вторник, 9 августа 2011 г.

A Brief Account on the Evolution of Writing


People manifested the need to communicate, even before the rise of websites offering writing service. Here is a short account on the evolution of writing.

Where It All Began: Pictographs
Mesapotamia, 3200 BC. The first writing attempts are linked to the Sumerian civilization. Temple officials  developed a system to record the number of agricultural products and domestic animals. They drew pictures to represent objects. They pressed reed on clay tablets to form symbols resembling that of a wedge, thus the term cuneiform was coined.

Egypt, 3000 BC. The Egyptians also contributed to the writing history. They have invented a pictographic form of writing called Heiroglyphics which means sacred writing. At first, heiroglyphics was reserved for temple and tomb inscriptions. But with the advent of papyrus scrolls, heiroglyphics was also used for letters, official documents and literature.

Indus Valley, 2500 BC. If there is somebody capable of providing writing service in the Indus Valley, that would be the officials who wrote as part of their administration duties. The Indus form of writing is composed of thousand seals which up to this date is yet to be decoded.

China, 1600 BC. Chinese officials used the non-phonetic script to interact with other officials from distant areas.

The Big Leap: Phonetics
Phoenecia, 15th century BC. From the use of pictures, forms of writing have evolved to integration of syllables. Phoenecians have devised only the consonant letters, which was later supplemented by the Greek people when they introduced vowels. This transformation paved the way for literacy. Perhaps the scenario that time can be likened to a writing service, where expert writers share their knowledge to beginners.

The word Alphabet came from the first two letters of the Phonecian script, alpha and beta. The Roman empire introduced the script in Europe as the standard writing system. Soon after, other regions in the world also learned the alphabet.

There are several others who played a vital role in coming up with the alphabet that is widely used nowadays. You can explore on a comprehensive study, with the assistance of experts giving writing service, to discover more about the dramatic evolution of writing.