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Study questions
1. In the study of language, how is writing defined?
Key: Writing is the symbolicrepresentation of language through the use of graphic signs.
2. What is the basicdifference between a logographic writing system and a phonographic writingsystem?
Key: In a logographic system, thesymbols represent words and;
In a phonographic system, the symbols represent sounds.
3. What happens in theprocess known as rebus writing?
Key: In rebus writing, the symbolfor one entity comes to be used as the symbol for the sound of the spoken wordused to refer to that entity. That symbol is then used whenever that soundoccurs in any words.
4. Isthe text message ‘cu@9’ an example of logographic or alphabetic writing?
Key: Logographic writing
5. What is the namegiven to the writing system used for Russian?
Key: The Cyrillic alphabet
6. Where will you findthe writing system with the longest history of continuous use?
Key:China
Tasks
A. What is boustrophedon writing and during which period was itused?
Key: Boustrophedon is a writing-style that alternate lines in opposite directions, one line from left to right andthe next from right to left. Some Etruscan texts are written in boustrophedonstyle, as are some Greek ones of about the 6th century B.C. The word is fromthe Greek boustrophēdon, meaning literally “to turn like oxen” (in plowing).
Boustrophedon is a Greek word meaning "like an ox whileplowing" and was actually used in Greece and surrounding countries between600 and 800 B.C.
B. What kind of writingsystems are known as abjads and abugidas and what is the basic differencebetween them?
Key: An abjad is an alphabetic writingsystem where there is one symbol per consonant. Abjads differ from otheralphabets in that they have characters only for consonantal sounds. Vowels arenot usually marked in abjads.
An abugida is analphabetic writing system whose basic signs denote consonants with an inherentvowel and where consistent modifications of the basic sign indicate otherfollowing vowels than the inherent one.
The contrast with "true syllabaries" is that the latterhave one distinct symbol per possible syllable, and the signs for each syllablehave no systematic graphic similarity. The graphic similarity of most abugidascomes from the fact that they are derived from abjads, and the consonants makeup the symbols with the inherent vowel and the new vowel symbols are markingsadded on to the base symbol.
C. What kind of writingsystem is Hangul, where is it used and how are forms written on the page?
Key: The Korean alphabet, or Hangulis the native alphabet of the Korean language. It was created during the JoseonDynasty in 1443, and is now the official script of both North Korea and SouthKorea, and co-official in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of the JilinProvince in the People's Republic of China. In South Korea, Hangul is augmentedby Chinese characters, called hanja.
Hangul is a true alphabet of 24 consonant and vowel letters.However, instead of being written sequentially like the letters of the Latinalphabet, Hangul letters are grouped into blocks, such as 한han, each of which transcribesa syllable. That is, although the syllable 한 han may look like a single character, it iscomposed of three letters: ㅎ h, ㅏ a,and ㄴ n. Each syllabic blockconsists of two to five letters, including at least one consonant and onevowel. These blocks are then arranged horizontally from left to right orvertically from top to bottom. The number of mathematically possible blocks is11,172, though there are far fewer possible syllables allowed by Koreanphonotactics, and not all phonotactically-possible syllables occur in actualKorean words. For a phonological description, see Korean phonology.