The Writing Revolution Cuneiform to the Internet

by Gnanadesikan, Amalia E.

• ISBN13: 9781405154062
• ISBN10: 1405154063
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-24
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

In a world of rapid technological advancements, it can be easy to forget that writing is the original Information Technology, created to transcend the limitations of human memory and to defy time and space. The Writing Revolution picks apart the development of this communication tool to show how it has conquered the world. Explores how writing has liberated the world, making possible everything from complex bureaucracy, literature, and science, to instruction manuals and love letters Draws on an engaging range of examples, from the first cuneiform clay tablet, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Japanese syllabaries, to the printing press and the text messaging Weaves together ideas from a number of fields, including history, cultural studies and archaeology, as well as linguistics and literature, to create an interdisciplinary volume Traces the origins of each of the world's major written traditions, along with their applications, adaptations, and cultural influences

Author Biography

Amalia E. Gnanadesikan teaches writing at Holy Family University and has taught linguistics at West Chester and Rutgers universities. Her theoretical publications include works in phonology and language acquisition. Her column on language, "Postcards from Babel", appears in The Vocabula Review.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
The First IT Revolution	p. 1
Cuneiform: Forgotten Legacy of a Forgotten People	p. 13
Egyptian Hieroglyphs and the Quest for Eternity	p. 33
Chinese: A Love of Paperwork	p. 56
Maya Glyphs: Calendars of Kings	p. 79
Linear B: The Clerks of Agamemnon	p. 95
Japanese: Three Scripts are Better than One	p. 113
Cherokee: Sequoyah Reverse-Engineers	p. 133
The Semitic Alphabet: Egypt to Manchuria in 3,400 Years	p. 143
The Empire of Sanskrit	p. 169
King Sejong's One-Man Renaissance	p. 191
Greek Serendipity	p. 208
The Age of Latin	p. 229
The Alphabet Meets the Machine	p. 249
Appendix: Figures A.1-A.7	p. 273
Further Reading	p. 281
Index	p. 297
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