Acknowledgments
A Note on Dates
1. Introduction
Importance Of Writing
Definition Of Writing
Aspects Of Writing
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
2. Theoretical Preliminaries
Graphemes And Allographs
Arrangement Of Symbols
Relationship To Language
Diglossia
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
3. Chinese
Background, History, And Sociolinguistics
Phonology Of Modern Standard Chinese
Relationship Of Language And Writing In Chinese
Origin And Structure Of Chinese Characters
Internal Structure Of Chinese Characters
How Many Characters Does Chinese Have?
Recent Reforms
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
4. Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese
Further Reading
TermsExercises
5. Cuneiform
Background And History
Tokens And The Invention Of Writing
Materials Of Writing
Social Context Of Cuneiform Writing
An Early Sumerian Tablet From Uruk
Internal Structure Of Cuneiform
Example Text
Other Cuneiform Writing
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
6. Egyptian
Language Family
Background And History
Phonology Of Old Egyptian
Origin Of Egyptian Writing
Styles Of Writing
Social Context Of Writing
Internal Structure Of Egyptian Writing
Example Text
Decipherment
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
7. Semitic
Semitic Language Family
Origin Of The Semitic Abjad
Development Of The Semitic Abjad
Hebrew
Arabic
The Ethiopic Abugida
The Distinctiveness Of Abjads
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
8. The Greek Alphabet
Background And History
Greek Scripts Before The Alphabet
Development Of The Greek Alphabet
Abjad To Alphabet
The Relationship Of Language And Writing In Greek
Scripts Derived From The Greek Alphabet
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
9. The Roman Alphabet
From Greece To Italy
Etruscan
Latin
The Roman Alphabet
Examples Of Roman Writing
Later History Of The Roman Alphabet
Orthographic Depth: Two Examples
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
10. English
Background And History
Old English
Middle English
Modern English
Spelling And Sound Changes
Spelling Reform
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
11. The Indian Abugida And Other Asian Phonographic Writing
Background And History
Indus Valley Writing
Brahmi And Kharosthi
Devanagari As Applied To Sanskrit
Southeast Asian Writing
The Tibetan Abugida
The 'Phags-Pa Script
The Mongolian And Manchu Alphabets
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
12. Maya
History And Background
Structure Of The Maya Writing System
The Maya Calendar
Example Text
Further Reading
Terms
Exercise
13. Other Writing Systems
Cherokee
Cree
Inuktitut
Runic
Ogham
Pahawh Hmong
Bliss
Further Reading
Terms
Exercises
14. Classification Of Writing Systems
Phonetic, Semantic, And Glottographic Writing
Glottographic Writing
Gelb's Unilinear Theory Of Development
Syllabic Vs. Moraic
Korean Hankul As A Featural System
Conclusion
Further Reading
Terms
Appendix A: Some Basic Linguistic Notions
Appendix B: The International Phonetic Alphabet
Appendix C. English Transcription
Appendix D: Glossary
Bibliography
Index
