International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, Vol. 7, No. 2, June 2021 Making History Possible: Logograph in China and Hieroglyph in Central America Yi Chen of the ensuing generations benefited greatly from the legacy Abstract—In the following paper, I will compare and contrast recorded by writing from prior generations as it directed the development of script in two different writing systems: the human society to further progress. Writing has also fostered a Mayan and the Chinese. This paper will demonstrate how each just society in which written information may be printed, system employed writing to map language into a durable published, and distributed [1]. With this power, writing can technology for communication. By doing so, I will provide the general information that introduces readers to the origin, also be a double-edged sword because it both controls the purpose, and function of the two writing systems. Through manipulation of information, but also has the potential of analysis of the development of Mayan and Chinese writing producing lies and misleading truths if it is misconstrued. systems, the paper also shows that significant aspects of culture Therefore, it becomes crucial to understand how were preserved and transmitted by written materials as they contemporary writings developed from the past and the contribute to the continuation of the two civilizations. This relationship between writing and culture in the past human approach also has the benefit of emphasizing the strong relationship between culture and writing. Studying the origins, history in order to unravel certain cultural issues. development, and use of writing in these two cultures mitigates against the tendency to devalue certain cultures. A study of both Chinese and Mayan writing is especially important since both II. EARLY CHINESE WRITING cultures developed scripts that did not borrow from the writing systems of other civilizations. Writing has been invented at least four times in the world, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and Mesoamerica. In Index Terms—Writing system, logograph, hieroglyph. what follows, I focus upon the origins and development of two of such writing systems in order to gain a better understanding of the function that writing held in both China I. INTRODUCTION: THE ORIGINS OF WRITING and Mayan cultures. From these pristine writing prototypes, Human beings have distinguished themselves from other writing systems shaped their models from borrowing animals not only through the use of language but also through and exposing to the early literate cultures. This process also the invention of writing. Writing was first invented over five encouraged the assimilation of culture into today‘s diverse thousand years ago in the region of Sumer in the ancient Near cultural groups with various writing systems. East. As an important cultural and technological Our earliest evidence for Chinese writing has been found accomplishment, the invention of writing allowed humans to as early as 1600 BC on what scholars call ―oracle bones‖ [2] externalize their thoughts so that they could reflect upon Oracle bones are animal bones or turtles‘ plastrons dating them from both spatial and temporal distances [1]. This from the Shang Dynasty of China (1600 – 1046 B.C.) that technology also formed a system of nonverbal were used for divinatory purposes [3]. For the purpose of communication that contributed to the development of a divination, a fortune-teller was responsible for carving variety of human achievements. Speaking was certainly symbols on the surface of the animal bones or turtle shell. essential for many human activities, but writing also exerted Respected for their special connection to spirits world of the a profound influence because it gave humans the ability to ancestors, the fortune-tellers were consulted each time a record and store information, stories, and ultimately history decision needed to be made. People would visit [1]. As a result, writing became such an efficient and valuable fortune-tellers‘ shops for consult the same way as people technology that some of its signs were eventually understood check their horoscopes on the internet in the modern day. But universally. the popularity of the fortune-telling divination was deeply Aside from being a major cultural achievement, writing rooted during the Shang Dynasty because people strongly also had a practical purpose because gave humans the ability believed that their ancestors had the power to influence the to supplement and expand their memories [1]. With written living as well as future events. In the royal courts, divination texts and records, history could be left for subsequent was carried out by trusted fortune-tellers or the king and the generations and removed from the original moment of royal family themselves [2]. The actual ritual of divination writing [1]. In addition, since writing allowed humans to and the use of writing occurred in several stages. First, the store and pass on information, the technology contributed to fortune-tellers would apply fire to the oracle bone until it the development of more complex societies. And the process cracked. Then, they would interpret the direction of the cracks to communicate with the ancestors. The answer would Manuscript received October 10, 2020; revised December 24, 2020. be interpreted to be auspicious if the cracks matched the Yi Chen is with the Vanke Meisha Academy, China (e-mail: pattern of the symbols that were inscribed or written before [email protected]). doi: 10.18178/ijlll.2021.7.2.290 73 International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, Vol. 7, No. 2, June 2021 fire was applied to the material. If the cracks did not match Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which was made up of two distinct the written symbol that had been inscribed this would be periods: The Spring and Autumn Period (771 to 476 B.C.) interpreted as an inauspicious oracle [2]. In this way, by and the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.). The entire performing a simple ritual the fortune-teller was able to Eastern Zhou dynasty was fueled with political turmoil and provide interpretations of the future. And based on the disunity among the rulers. During the Spring and Autumn different subjects of divine inquiry, the fortune-tellers Period, the royal authority gradually lost its ruling power and developed various symbols to indicate different situations. over 140 vassal states emerged in the wake of the loss of The oracle bones attest to a wide range of divine inquiry, political centralization. Conflicts between the states resulted including predicting weather, curing illness, communicating in significant political turbulence. At the beginning of the with the ancestors, and seeking fortune in war or hunting. For Warring States Period, seven of the states came to dominate example, a rubbing of an oracle bone from the reign of Wu and declared independence from the ruling of the Zhou royal Ding was used to predict the pregnancy of the King‘s consort, court. Besides incessant warfare, both the Spring and Wife Hao. [4] The prognostication reads: ―The King, reading Autumn Period and the Warring States Period saw the rise of the cracks, said: ‗If it be a ‗ding‘ day childbearing, it will be many great philosophers such as Confucius and Laozti as good. If it be ‗geng‘ day childbearing, it will be extremely well as political and cultural reforms in each of the individual auspicious.‘‖ And the verification says: ―‗The birthing was contending states. Thus, the Great Seal script was created by not a happy event. It was a girl‘‖ [3]. Gradually, the symbols writers from various historical backgrounds and spoke written on the back of the oracle bones gave birth to the later different dialects [3]. The development of regional script recognizable Chinese scripts. forms diverged among the seven contending states and the The first oracle bones were found in Anyang, near Yinxu, practices in written language remained in disarray until the the ancient capital of the late Shang Dynasty, located in Qin Dynasty. present-day Henan Province [3]. Shang Dynasty oracle bones Eventually the Qin state was victorious since it conquered include complete inscriptions, providing key information the other six contending states, leading to the establishment about how the script developed initially and the different of the Qin Dynasty (211-207 B.C.). Following the conquest topics that were involved in divine rituals during the Shang and unification of the empire, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty. Since many oracle bones were excavated, the vast Dynasty unified the written script to a more simplified and majority of the bones are records of the divination of the standardized form called the Small Seal Script [5]. royal figures of the late Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty. A Abandoning the irregularities in the previous script styles, the few also date back to earlier times in the dynasty or the Small Seal Script is characterized by balanced and beginning of the subsequent Zhou Dynasty. well-spaced strokes for a broader and easier dissemination of The oracle bones from the Shang Dynasty allow us to gain learning. a window into some of the earliest script styles in Chinese However, the Small Seal Script was hard to be written writing. The early script styles borrowed from the characters efficiently and as a result it declined during the Han Dynasty on the oracle bones, but later Chinese script styles progressed (206 B.C.-220 A.D.). During the Han Dynasty, a script with the rise and fall of several different Chinese dynasties. tradition known as the Clerical Script replaced the Small Seal Following the emergence of the earliest form of Chinese Script. The Clerical Script was significant in transitioning the writing during the Shang Dynasty, bronze inscriptions began Chinese characters to a modern version. Increased curved to appear during the Shang and Zhou (1046 – 256 B.C.) and broken strokes became the characteristic of the Clerical Dynasties [5].