Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction

✍ Scribed by Robinson, Andrew

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 177
• Series: Very short introductions
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Without writing, there would be no records, no history, no books, and no emails. Writing is an integral and essential part of our lives; but when did it start? Why do we all write differently and how did writing develop into what we use today?All of these questions are answered in this Very Short Introduction. Starting with the origins of writing five thousand years ago, with cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, Andrew Robinson explains how these early forms of writing developed into hundreds of scripts including the Roman alphabet and the Chinese characters. He reveals how the modern writing s. Read more...

Abstract: Without writing, there would be no records, no history, no books, and no emails. Writing is an integral and essential part of our lives; but when did it start? Why do we all write differently and how did writing develop into what we use today?All of these questions are answered in this Very Short Introduction. Starting with the origins of writing five thousand years ago, with cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, Andrew Robinson explains how these early forms of writing developed into hundreds of scripts including the Roman alphabet and the Chinese characters. He reveals how the modern writing s

✦ Table of Contents

Content: Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
1 Writing and its emergence
2 Development and diffusion of writing
3 Disappearance of scripts
4 Decipherment and undeciphered scripts
5 How writing systems work
6 Alphabets
7 Chinese and Japanese writing
8 Scribes and materials
9 Writing goes electronic
Chronology
Further reading
Index.

✦ Subjects

Writing -- History. Symbolism in communication -- History. LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Literacy. Symbolism in communication. Writing.