Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

177 Pages·2009·2.61 MB·English

by  Andrew Robinson

WritingandScript:AVeryShortIntroduction
VERYSHORTINTRODUCTIONSareforanyonewantingastimulating
andaccessiblewayintoanewsubject.Theyarewrittenbyexperts,and
havebeenpublishedinmorethan25languagesworldwide.
Theseriesbeganin1995,andnowrepresentsawidevarietyoftopicsin
history,philosophy,religion,science,andthehumanities.TheVSIlibrary
nowcontainsover200volumes—aVeryShortIntroductiontoeverything
fromancientEgyptandIndianphilosophytoconceptualartand
cosmology—andwillcontinuetogrowtoalibraryofaround300titles.
VeryShortIntroductionsavailablenow:
AFRICANHISTORY CHRISTIANART BethWilliamson
JohnParkerandRichardRathbone CHRISTIANITY LindaWoodhead
AMERICANPOLITICALPARTIES CITIZENSHIP RichardBellamy
ANDELECTIONS L.SandyMaisel CLASSICALMYTHOLOGY
THEAMERICANPRESIDENCY HelenMorales
CharlesO.Jones CLASSICS
ANARCHISM ColinWard MaryBeardandJohnHenderson
ANCIENTEGYPT IanShaw CLAUSEWITZ MichaelHoward
ANCIENTPHILOSOPHY JuliaAnnas THECOLDWAR RobertMcMahon
ANCIENTWARFARE CONSCIOUSNESS SusanBlackmore
HarrySidebottom CONTEMPORARYART
ANGLICANISM MarkChapman JulianStallabrass
THEANGLO-SAXONAGE JohnBlair CONTINENTALPHILOSOPHY
ANIMALRIGHTS DavidDeGrazia SimonCritchley
ANTISEMITISM StevenBeller COSMOLOGY PeterColes
TheAPOCRYPHALGOSPELS THECRUSADES ChristopherTyerman
PaulFoster CRYPTOGRAPHY
ARCHAEOLOGY PaulBahn FredPiperandSeanMurphy
ARCHITECTURE AndrewBallantyne DADAANDSURREALISM
ARISTOTLE JonathanBarnes DavidHopkins
ARTHISTORY DanaArnold DARWIN JonathanHoward
ARTTHEORY CynthiaFreeland THEDEADSEASCROLLS
ATHEISM JulianBaggini TimothyLim
AUGUSTINE HenryChadwick DEMOCRACY BernardCrick
AUTISM UtaFrith DESCARTES TomSorell
BARTHES JonathanCuller DESIGN JohnHeskett
BESTSELLERS JohnSutherland DINOSAURS DavidNorman
THEBIBLE JohnRiches DOCUMENTARYFILM
BIOGRAPHY HermioneLee PatriciaAufderheide
THEBRAIN MichaelO’Shea DREAMING J.AllanHobson
BRITISHPOLITICS AnthonyWright DRUGS LeslieIversen
BUDDHA MichaelCarrithers THEEARTH MartinRedfern
BUDDHISM DamienKeown ECONOMICS ParthaDasgupta
BUDDHISTETHICS DamienKeown EGYPTIANMYTH GeraldinePinch
CAPITALISM JamesFulcher EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN
CATHOLICISM GeraldO’Collins PaulLangford
THECELTS BarryCunliffe THEELEMENTS PhilipBall
CHAOS LeonardSmith EMOTION DylanEvans
CHOICETHEORY MichaelAllingham EMPIRE StephenHowe
ENGELS TerrellCarver INDIANPHILOSOPHY SueHamilton
ETHICS SimonBlackburn INTELLIGENCE IanJ.Deary
THEEUROPEANUNION INTERNATIONALMIGRATION
JohnPinderandSimonUsherwood KhalidKoser
EVOLUTION INTERNATIONALRELATIONS
BrianandDeborahCharlesworth PaulWilkinson
EXISTENTIALISM ThomasFlynn ISLAM MaliseRuthven
FASCISM KevinPassmore JOURNALISM IanHargreaves
FEMINISM MargaretWalters JUDAISM NormanSolomon
THEFIRSTWORLDWAR JUNG AnthonyStevens
MichaelHoward KABBALAH JosephDan
FOSSILS KeithThomson KAFKA RitchieRobertson
FOUCAULT GaryGutting KANT RogerScruton
FREEWILL ThomasPink KIERKEGAARD PatrickGardiner
FREESPEECH NigelWarburton THEKORAN MichaelCook
THEFRENCHREVOLUTION LAW RaymondWacks
WilliamDoyle LINCOLN AllenC.Guelzo
FREUD AnthonyStorr LINGUISTICS PeterMatthews
FUNDAMENTALISM MaliseRuthven LITERARYTHEORY JonathanCuller
GALAXIES JohnGribbin LOCKE JohnDunn
GALILEO StillmanDrake LOGIC GrahamPriest
GAMETHEORY KenBinmore MACHIAVELLI QuentinSkinner
GANDHI BhikhuParekh THEMARQUISDESADE
GEOGRAPHY JohnPhillips
JohnMatthewsandDavidHerbert MARX PeterSinger
GEOPOLITICS KlausDodds MATHEMATICS TimothyGowers
GERMANLITERATURE THEMEANINGOFLIFE
NicholasBoyle TerryEagleton
GLOBALCATASTROPHES MEDICALETHICS TonyHope
BillMcGuire MEDIEVALBRITAIN
GLOBALWARMING MarkMaslin JohnGillinghamandRalphA.Griffiths
GLOBALIZATION ManfredSteger MEMORY JonathanK.Foster
THEGREATDEPRESSIONANDTHE MODERNART DavidCottington
NEWDEAL EricRauchway MODERNCHINA RanaMitter
HABERMAS JamesGordonFinlayson MODERNIRELAND SeniaPaˇseta
HEGEL PeterSinger MODERNJAPAN
HEIDEGGER MichaelInwood ChristopherGoto-Jones
HIEROGLYPHS PenelopeWilson MOLECULES PhilipBall
HINDUISM KimKnott MORMONISM
HISTORY JohnH.Arnold RichardLymanBushman
THEHISTORYOFASTRONOMY MUSIC NicholasCook
MichaelHoskin MYTH RobertA.Segal
THEHISTORYOFLIFE MichaelBenton NATIONALISM StevenGrosby
THEHISTORYOFMEDICINE NELSONMANDELA EllekeBoehmer
WilliamBynum THENEWTESTAMENTAS
THEHISTORYOFTIME LITERATURE KyleKeefer
LeofrancHolford-Strevens NEWTON RobertIliffe
HIV/AIDS AlanWhiteside NIETZSCHE MichaelTanner
HOBBES RichardTuck NINETEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN
HUMANEVOLUTION BernardWood ChristopherHarvieand
HUMANRIGHTS AndrewClapham H.C.G.Matthew
HUME A.J.Ayer NORTHERNIRELAND
IDEOLOGY MichaelFreeden MarcMulholland
NOTHING FrankClose THERUSSIANREVOLUTION
NUCLEARWEAPONS S.A.Smith
JosephM.Siracusa SCHIZOPHRENIA
THEOLDTESTAMENT ChrisFrithandEveJohnstone
MichaelD.Coogan SCHOPENHAUER
PARTICLEPHYSICS FrankClose ChristopherJanaway
PAUL E.P.Sanders SCIENCEANDRELIGION
PHILOSOPHY EdwardCraig ThomasDixon
PHILOSOPHYOFLAW SCOTLAND RabHouston
RaymondWacks SEXUALITY Ve´roniqueMottier
PHILOSOPHYOFSCIENCE SHAKESPEARE GermaineGreer
SamirOkasha SIKHISM EleanorNesbitt
PHOTOGRAPHY SteveEdwards SOCIALANDCULTURAL
PLATO JuliaAnnas ANTHROPOLOGY
POLITICALPHILOSOPHY JohnMonaghanandPeterJust
DavidMiller SOCIALISM MichaelNewman
POLITICS KennethMinogue SOCIOLOGY SteveBruce
POSTCOLONIALISM RobertYoung SOCRATES C.C.W.Taylor
POSTMODERNISM Christopher TheSOVIETUNION
Butler StephenLovell
POSTSTRUCTURALISM THESPANISHCIVILWAR
CatherineBelsey HelenGraham
PREHISTORY ChrisGosden SPINOZA RogerScruton
PRESOCRATICPHILOSOPHY STATISTICS DavidJ.Hand
CatherineOsborne STUARTBRITAIN JohnMorrill
PSYCHIATRY TomBurns SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
PSYCHOLOGY StephenBlundell
GillianButlerandFredaMcManus TERRORISM CharlesTownshend
THEQUAKERS PinkDandelion THEOLOGY DavidF.Ford
QUANTUMTHEORY TRAGEDY AdrianPoole
JohnPolkinghorne THETUDORS JohnGuy
RACISM AliRattansi TWENTIETH-CENTURYBRITAIN
RELATIVITY RussellStannard KennethO.Morgan
RELIGIONINAMERICA TimothyBeal THEUNITEDNATIONS
THERENAISSANCE JerryBrotton JussiM.Hanhim¨aki
RENAISSANCEART THEVIKINGS JulianRichards
GeraldineA.Johnson WITTGENSTEIN A.C.Grayling
ROMANBRITAIN PeterSalway WORLDMUSIC PhilipBohlman
THEROMANEMPIRE ChristopherKelly THEWORLDTRADE
ROUSSEAU RobertWokler ORGANIZATION AmritaNarlikar
RUSSELL A.C.Grayling WRITINGANDSCRIPT
RUSSIANLITERATURE CatrionaKelly AndrewRobinson
Availablesoon:
Puritanism FrancisJ.Bremer ThomasAquinas FergusKerr
Communism LeslieHolmes TheReformation PeterMarshall
Fashion RebeccaArnold Deserts NickMiddleton
Formoreinformationvisitourwebsite
www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi/
Andrew Robinson
Writing and
script
A Very Short Introduction
3
3
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ISBN 978–0–19–956778–2
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Listofillustrations xi
1 Writinganditsemergence 1
2 Developmentanddiffusionofwriting 17
3 Disappearanceofscripts 36
4 Deciphermentandundecipheredscripts 52
5 Howwritingsystemswork 74
6 Alphabets 92
7 ChineseandJapanesewriting 110
8 Scribesandmaterials 123
9 Writinggoeselectronic 135
Chronology 145
Furtherreading 149
Index 153
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Acknowledgements
ThisisthefourthbookIhavewrittenonwritingandscripts.The
firstwasahighlyillustratedsurveyofthesubject,thesecondwas
onundecipheredscripts,andthethirdwasabiographyofMichael
Ventris,whodecipheredEurope’searliestreadablewriting,
LinearB.IhavealsowrittenabiographyofthepolymathThomas
Young,akeyfigureinthedeciphermentoftheRosettaStoneand
Egyptianhieroglyphic.
Ontheway,Ihaveaccumulatedmanydebtstocurrentspecialists
inthevariousscripts,whofreelygavemeadvice.Someoftheir
expertknowledgehasfounditswayintothissmallbook.Although
theyhadnothingdirectlytodowithit,Iwouldparticularlyliketo
recallthehelpofJohnBaines,JohnBennet,LarissaBonfante,the
lateJohnChadwick,MichaelCoe,RobertEnglund,JacquesGuy,
StephenHouston,KimJuwon,OliverMoore,TomPalaima,Asko
Parpola,andJ.MarshallUnger.
ItisapleasuretothankAndreaKeegan,LathaMenon,andKeira
DickinsonofOxfordUniversityPress.