Communication in History

Chapters: 5, 6, 7, 9CMST 2CC3 L. Mussio

A. Schelew, J. Spears, E. Simon, L. Skingley, P. Schubert, D. Siekanowicz

Chapter 5- The Origins of Writing

Andrew Robinson

“Writing...perhaps the greatest invention,

since it made history possible.”A. Robinson

1) The Functions of Writing2) The Origin of Writing3) The Development of Writing

The Function(s) Of Writing-Writing as a means of putting agreements, laws and commandments on record, helped the growth of states-Writing as a means of Propaganda- as early as Babylonian and Egyptian cultures writing was used to remind people who is charge and how great his triumphs are-Writing as a means of predicting the future-China during the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty 1600 BC, use of oracle bones to provide divine answers to questions about the future-Writing was most commonly used for mundane tasks such as a property marker or a from of identification inscribed on possessions- Writing as a means of accountancy and keeping track of raw materials and products-Sumerian Clay Tablets from Mesopotamia were used to keep track of barley, bear, wheat, lists of labourers and their tasks

The Origin(s) Of Writing

-Writing developed as a direct consequence of the compelling demands of an expanding economy- Late 4th Millennium BC the complexity of trade and administration in Mesopotamia was too much for the memories of the government elite to handle

- There are four major theories surrounding the origin of writing:

1) Writing is a result of a conscious search by an unknown Sumerian individual in the city of Uruk about 3300 BC2) Writing is the invention of a group of clever merchants and administrators in 4th Millennium BC Mesopotamia 3) Writing is not an invention, but instead an accidental discovery.4) Writing as the result of evolution over a long period of time.

The Development of Writing

-Majority of Scholars prefer to think that writing developed independently in the major civilizations of the world.

-The Optimist View: Writing was a natural outcome from many different places because of the intelligence and inventiveness of human societies.-The Pessimist View: Human societies will copy something that already exists from other human societies (writing).

-But! There can be no doubt that certain scripts were borrowed from pre-existing ones (ie. The Romans taking the Etruscan script).

-When a new language borrows an already existing script, changes are madeto accommodate for the sounds in the new language that the already existing scriptdoes not carry (ie. Japanese borrowing from Chinese script).

Modern Hieroglyphs?-What if the modern day alphabet is not so efficient?-Could logograms be used alongside words to make the written word easier to communicate?-Think of how many signs there are in the world that act out as modern day hieroglyphs.

Chapter 6 Part 1- The AlphabetJohanna Drucker- An expert in the history of the alphabet, printing and book arts. Teaches at the University of Virginia

•The letters we recognize as the alphabet have been in continuous use for more than three thousand years

•The basic principle of the alphabetic writing is to represent a single sound of a spoken language by a single letter

•It is the phonetic principle which is the unique characteristic of the alphabet as no other writing system has the capacity to represent the sounds of spoken language with such efficient and adaptable means

•The alphabet was most likely invented between 1700 and 1500 BC by speakers of Semitic language (in the geographical area which serves as a bridge between the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt

•There are only two writing systems in existence today, Chinese characters and the alphabet

•All other written forms have disappeared either under the influence of cultural exchange, colonization, assimilation, or linguistic evolution•In spite of the vast variety in contemporary visual appearance, all alphabetic forms share the same origin and possess similar structural properties

•With a very limited number of written signs, alphabetic writing can be used to represent almost any spoken language

•While the alphabet is phonetic in nature, this is not true of all other written language

•Writing systems may also be logographic (where the written sign represents a single word).

•Writing systems may also be ideographic (where ideas or concepts are represented directly in the form of glyphs or characters).

The Mayans possessed a set of logograms, which are symbols that express an entire written word.

Chapter 6 Part 2- The Alphabet

Early Writing Systems

Pictographic and Linear Systems

•Pictographic: “composed of pictorial images recognizable as an image.”•Linear: “schematic sets of arbitrary symbols”

• Pictographic Linear

Early Writing SystemsEgyptian Hieroglyphs

• Appeared as early as 3000 B.C• In use for nearly 3,000 years• A pictographic system

• Remained, for the most part, unchanged throughout those 3,000 years

• Two additional systems were developed to facilitate faster and easier writing:• Hieratic: the “cursive” form of hieroglyphs• Demotic: a linear form of writing that looks nothing like, but is similar linguistically, to hieroglyphs.

Early Writing Systems

Cuneiform

• Originates from Sumer, between the years 3500 and 3100 B.C.• Cuneiform was adopted by Babylonians and Assyrians• Created by pushing a reed into clay to create wedge-shaped impressions

Early Writing SystemsOther Independent Writing

Systems

•Hittite: a hieroglyphic system, c. 1500 B.C.•Crete: pictographic & linear (2000 B.C.)• Cyprus (1400 B.C.)•Indus Valley (2500 B.C)•Mayan Glyphs (1000 A.D.)

Chinese• 2nd most widespread & adapted system of writing• Both Japanese and Korean have modified and used Chinese characters in their own linguistically independent language

(Hittite)

Chapter 7

The Introduction of Greek Letters• Introduced around 700B.C. : made democracy

possible• The Greeks invented literacy by creating the

alphabet• Greek alphabet 1st used to record a complete “oral

literature” of Greece• “The alphabet…stimulated the thinking of novel

thought”

Before the Printing Press…• Scarcity of writing materials

• Calligraphy was enemy of literacy and therefore also of literature and science

• Alphabetic literacy had to wait

for printing press to be invented

Chapter 9- Orality, Literacy and Modern Media -W.Ong

An analysis of how people in oral cultures manage, recall and

communicate their thoughts, and how these techniques changed after the

shift to secondary orality

Introduction- In a primary oral culture, words or expressions have no visual meaning, they are merely sounds

- While vision is stable and continuous, “sound exists only when it is going out of existence”

- All sound is dynamic

- Walter Ong’s insight…

So many thoughts, complex ideas, solutions, epiphanies… how ever will I remember it all??

You Know What You Can Recall:Mnemonics and Formulas

- People living in a time of primary orality recall thought through communication and mnemonic thinking patterns

- This means thinking in a rhythmic, repetitious fashion, using expressions, commonly used proverbs and balanced patterns

The Interiority of Sound

- Sound is the most direct sense- “Interior” and “Exterior” are existentially grounded concepts, conveyed only by reference to experience of bodiliness

Sound Sight

Incorporates Isolates

You are at the center of what you’re hearing

You are on the outside of what you’re viewing

Unifying sense Dissecting sense

Auditory ideal = harmony, a putting together

Visual ideal = clarity distinctness, a taking apart

Sound Sight

Incorporates Isolates

You are at the center of what you’re hearing

You are on the outside of what you’re viewing

Unifying sense Dissecting sense

Auditory ideal = harmony, a putting together

Visual ideal = clarity distinctness, a taking apart

Secondary Orality

- Surrounded by electronic technology- McLuhan’s idea of the “Global Village”- Secondary vs. Primary Orality - both generate a strong group sense - people are group minded - Presidential debates

Televised debates

Questions:1) Would we be able to communicate using a type of modern hieroglyph system as a substitute for the modern written language?

2)Do you think it would be harder for someone from a primary oral culture to change to a secondary oral culture or, would it be harder for someone from a secondary oral culture to go to a primary oral culture?

3) Chapter seven discusses the scarcity of paper around the time that the Greek alphabet was created. With all of the ways of communication that we have today (telephone, email, text messaging, etc.), do you think that we would have the same struggle if our paper source was limited?