Assignment #1/What is Writing?/Negrete, Karen
1. According to the article, why was writing invented?
In the article says that writing was invented to communicate topics or things and gives information.
2. Writing is both a noun and a verb. Explain.
Writing is both a noun and verb because, writing as a noun, the thing that is written; and writing as a verb, which designates the activity of writing. It refers to the inscription of characters on a medium, thereby forming words, and larger units of language, known as texts.
3. Name the 4 different categories of writing systems.
The name of them are:
-Logographies
-Syllabaries
-Alphabetic
-Featural scripts
4. Why are ideographic and pictographic methods NOT considered categories of writing systems?
-Ideographic (symbols for ideas), has never been developed sufficiently to represent language.
-Pictographic is insufficient to represent language on its own, but often forms the core of logographies.
5. Name 10 different types of writing tools and materials.
Types of writing are: stone tablets, clay tablets, wax tablets, vellum, parchment, paper, copperplate, styluses, quills, ink brushes, pencils, pens, and many styles of lithography.
6. True or False: The difference between prehistory and history is when written records were kept.
It is false
7. Who developed the first writing system:
The answer is:
d. none of these answers are correct.
8. Which cultural group were the only ones to develop a written language in the Americas?
It was by tha Maya culture
9. It is possible that the Chinese language was developed:
The answer is:
b. c. 6000 BCE
10. Where does the word, alphabet, originate?
The word "alphabet" came into Middle English from the Late Latin word Alphabetum, which in turn originated in the Phoenician Alphabetos, from alpha and beta, the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet.
11. Name 3 types of NON-linear writing systems.
There are:
-numerals
-mathematical symbols
-punctuation
12. Name 2 examples of NON-alphabetic writing systems.
There are Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters are two of the best-known writing systems with predominantly non-alphabetic representations.
13. The alphabet helps distinguish between which 2 types of spoken sounds?
There are the International Phonetic Alphabet and phonetic.
14. In English, what was The Great Vowel Shift?
It was æ in Old English
15. Japanese is a complicated language not only because there a 3 different forms of the written language and there are at least 14 levels of formality, but because the spoken language originated from the Korean peninsula and the written language originated from China. English has a similar complicated history. Briefly explain the origins of the English language.
English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian and Lower Saxon dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers and Roman auxiliary troops from various parts of what is now northwest Germany and the northern Netherlands. The Anglo Saxons began invading around 449 AD from the regions of Denmark and Jutland. The most significant changes in dialect occurred after the Norman invasion of 1066, the language retained its name and the pre-Norman invasion dialect is now known as Old English.It was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon. The original Old English language was then influenced by two waves of invasion. The first was by language speakers of the Scandinavian and the second was the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman.
