In the Beginning was Information

A2.1.4 Written LanguagesThe invention of writing is one of the greatest intellectual achievements ofman (Perhaps: Adam could have received the gift of writing together withthe gift of speech. If so, writing was not “invented” by man). Humanmemory does not last long, and the storage capacity of the brain is limited,but this problem is overcome over distance as well as over time. Writingis essential for a people to develop literature, recorded history andtechnology. Groups without writing therefore do not go beyond a certainstage in culture (e. g. aboriginal peoples). Only a written language allowsthe possibility of information storage, so that inventions and discoveries(e. g. in medicine and technology) will not be lost, but can be added toand developed further. Writing can thus be defined as follows:Definition D6: Writing is a human communication system set up byconvention, which represents language as a sequence of symbols.These symbols should be able to be transmitted and received, must bemutually understood, and must represent spoken words. Writing reproducesspoken language in the form of symbols.We can only speak of real writing when pictograms represent the spokenwords of a given language through their shapes and sequences. The spokenword acquires a temporal dimension by means of writing; historicaltraditions usually require permanent records to be kept, and the sameholds for science in most communities. Various nations invented their ownwriting technique – the Sumerians used pictograms about 3500 BC,Egyptian hieroglyphics originated 3000 BC, in the Middle East cuneiformwriting was in use around 2500 BC, and Chinese ideograms date from1500 BC. The latest and most important stage was however the inventionof an alphabet. An alphabet consists of a predetermined number of writtensymbols, each of which represents one spoken sound only – at least in theideal theoretical case. All these symbols can be used in arbitrary combinationsto reproduce the different words of a language. When an alphabet isused, it means that the number of symbols is reduced to a rational minimum;its flexibility and the direct correspondence to the sounds of thespoken language has the effect that such writing makes it very much easierfor anyone to learn and to use that particular language. Alphabeticalwriting originated around 2500 BC in the region of present-day Israel,Lebanon, and Syria. Today only the following alphabets are in use:Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Georgian, Arabic, Persian, and Indian.There are three kinds of writing systems:1. Word based: Every symbol represents a word or a morpheme (e. g.Chinese).2. Syllabic: Every symbol represents a syllable (e. g. Korean).214