louisa Pryke, the Conversation, Adapted by Newsela Staff on 11.18.19 Word Count 791 Level 860L

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Big Questions: Who came up with the first letters? By Louisa Pryke, The Conversation, adapted by Newsela staff on 11.18.19 Word Count 791 Level 860L

Image 1. The Roman alphabet is the type of letters that English speakers use. It has been around since around 700 B.C., although it looks a little different now. Photo from: Pixabay/Gerd Altmann.

Who came up with the first letters? – Chase, age 6, Adelaide, South Australia.

This is a great question, Chase!

We do not know exactly who invented the first letters. The Phoenician alphabet is considered the first known alphabet. Experts think it has its roots in an earlier Old Canaanite tradition, though.

You're probably wondering: who are the Phoenicians? What does Old Canaanite mean? You're right! These are unfamiliar terms to most people today. To explain, let's look a little deeper into human history.

Writing Is A Pretty Recent Invention

Humans began to communicate using speech some 50,000 years ago. Writing has only been a part of the human story for the last 5,000 years.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Writing wasn't just invented once by a single person. Many different ancient societies invented writing at different times and places.

Writing was just a really great idea. It seems it just kept being created by humans living in all different parts of the world.

Writing Was Invented In Different Places

Thousands of years ago, people lived in Mesopotamia, near the modern-day Middle East. They also lived in Egypt, China and Mesoamerica, near what we now call Central America. These different groups all invented their own kind of writing independently.

For example, the ancient Mayans in Mesoamerica had their own written language, which would have looked strange to the Sumerian people who lived in Mesopotamia. They had their own writing style, called cuneiform.

There were also ancient people who lived in the Indus River Valley, near what we now call Pakistan and India, who also developed their own kind of writing. Ancient people in Elam, near what we now call Iran, invented another type of writing.

There is also the Rongorongo script from the people of Easter Island. No one has been able to read it yet. It remains a mystery.

Borrowing And Copying

There was also plenty of copying and borrowing among ancient writers. They came across other writing systems when they traveled and took the ideas back with them.

This is true for the English letters we write with today. We call these letters the Roman alphabet because a long time ago, they were used by the people of ancient Rome, in Italy, to write Latin.

In fact, these Roman letters are still used to write Latin, just like the spells in "Harry Potter."

From Cuneiform To Alphabets

Many early styles of writing involved hundreds of pictures and signs.

In one of the earliest types of writing, called cuneiform, a single sign could be used for a word, or a sound or even give a clue about the type of word to follow. These scripts could be quite difficult to read.

Then came alphabets. An alphabet is a set of letters that stands for the sounds we make when we talk. The different parts of the alphabet can be put together to make different words, just like LEGO pieces that can be clicked together in different ways.

You know our alphabet, of course. Other languages may have their own alphabets, too.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. The Canaanites lived in an area of the ancient world called the Levant, in what we now call the Middle East.

The Old Canaanite script appeared around 3,500 years ago, and the Phoenician alphabet came after.

The art of writing began in places all over the world, but the alphabet is different. It is thought that all known alphabets, including our own, are in some way related to the Phoenician system.

Back To The Phoenicians

The Phoenicians lived near what we now call the Middle East. They invented an alphabet with 22 consonants. It had none of the vowels, which are A, E, I, O and U. Vowels only became part of the alphabet much later.

The Phoenicians were great traders, buying and selling things like wood and honey.

The busy trading of the Phoenicians meant their inventions quickly spread to their trading partners. People soon realized writing was a good way to keep track of what they bought and sold.

As you can see, writing has changed a lot over time. And it is still changing today!

Louisa Pryke is a professor at the University of Sydney in Australia. She has written three books, called "Scorpion," "Ishtar" and "Gilgamesh."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 If this article were organized in chronological order, which section would come FIRST?

(A) Introduction [paragraphs 1-4]

(B) "Writing Is A Pretty Recent Invention"

(D) "From Cuneiform To Alphabets"

2 Read the article's introduction [paragraphs 1-4] and the final section “Back To The Phoenicians."

What is one connection between these two sections?

(A) The introduction explains that the Phoenicians had the earliest known alphabet, while the final section shows how they spread their alphabet.

(B) The introduction explains that the Phoenicians had the earliest known alphabet, while the final section describes the Roman alphabet that is used today.

(C) The introduction describes the writing styles of the Old Canaanite tradition, while the final section explains what the Phoenician writing style looks like.

(D) The introduction describes the writing styles of the Old Canaanite tradition, while the final section explains how it became the Phoenician alphabet.

3 Use the three images and information from the article to select the TRUE statement

(A) The Phoenician alphabet came after the Roman alphabet.

(B) The Phoenician alphabet came before cuneiform did.

(D) The Phoenician alphabet has the vowels A, E, I, O and U.

4 Look at Image 3 and read the selection below from the section ""From Cuneiform To Alphabets."

How does the image support the information in the selection above?

(A) by showing that cuneiform gives hints about the word to follow

(B) by showing that cuneiform signs are used for one word

(D) by showing that cuneiform looks like the Roman alphabet

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.