Background The emergence of writing goes back to primitive society.It was then that people began to develop a variety of skills to transfer messages using pictures.Somewhat later, the man came to the convenience of the image concept in writing in the form of combinations of sounds which, in turn, designated by the letter.So there were ancient alphabets.Where it is and how it was written the first word?What is the disadvantage of the ancient alphabet and how to get it to overcome?Try to understand ...
Sumerian cuneiform
first system of written signs on the assumption of historians, there was about five and a half thousand years ago in the agricultural settlements of the Sumerians - the people who lived between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.The method of writing, called "cuneiform" is extruded characters on a rectangular slab of wet clay using sharpened sticks, which were kept at a slight angle.Next the tiles were dried in the sun or fired in a furnace.
using cuneiform characters, the Sumerians passed the meaning of concepts in a stylized form.In addition, they have existed for some symbols and abstract quantities ("light", "time").In total there were more than two thousand characters hieroglyphs.However, to show the meaning of complex concepts they were few, so was the Sumerians introduced the phonetic principle.Sign, which is associated with a particular sound could be used to identify the other object by means of sound.This principle was the basis for writing the present day.
hieroglyphic writing of ancient Egypt
Writing originated in Egypt in the fourth millennium BC.The original recording made using conventional image - ancient alphabets appear in the next stage.
Ancient Egyptian writing combines several varieties:
- hieroglyphic - the earliest form of writing of the Egyptians.At its core it lays the use of pictures or icons;thus it is advantageously religious texts;
- hieratic - a simplified form of hieroglyphic writing.It was a kind of "shorthand", a handy reference for the legal and business documents;
- demotic - much later and convenient form of business cursive, icons which bears little resemblance to the old characters.
However, in all cases, the Egyptian writing was characterized by a common feature, in which a single character could mean as a whole concept, and style, and a separate sound.In addition, there were more special badges - determiners, serving for further explanation of values of an image.
With Character, usually carved monumental inscriptions on the stones.Ieratikoy demotic and take notes on the reed papyrus with ink.
dates or Seir: who invented the first alphabet
greatest achievement in the development of writing was the invention of the alphabet first.According to the prevailing theory, its creators were the Phoenicians.For ease of doing business with the people who spoke different languages, they are first in the XI-X centuries BC put into practice letter-sound recording system concepts.
However, there is a second version of the origin of the first alphabet.His invention is credited with the inhabitants of Seir - desert area, located south of the Dead Sea.It is known that seirtsy razgovaivali their own language.Even in the XIX century BC, the Egyptians, offer expeditions to the Sinai Peninsula, hired them to increase the number of its troops.It is believed that the entries made seirskimi overseers and foremen and delivered to the Egyptians in the form of reports, eventually led to the emergence of the alphabet.Proponents of this theory argue that the earliest recording by means of symbols of the alphabet were done inhabitants of Seir.
Phoenician letters.What is the disadvantage of the ancient alphabet
The Phoenician alphabet includes twenty-two letters.Some signs were taken from already existing writing systems: Egyptian, Cretan, Babylonian.All letters of the ancient alphabet portrayed as a schematic diagram object whose name begins with the sound, conform to this letter.There was correspondence principle tracing each letter of her name and pronunciation.It is known that the Phoenicians wrote from right to left.
What is the lack of ancient alphabet?First of all, the fact that he represented only consonants and semivowels sounds.Vowels just fell in writing.
Subsequently, the ancient Phoenician alphabet became the basis on which any all other alpha-sound systems, including in Europe.
Greek language - one of the oldest living languages written
starting point for the development of all Western alphabets was the writing of the ancient Greeks.By 403 BC they had invented writing system, dubbed the "Ionian letter."The Greek alphabet was originally twenty-four letters.First discovered by archaeologists in this language inscriptions were carved on stone or painted on ceramic objects.
What is the lack of the ancient Greek alphabet?The earliest inscriptions extant, characterized by letters that have strict geometric forms and the same exact distance between the lines and individual letters.
More recent texts have handwritten, characterized by a rounded letters and - conjoint writing words.Over time, the Greek letter developed two kinds of shapes of letters - uppercase and lowercase.
In the future, the Greek alphabet was borrowed by the Romans.Many of his characters are left unchanged, and added to it a series of its own.Today, the Roman (Latin) alphabet widespread, for it is time to change very little.
