| The Writing Systems of the World Contributor(s): Coulmas, Florian (Author) |
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ISBN: 0631180281 ISBN-13: 9780631180289 Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell OUR PRICE: $65.29 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 1991 Annotation: This book is an account of the writing systems of the world from earliest times to the present. Its aim is to explore the complex ways in which writing systems relate to the language they depict. Writing, Coulmas contends, is not only the guide or garment of spoken language, but has a deep and lasting effect on the development of language itself. His study takes in Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuneiform system of the ancient Near East; he describes Chinese writing, discussing why an apparently cumbersome system has been used continuously for more than 3,000 years; he ranges across the writing systems of western Asia and the Middle East, the Indian families and the various alphabetic traditions which had its origins in the multifarious world of Semitic writing and came to full bloom in pre-Classical Greece. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Language Arts & Disciplines | Alphabets & Writing Systems - Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics - General |
| Dewey: 411 |
| LCCN: 90020871 |
| Series: Language Library |
| Physical Information: 0.96" H x 6.01" W x 9.01" (1.00 lbs) 320 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This book is an account of the writing systems of the world from earliest times to the present. Its aim is to explore the complex ways in which writing systems relate to the language they depict. Writing, Coulmas contends, is not only the guide or garment of spoken language, but has a deep and lasting effect on the development of language itself. His study takes in Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuneiform system of the ancient Near East; he describes Chinese writing, discussing why an apparently cumbersome system has been used continuously for more than 3,000 years; he ranges across the writing systems of western Asia and the Middle East, the Indian families and the various alphabetic traditions which had its origins in the multifarious world of Semitic writing and came to full bloom in pre-Classical Greece. |
