EVOLUTION OF

WRITINGBy: Roya, Anisah and Sharan

INTRODUCTION

• The earliest writing systems evolved at the same time in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but research shows that Mesopotamia’s writing appeared first.

• Mesopotamia’s writing system emerged about 3,500 BC.

• People living in Mesopotamia developed a form of writing to record and communicate different types of information. This was called cuneiform.

• Once Mesopotamia developed writing the idea went to many other places, this is called cultural borrowing.

VOCABULARYCuneiform - written language of SumerCultural Borrowing – the transfer of ideas from one culture to another.

PICTURES AS WORDS

• Writing started as pictographs, instead of words there were pictures.

• For example, to record the amount of fish given to a temple Sumerian priests would draw a fish shape and add marks to show how many.

• Many pictographs were hard to print into wet clay so Sumerian scribes simplified them.

• They began to create new symbols therefore the number of cuneiform symbols increased to more than 2,000.

VOCABULARYPictographs- pictures that represent words

SYMBOLS FOR SYLLABLES

• Some symbols evolved over time into sounds.

• For example, the cuneiform word for arrow was said as “tih”.

• Once Sumerians developed symbols for every syllable they could string symbols to words.

• This new change allowed Sumerians to reduce the symbols to 600.

LETTERS FOR SOUNDS

• Next was the creation of the alphabet.

• By combining symbols in various ways a writer can record anything, which makes a flexible writing system.

• Around 3000 B.C Egyptians created a language based on hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs are symbols that stood for objects, ideas, and sounds.

• Over time, they developed simple writing system and used 24 symbols to stand for consonants.

• Every alphabet today evolved from these symbols.

VOCABULARYAlphabet-a small set of letters/symbols, each stands for a single sound

OUR MODERN ALPHABET

• The Egyptians got the idea of writing from Mesopotamians.

• The groups from the Middle East borrowed symbols from the Egyptians to create their own alphabet.

• Phoenician traders traveled the Mediterranean sea, their trading partners such as Greece adopted their alphabet. But the Greece made more changes.

• In fact, the word alphabet comes from the first two letters in the Greek alphabet (alpha and beta).

• The result was an alphabet like today from all these changed alphabets.

☺ POP QUIZ TIME! ☻ #1 WHAT IS THE MEANING OF CUNEIFORM?

Cuneiform is the written language of Sumer.

#2 WHAT IS THE MEANING OF CULTURAL BORROWING?

Cultural borrowing is the transfer of ideas from one place to another.

#3 WHAT IS THE MEANING OF PICTOGRAPHS?

Pictographs are pictures that represent words.

#4 WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ALPHABET?

Alphabet is a small set of words representing a single sound.

#5 Why did Sumerians simplify symbols?

They simplified symbols to make them easier to press in wet clay.

#6 What was arrow said as?

An arrow was said as “tih”.

#7 What makes a flexible writing system.

What made a flexible writing was by combining symbols in various ways.

BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wrtg/hd

_wrtg.htm http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/hierogl

yphs.html http://www.heathersanimations.com/index.ht

ml http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/writing/home_set.html https://apworldhistorywiki.wikispaces.com/Mesopota

mia+45-56 Ancient Civilizations book by Diane Hart