The Beginning Man, back in the Ice Age, had many other issues to deal with, least of them being recording of speech. Markings on cave walls were done to appease the "gods". This speech included all the senses, not just hearing. Original language consisted of sounds, gestures, facial expressions, touching, nasal noises. A question might be, "How much of what we call body language might have been part of the origin of written records?" How often have you had the need to scribble or sketch out an idea or explanation along with your verbal description? It seems to be an inner need for man to express ideas not only verbally but also in a figurative gesture. Neolithic man became aware of their own limitations of time and space, life and death. They realized a need to not only express past experiences and future plans but to have record of these new perceptions. When we look at prehistoric drawings, we imagine that some kind of narrative must have accompanied them. The drawings have lasted but the speech and the meanings of the signs have not been handed down.
PICTOGRAPHS A Pictograph [1] (also called pictogram or pictogramme) is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Earliest examples of pictographs include ancient or prehistoric drawings or paintings found on rock walls. Pictographs are also used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance. Pictography is a form of writing which uses representational, pictorial drawings. It is a basis of cuneiform and, to some extent, hieroglyphic writing, which uses drawings also as phonetic letters or determinative rhymes. Early written symbols were based on pictographs (pictures which resemble what they signify) and ideograms (symbols which represent ideas). They were used by the ancient Chinese culture since around 5000 BC and began to develop into logographic writing systems around 2000 BC. Pictographs are still in use as the main medium of written communication in some non-literate cultures in Africa, The Americas, and Oceania. Pictographs are often used as simple, pictorial, representational symbols by most contemporary cultures. Pictographs can often transcend languages in that they can communicate to speakers of a number of tongues and language families equally effectively, even if the languages and cultures are completely different. This is why road signs and similar pictographic material are often applied as global standards expected to be understood by nearly all. Pictographs can also take the form of diagrams to represent statistical data by pictorial forms, and can be varied in color, size, or number to indicate change. Wikipedia
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IDEOGRAPHS / Ideograms An ideogram or ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiarity with prior convention; others convey their meaning through pictorial resemblance to a physical object, and thus may also be referred to as pictograms. Examples of ideograms include wayfinding signs, such as in airports and other environments where many people may not be familiar with the language of the place they are in, as well as Arabic numerals and formal languages (mathematical notation, logic, UML), which are used worldwide regardless of how they are pronounced in different languages. Other examples include the Blissymbols, Emoticons and pictographs as used by the Sioux and Ojibwa. Symbols began to take on broader meanings. Symbols no longer represented objects, but represented ideas, called ideograhs. Ideograms were simplified pictures selected by agreement or custom to become fixed pictorial symbols of an object or concept. For example, a number of "tree" symbols were unified to make a "forest," or the symbol for man, woman, and child were consolidated into a single "family" symbol. The name of the object (or its action) is closely identified with the picture. All written languages have passed through, or halted, at this stage.
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Comparison of three major cultures using basic pictographic scripts. Bottom row are Ideograms Chinese signs: Mesopotamian cuneiforms: Egyptian Hieroglyphics |
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Below are Ideograms with abstract meanings. Mesopotamian- the sign for sun means movement Egyptian- figurative signs - plant leaning means south |
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Script Development Two categories of Script Chinese script is an example. It has kept the basic stroke and movements but has become stylized over the centuries. Calligraphic brush was invented in 200BC and is partly responsible for the smooth, sloping strokes, bowed lines; The architectural building style is also reflected in the Chinese script. The building style and calligraphy are an expression of the culture of the Far East and is reflected in their script. |
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2. Alphabetical scripts is the second category. Strokes have been reduced to the most extreme simplification or abstraction. Latin Alphabet is an example. |
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Egyptian Hieroglyphics Hieroglyphic: Sacred Carvings The Rosetta Stone Common People |
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PHOENICIAN ALPHABET In 1600 B.C. a nation of traders and merchants, the Phoenicians, need to keep business ledgers in a simplified writing form.A new concept in written communication evolved: GREEK ALPHABET Aleph became alpha, beth became beta. From these two letters we derive the word alphabet. The Phoenician alphabet had no vowels, only consonants. To broaden the use of the alphabet, the Greeks added 5 vowels and formalized the letterforms. In 403 B.C., the revised alphabet was adopted by the Athenians. ROMAN ALPHABET The Romans adopted and modified the Greek alphabet. Eight were revised: Two were added: U and W were added about 1,000 years ago, and J added just 500 years later. First example of printing from "movable type" was discovered in 1908 by an Italian archaeologist on the island of Crete. He found a clay disc in the ruins of the palace of Phaistos in a stratification dated about 1500 B.C. Printing from movable type appeared in China and Korea in the 11th century. 1440 Johann Gutenberg brought the West up to date with his invention of movable type. - supply individual letters cast in metal Historians credit his invention as the beginning of printing, coinciding Our common type faces are either imitations of early hand-written letters or represent a modification of early type faces which, in turn, were modeled after the lettering in manuscript books. The standard roman lower-case letters and capitals assumed their present form about 1470 in a face cut by Nicholas Jenson. The letters inscribed in manuscript books by Venetian monks were Jenson's models.His types served as a pattern for later faces. Images from Signs and Symbols: Their Design and Meaning |