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Series 11 Mark Twain, American author and humourist The Chinese language mostly uses pictographic characters known as han characters (hanja in Korean). The symbols are also called logograms or sinographs. It is the world’s oldest continuously used system of writing. Some Chinese characters can also express the syllables of proper names or foreign words. Chinese script dates back at least 4500 years. The characters are stylised pictures of physical objects. These pictographs possess characteristics of a script. Chinese script gradually evolved from hieroglyphics (pictographs) into square characters. Some were simplified by losing certain strokes while others were made more complicated. What is an alphabet? English alphabet The English language uses 26 letters known as the Roman alphabet, where each letter represents particular sounds. The sounds combine to form syllables and words. But Romans did not invent the English alphabet. They improved on a writing system already thousands of years old. The Roman alphabet is used for many modern languages across the world. Syllabic The next alphabet stage was a syllabic system, as used by Phoenecians around modernday Lebanon, where a particular sign could be used for any phonetic combination that sounded like that word. In syllabic writing, most signs are used for phonetic sounds that represent syllables rather than a distinct letter. Phonetic signs are called syllabograms. Some languages, including Khmer, Bangali, Balinese and Sudanese still use syllabic writing. History of ABC Phoenician Name in Phoenician Aleph Ox Beth, Bait The Cyrillic alphabet In the 800s, Saints Cyril and Methodius, two brothers, invented the Glagolithic alphabet while serving as missionaries in what is now modernday Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia. They introduced their alphabet, based on Greek and a Slavic language called Macedo-Bulgarian, as they converted Slavs to Christianity. In about 900, the Glagolithic alphabet was modified as the Cyrillic alphabet, named for Cyril, the more literary of the brothers. Meaning Gimel Daleth, Dal People’s earliest communication was through speech and gestures. History, education and messages were delivered orally. The oldest writings found so far are inscriptions on clay tablets made by Sumerians, who lived in about 3100BC in what is now Syria and Iraq. Door Waw Hook Zayin Sword Tet Yodh, Yad Kaph Lamedh, Lam Mem, Mai b Sumerian cuneiform m god small, weak, bad Cuneiform began as pictographs, with pictorial representations becoming simplified and more abstract. The number of characters used fell from about 1000 in the Early B ronze Age (3300BC) to about 400 in the Late Bronze Age (1200BC). sun, time (ra) abstract idea plural motion Egyptian writing It is believed Egyptians in the Nile River valley developed writing about 100 to 200 years after the Sumerians. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing (pictured) dates to 3000BC, and used about 500 symbols or signs that stood for full words or syllables. One sign could represent a whole word or signs could be linked to each sound. The word “good’’ could be written with a single symbol. There were no signs for vowels. For free teacher resources visit thetelegraph.com.au/classmate Samekh Ayin Pe Tsade Qoph Resh, Ras Sin or Shin Taw, Tah Hand Hand Goad Water Snake Fish Eye Mouth Grasshopper Monkey Head Tooth or Papyru s clump Mark Modern English capitals A B C,G D E F Z H Throwing stick He Nun a Early monumental latin House Heth, Hait Origins of writing Early Greek I,J K L M N X O P Q R S T Logography In logography scripts such as Sumerian, people exchanged thoughts and ideas through signs that stood for certain words. So instead of drawing a basket of fruit, people could draw one sign for the basket and another for fruit. Greek writing People on the Cyprus islands, near Turkey, developed a writing style that used 56 signs. Greeks traded with Phoenicians and Cypriots. It is suggested Greeks incorporated some features of Cypriot script, such as consonant sequences, into the Greek alphabet invented in about 800BC. But Phoenician writing had a stronger influence. Its symbols were modified to form the 24-letter Greek alphabet. The Phoenician alphabet included more consonants than Greeks used, so the Greeks introduced more vowels. The Greek alphabet could be used to spell out any word. Many Phoenician names and their signs were adopted for the Greek alphabet. For example, the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, called aleph, became alpha; the second, beth became beta and so on. Etruscan alphabet Inscriptions written by Etruscans, who lived in the Tuscany area of Italy, date from about 650BC. Most Etruscan inscriptions are written in horizontal lines from right to left. The Etruscan alphabet was based on the Greek alphabet. More than 10,000 Etruscan inscriptions have been found on tombstones, vases, statues, mirrors and jewellery. Etruscan civilisation was assimilated into the Roman Republic in 100BC. Roman alphabet The Roman empire followed the Greeks. Romans developed their own alphabet of 20 letters, based on the Greek and Etruscan alphabets. For hundreds of years it used only capital letters. By 114AD, the Roman alphabet was perfected, with sculptors using a beautiful lettering style on memorials. The Roman Empire spread the alphabet across Europe. The letters J, W, Z, and U were not part of the original Latin alphabet, but were added during the middle ages. Phoenician script Roman inscriptions The Phoenicians were maritime traders who sailed across the Mediterranean from 1550BC to 300BC. Developed in about 1000BC, Phoenician writing used 22 signs. These signs only represented consonants in syllables and not vowels. Early Phoenician writing mixed existing pictographic forms and invented geometric signs. Arabic and Hebrew as well as Sanskrit and most other Indian scripts developed from the Phoenician system. Roman stonecutters carved beautiful letters which were rounded, squared, simplified and polished (pictured). They introduced thick-and-thin strokes still used today and added serifs at the tops and bottoms of many letters. Serifs were added because carvers found it difficult to end wide strokes without ugly blunt lines. And if their chisel slipped while squaring off an end, they could not erase the mistake. Serifs also added strength and grace to Roman lettering. Japanese script Japanese (kanji script) is largely copied from Chinese. It differs because Japanese characters can represent either syllables or words. This mean a logogram sign may represent a word or part of a word. A h Chinese writing 10t S pelling is an interesting thing when you think about it. Humans are the only species that use complex language composed of written alphabets. Those systems of letters owe their origin to ancient people who once wrote using pictures. There are many different alphabets around the world but they can all be traced back to relatively few sources. SS M A T E thetelegraph.com.au/classmate Alphabets are written letters or characters that represent sounds in language. The symbols of an alphabet are essential to be able to write a language. The word derives from alpha and beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet. Almost 5000 years ago the original picture for the letter aleph (now alpha) was the head of an ox. All written scripts in the world derive from three sources, the picture writing of ancient Sumerians and Egyptians or pictophonetic symbols used in China for more than 3000 years. A L C The heart of our trouble is with our foolish alphabet. It doesn’t know how to spell, and can’t be taught RY 15 NN A w IVER S Have fun with spelling Think you are a good speller? How do you rate against your friends? The Daily Telegraph Spelling Bee 2011 is a fun new way for students of all ages and abilities to test their skills and build their vocabulary. Open to primary and secondary-school students, the online program has sample games, player vs player games and games for spellers of different abilities ranging from easy to hard. There are also pages for teachers and parents and sample spelling challenges. Players will be eligible for weekly prizes and the chance to compete in a live final. Log on to thetelegraph.com.au/spellingbee now to find out how your school can sign up to participate. It’s as easy as A, B, C. Braille Thai writing Thai people migrated into the IndoChinese peninsula from China in about 400BC. While Thais originally used a Chinese-based script, in 1283AD King Ramkhamhaeng invented the Sukhothai Script, which became the earliest Thai writing. It was based on a form of an ancient Brahmi script of South India called Grantha. Indian writing The Brahmi alphabet is the ancestor of most of the 40 or so modern Indian alphabets, as well as Khmer and Tibetan alphabets. It is thought to have come from Aramaic or Phoenician alphabets, which reached India before 500BC. Another theory suggests Brahmi developed from the Indus or Harappa script used in the Indus valley, now southern Pakistan, until about 2000BC. The earliest known Brahmi inscriptions date from about 270BC to 232BC. Brahmi was used to write a variety of languages, including Sanskrit and Prakrit. In Brahmi, each letter stands for a consonant sound with an inherent vowel. Vowels are also indicated by separate letters, grouped according to how they are pronounced. Many letters also have more than one form. Writing is from left to right in horizontal lines. A writing and reading system for blind people was invented by French teenager Louis Braille in 1824. At 10, Braille was sent to a school for the blind in Paris. During that era a French army captain had developed a code of raised dots and dashes to allow soldiers to write and read messages in the dark. Based on phonetics, it had groups of 12 dots arranged in two columns. Braille simplified this system. He based the code on the normal alphabet and halved the number of dots. Sources and further study Letter Perfect: The Marvelous History Of Our Alphabet From A To Z by David Sacks (Broadway Books) Ox, House, Stick: History Of Our Alphabet by Don Robb and Anne Smith (Charlesbridge) Ancientscripts.com, A compendium of worldwide writing systems; ancientscripts.com Omniglot: Writing systems and languages of the world; omniglot.com/writing Braille Plus Inc, brailleplus.net Encyclopaedia Britannica Cl@ssmate EVERY TUESDAY Email: [email protected] Phone: 9288 2542 Editor: Troy Lennon Additional writing: Marea Donnelly Graphics: Paul Leigh and Will Pearce