The Writing Systems of the World

This book is an account of the writing systems of the world from earliest times to the present. Its aim is to explore the complex ways in which writing systems relate to the language they depict.

This book describes world writing systems from earliest times to the present, tracing an apparent pattern of evolution from the iconic precursors of writing, through increasingly more stylized and abstract pictograms to purely arbitrary phonetic symbols.

Autorentext
Florian Coulmas is Professor of Linguistics at Chuo University, Tokyo. He has written and edited several books in Linguistics and Sociolinguistics and is associate editor of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language.

Inhalt
Preface. Part I: Theoretical Perspectives: 1. What Writing Is All About. 2. From Icon to Symbol: The General Trend of Evolution. 3. Units of Speech and Units of Writing. Part II: Writing Systems: 4. Sacred Characters: The Theocratic Script of Egypt. 5. From Word to Syllable I: Cuneiform Writing. 6. An Alternative to the Alphabet: The Chinese Writing System. 7. From Word to Syllable II: Chinese Characters for other Languages. 8. Semitic Writing: Syllables or Consonants? 9. The Alphabet. 10. Writing in India. Part III: Practical Problems: 11. From Letter to Sound: Deciphering Written Languages. 12. From Sound to Letter: Creating Alphabets. 13. Writing Reform: Conditions and Implications. Part IV: Conclusion: 14. What Writing Means for Linguistics. References. Appendix I: Ancient Near Eastern Chronology. Appendix II: Far Eastern Chronology. Index.

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