Writing Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Writing systems == {{main|Writing system}} The major writing systems broadly fall into four categories: [[Logogram|logographic]], [[Syllabary|syllabic]], [[alphabet]]ic, and [[Featural writing system|featural]]. As [[pictogram]]s do not represent a language's sounds, they have been argued not to constitute a writing system.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The World's Writing Systems |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |others=Peter T. Daniels, William Bright |isbn=0-19-507993-0 |location=New York |pages=59 |oclc=31969720}}</ref> ===Logographies=== [[File:Comparative evolution of Cuneiform, Egyptian and Chinese characters.svg|thumb|Comparative evolution from pictograms to abstract shapes, in [[Mesopotamian]] [[cuneiform]]s, [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] [[hieroglyph]]s and [[Chinese characters]]]] A logography (also called a logosyllabary) is written using [[logogram]]s—written characters which represent individual [[word]]s, [[morpheme]]s or certain [[syllable]]s.<ref name=":0" /> For example, in Mayan, the glyph for "fin", pronounced ''ka'', was also used to represent the syllable ''ka'' whenever the pronunciation of a logogram needed to be indicated. Many logograms have an [[Ideogram|ideographic]] component (Chinese "radicals", hieroglyphic "determiners"). In Chinese, about 90% of characters are compounds of a semantic (meaning) element called a ''radical'' with an existing character to indicate the pronunciation, called a ''phonetic''. However, such phonetic elements complement the logographic elements, rather than vice versa.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} The main logographic system in use today is [[Chinese characters]], used with some modification for the various languages or dialects of [[languages of China|China]], [[languages of Japan|Japan]], and sometimes in [[Korean language|Korean]], although in [[South Korea|South]] and [[North Korea]], the phonetic [[Hangul]] system is mainly used. Older logographic systems include [[cuneiform]] and [[Mayan script|Mayan]].{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} ===Syllabaries=== A [[syllabary]] is a set of written symbols that represent [[syllable]]s,<ref name=":0" /> typically a consonant followed by a vowel, or just a vowel alone. In some scripts more complex syllables (such as consonant-vowel-consonant, or consonant-consonant-vowel) may have dedicated glyphs. Phonetically similar syllables are not written similarly.<ref name=":0" /> For instance, the syllable "ka" may look nothing like the syllable "ki", nor will syllables with the same vowels be similar.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} Syllabaries are best suited to languages with a relatively simple syllable structure, such as Japanese. Other languages that use syllabic writing include the [[Linear B]] script for [[Mycenaean Greek]]; [[Cherokee syllabary|Cherokee]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cushman|first=Ellen|date=2011|title=The Cherokee Syllabary: A Writing System in its Own Right|journal=Written Communication|volume=28|issue=3|pages=255–281|doi=10.1177/0741088311410172|s2cid=144180867}}</ref> [[Ndyuka language|Ndjuka]], an English-based [[creole language]] of [[Suriname]]; and the [[Vai language|Vai]] script of [[Liberia]]. ===Alphabets=== {{See also|History of the alphabet}}An [[alphabet]] is a set of written symbols that represent [[consonant]]s and [[vowel]]s.<ref name=":0" /> In a perfectly [[phonology|phonological]] alphabet, the letters would correspond perfectly to the language's [[phoneme]]s. Thus, a writer could predict the spelling of a word given its pronunciation, and a speaker could predict the pronunciation of a word given its spelling. However, as languages often evolve independently of their writing systems, and writing systems have been borrowed for languages they were not designed for, the degree to which letters of an alphabet correspond to phonemes of a language varies greatly from one language to another and even within a single language.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} Sometimes the term "alphabet" is restricted to systems with separate letters for consonants and vowels, such as the [[Latin alphabet]], although abugidas and abjads may also be accepted as alphabets. Because of this use, [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] is often considered to be the first alphabet.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} ====Abjads==== In most of the alphabets of the Middle East, it is usually only the consonants of a word that are written, although vowels may be indicated by the addition of various diacritical marks. Writing systems based primarily on writing just consonants phonemes date back to the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. Such systems are called ''[[abjad]]s'', derived from the Arabic word for "alphabet", or ''consonantaries''.<ref name=":0" /> ====Abugidas==== In most of the alphabets of India and [[Southeast Asia]], vowels are indicated through diacritics or modification of the shape of the consonant. These are called ''[[abugida]]s''.<ref name=":0" /> Some abugidas, such as [[Geʽez script|Ethiopic]] and [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics|Cree]], are learned by children as syllabaries, and so are often called "syllabics". However, unlike true syllabaries, there is not an independent glyph for each syllable.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} ===Featural scripts=== A [[Featural writing system|featural script]] represents the features of the phonemes of the language in consistent ways. An example of such a system is Korean [[hangul]].<ref name=":0" /> For instance, all [[Labial consonant|labial]] sounds (pronounced with the lips) may have some element in common. In the Latin alphabet, this is accidentally the case with the letters "b" and "p"; however, labial "m" is completely dissimilar, and the similar-looking "q" and "d" are not labial. In Korean [[hangul]], however, all four labial consonants are based on the same basic element, but in practice, Korean is learned by children as an ordinary alphabet, and the featural elements tend to pass unnoticed.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} Another featural script is [[SignWriting]], the most popular writing system for many [[sign languages]], where the shapes and movements of the hands and face are represented [[secular icon|iconically]]. Featural scripts are also common in fictional or invented systems, such as [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s [[Tengwar]].{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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