The Writing Revolution Cuneiform to the Internet

by Gnanadesikan, Amalia E.

• ISBN13: 9781444304671
• ISBN10: 1444304674
• Edition: 1st
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2009-03-05
• 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 vii

Preface xi

1 The First IT Revolution 1

2 Cuneiform: Forgotten Legacy of a Forgotten People 13

3 Egyptian Hieroglyphs and the Quest for Eternity 33

4 Chinese: A Love of Paperwork 56

5 Maya Glyphs: Calendars of Kings 79

6 Linear B: The Clerks of Agamemnon 95

7 Japanese: Three Scripts are Better than One 113

8 Cherokee: Sequoyah Reverse-Engineers 133

9 The Semitic Alphabet: Egypt to Manchuria in 3,400 Years 143

10 The Empire of Sanskrit 169

11 King Sejong's One-Man Renaissance 191

12 Greek Serendipity 208

13 The Age of Latin 229

14 The Alphabet Meets the Machine 249

Appendix: Figures A.1–A.7 273

Further Reading 281

Index 297