A S L 3 Lecture 21:
Document Summary
Task 1 the wider picture: the invention of writing. Preliterate civilizations --> civilizations before writing was invented. Possible to discern features of these civilizations by studying civilizations that do not use writing. Lindberg"s research revealed three important characteristics: their skills are not based on understanding how things work, but rather on practical rules of what do to when --> knowledge confined to know-how without theoretical understanding of underlying principles. Myths and stories fulfilled human need for explanatory principles capable of bringing order and meaning to events. Written language appeared separately in at least 4 different cultures: china (6000 bce), egypt (3200 bce), Sumer (3200 bce) and american (olmec and maya, 300 bce). Early writing systems --> combination of pictograms (pictures resembling a person, animal or object it represents) and phonograms (sign that represents a sound or syllable of spoken language). Use of phonograms to represent phonemes led to alphabetic writing systems.
