Written Languages
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Table of Contents
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"...Written language came about with the rise of civilizations and agriculture, which gave a settled way of life; trade; and organized government. People who came into contact with other people with written languages often borrowed that written language from them. This borrowing, or blueprint copying as scholar Jared Diamond calls it, has been very common in human history..."
Key Terms
- Interdisciplinary
- Blueprint Copying
- Ancient Languages
- Egyptian
- Sumerian
- Hebrew
- Sanskrit
- Chinese
- Egyptian
- Scribes
- Pictograms
- Cuneiform
- Heiroglyphics
- Heiroglyphics
- Logograms
- Phoenicians
- Alphabet
- Semitic
- Alphabet
- Other Alphabets
- Greek
- Latin
- Cyrillic
Guided Viewing Questions
- What purposes did written languages serve in early civilizations?
- Compare and contrast pictogram writing systems as used by the Sumerians and Egyptians with the logogram systems used by the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese. How are they similar? How are they different?
- Why is an alphabet writing system easier to learn than other writing systems?
- How did the Phoenician alphabet influence other alphabets?