Writing Systems: Crash Course Linguistics #16

Summary

In the final episode of Crash Course Linguistics, Taylor explores the development of writing systems, highlighting their diversity and how they've evolved. From the invention of the alphabet to logographic and syllabic systems, the video delves into the factors influencing writing, such as language structure, writing tools, and cultural power dynamics. The episode also touches on the unique challenges and nuances of various writing systems, emphasizing the ongoing evolution of language representation in the digital age.

Takeaways

• 🌐 All human societies have language, which can be spoken, signed, or both, but not all languages have a standardized written form.
• 📜 Writing systems, or orthographies, are influenced by the structure of languages, the tools used, and the power dynamics of a society.
• 🔤 A writing system consists of symbols (graphemes) and what they represent, which can be phonemes, syllables, or words.
• 🔠 Alphabets represent individual sounds or phonemes, with the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek alphabets being examples.
• 🔄 Complications in alphabets arise from factors like accent marks, language evolution, borrowed words, and pronunciation variations.
• 📘 Abjads are a type of alphabet where primarily consonants have symbols, and vowels may be omitted, common in Semitic languages.
• 📛 Syllabaries represent syllables with each grapheme, such as in the Nāgarī script used in India.
• 📝 Logographic writing systems use symbols to represent whole words or morphemes, like in Chinese, where characters stand for words or syllables.
• 🌟 Japanese uses a combination of logographic (kanji) and syllabic (kana) writing systems for different linguistic functions.
• ✍️ The development of writing systems is also influenced by the tools available, from carving into stone to using brushes and ink.
• 🌱 Writing was invented independently only three times in human history, with the Sumerian cuneiform, Chinese Oracle Bone Script, and Mesoamerican Olmec glyphs being the earliest known systems.

Q & A

What are the three main levels of linguistic information that graphemes can represent?

Graphemes can represent individual sounds (phonemes), syllables, or words.

What is the term for a writing system where each grapheme represents a phoneme?

A writing system where each grapheme represents a phoneme is known as an alphabet.

Which writing system is used for many languages in Western Europe and influenced by European colonization?

The Latin alphabet is used for many languages in Western Europe and for languages that were influenced by European colonization.

Why do some alphabets get more complicated than having exactly one symbol per sound?

Alphabets can get more complicated due to factors like the use of accent marks, resistance to change in writing conventions, borrowing words with different spelling conventions, and variations in pronunciation.

What is the term for a writing system where primarily consonants get their own symbols and vowels can be left unwritten?

An abjad is a writing system where primarily consonants get their own symbols and vowels can be left unwritten.

How does a syllabary differ from an alphabet?

In a syllabary, each grapheme represents a syllable, such as 'ga' or 'va', rather than individual sounds like in an alphabet.

What is the term for a writing system where each grapheme represents a whole word or morpheme?

A writing system where each grapheme represents a whole word or morpheme is called logographic writing.

How does the Chinese writing system exemplify logographic writing?

The Chinese writing system is considered logographic because each character represents a word or a syllable of a multisyllable word and cannot be broken down into smaller parts.

What factors influenced the development of writing systems?

The development of writing systems was influenced by the structure of the languages, the tools used to produce them, and the power dynamics in a given place and time.

How many times has writing been invented independently in human history according to the script?

According to the script, writing was invented independently three times in human history.

What is an example of a writing system that was created from scratch without directly borrowing from others?

The Cherokee syllabary created by Sequoyah in the early 1800s is an example of a writing system that was created from scratch without directly borrowing from others.