EAN: 9780195079937

THE WORLDS WRITING SYSTEMS - PETER T DANIELS WI...

Written language is the most neglected aspect of linguistic study  as the majority of research
focuses on historical and theoretical aspects of spoken language. Even studies devoted to
writing systems generally place little emphasis on the scripts themselves  limiting coverage to
the external history of writing systems. The World's Writing Systems is the only available work
to explore in depth how scripts are applied to individual languages. Beginning with the ancient
Near East and the earliest known scripts  this unique reference documents the history and
typology of writing to the present day  covering scores of scripts from around the world - both
those currently in use and those now defunct. In more than eighty articles  it explains and
documents in accessible terms how writing systems work - how Egyptian hieroglyphs  Chinese
characters  and European alphabets convey meaning in graphic form. Sections devoted to the
scripts of the ancient Near East  East Asia  Europe  South Asia  Southeast Asia  and the Middle
East are introduced with discussion of the social and cultural contexts in which each group of
writing systems was developed. Articles on individual scripts within these sections provide a
wealth of background information  along with helpful visuals for each writing system: the
historical origin of the writing system is detailed  its structure is delineated with tables
showing the forms of the written symbols  and its relationship to the phonology of the
corresponding spoken language is thoroughly explored. Every major writing system is presented
in a passage of text  accompanied by a romanized version  a phonetic transcription  and an
English translation. A bibliographyconcludes each entry.

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