Re: Ancient writing systems

On Apr 24, 4:10 am, "Peter T. Daniels" <gramma...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Apr 23, 10:40 pm, hru...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Herman Rubin) wrote:



In article <1177185758.247250.33...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Peter T. Daniels <gramma...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Apr 21, 2:54 pm, CatalinaIslandView <isla...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Peter T. Daniels wrote:
On Apr 21, 1:19 pm, CatalinaIslandView <isla...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
What was (were) the first logographic writing system(s)? I have been
trying to do some research on my own and am stuck at Proto-Canaanite
and Proto-Sinaitic (wouldn't the second come first?) Anyway, I am
confused and would welcome anyone who could simplify the topic a bit.
The first known logographic (logosyllabic) writing system is the
Sumerian.
The other known ones are Chinese and Maya.
Neither Proto-Sinaitic nor its descendant (Proto-)Canaanite is
logographic.
Yes, sorry. Acrophonic. What would then be the first known alphabet?
The only alphabet ever invented is the Greek. All the others (the list
isn't long: Etruscan, a handful of Italic ones, Roman, Coptic,
Gothic,Armenian, Georgian, Glagolitic, Cyrillic, "Caucasian Albanian")
have descended from it or (runes, ogham) from its offspring Roman.

The Greek is a modified form of the Phoenician. The
first known alphabetic writing is Semitic, and the oldest
known trace of it (as of this time) is on a cliff on the
Nile, dated as 1900 BCE. I doubt if any of the Semitic
alphabets are based on the Greek.

Other invented alphabets are the Indian alphabet, which
seems to have taken some of its characters from the
Semitic, and the Korean, which is not like any of the
others.

Has it ever occurred to you to LEARN something about a topic you
insist on typing about?

As has already been mentioned in this thread, Phoenician is not an
alphabet, "Indian" is neither a script (there are hundreds of Indian
scripts) nor an alphabet, and Korean is not an alphabet.

In common parlance, abjads, abugidas and alphabets in your sense are
all alphabets. 'Indian alphabet' is a reasonable abstraction of a
whole family - similar enough that ISCII almost treats the differences
as being parallel with 'bold' and 'italic'. Finally, why is Korean
(i.e. Hangul) not an alphabet? Is it because the (morphemically
adjusted) syllable divisions are marked by the way the characters are
laid out?

Richard.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Ancient writing systems
    ... trying to do some research on my own and am stuck at Proto-Canaanite ... The only alphabet ever invented is the Greek. ... The Greek is a modified form of the Phoenician. ... "Indian" is neither a script (there are hundreds of Indian ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Ancient writing systems
    ... trying to do some research on my own and am stuck at Proto-Canaanite ... The only alphabet ever invented is the Greek. ... "Indian" is neither a script (there are hundreds of Indian ... and Korean is not an alphabet. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Ancient writing systems
    ... trying to do some research on my own and am stuck at Proto-Canaanite ... The only alphabet ever invented is the Greek. ... have descended from it or from its offspring Roman. ... Where would I be able to learn about the descent of hankul? ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Ancient writing systems
    ... trying to do some research on my own and am stuck at Proto-Canaanite ... The only alphabet ever invented is the Greek. ... have descended from it or from its offspring Roman. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Lost in the mists of time...
    ... >> sequence as the English alphabet. ... you are totally ignorant about Indian ... > Phonetic Alphabet". ... > Look at the IPA consonant chart. ...
    (sci.lang)