View source for Written communication

{{EdPsy}}
'''Writing''' is the representation of language in a textual [[Media (arts)|medium]] through the use of signs or symbols. It is distinguished from [[illustration]], such as [[cave drawing]] and [[painting]], and the recording of language via a non-textual medium such as [[Magnetic tape sound recording|magnetic tape audio]]. 

Writing began as a consequence of the burgeoning needs of accounting. Around the 4th millennium BC, the complexity of trade and administration outgrew the power of memory, and writing became a more dependable method of recording and presenting transactions in a permanent form (Robinson, 2003, p. 36). 

<!-- [[Image:Caslonsample.jpg|thumb|350px|''A Specimend'' of typesdet fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letdter founder; from the 1728 ''[[Cyclopaedia]]''.]]-->
== Writing as a category ==
''Writing'', more particularly, refers to two things: ''writing'' as a [[noun]], the ''thing'' that is written; and ''writing'' as a [[verb]], which designates the ''activity'' of writing. It refers to the [[inscription]] of [[Glyph|characters]] on a medium, thereby forming [[Word (linguistics)|word]]s, and larger units of [[language]], known as texts. It also refers to the creation of meaning and the [[information]] thereby generated. In that regard, [[linguistics]] (and related [[sciences]]) distinguishes between the [[written language]] and the [[spoken language]]. The significance of the medium by which meaning and information is conveyed is indicated by the distinction made in the arts and sciences. For example, 
while [[public speaking]] and [[poetry reading]] are both types of [[Speech communication|speech]], the former is governed by the rules of [[rhetoric]] and the latter by [[poetics]].

A person who composes a message or story in the form of text is generally known as a [[writer]] or an [[author]]. However, more specific designations exist which are dictated by the particular nature of the text such as that of [[poet]], [[essayist]], [[novelist]], [[playwright]], [[journalist]], and more. A person who [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcribes]], [[translation|translates]] or produces text to deliver a message authored by another person is known as a [[scribe]], [[typing|typist]] or [[typesetter]]. A person who produces text with emphasis on the [[aesthetics]] of [[glyph]]s is known as a [[calligrapher]] or [[graphic designer]]. 

Writing is also a distinctly [[human]] activity. It has been said that a [[monkey]], randomly typing away on a [[typewriter]] (in the days when typewriters replaced the [[pen]] or [[Feather#Utilitarian functions|plume]] as the preferred instrument of writing) could re-create [[Shakespeare]]-- but only if it lived long enough (this is known as the [[infinite monkey theorem]]). Such writing has been speculatively designated as [[coincident]]al. It is also speculated that [[Extraterrestrial life|extra-terrestrial]] beings exist who may possess knowledge of writing. The fact is that the only known writing is human writing.

== Means for recording information ==

Wells argues that writing has the ability to "put agreements, laws, commandments on record. It made the growth of states larger than the old city states possible. The command of the priest or king and his seal could go far beyond his sight and voice and could survive his death" (Wells in Robinson, 2003, p. 35). 

=== Writing systems ===
The major [[writing system]]s – methods of inscription – broadly fall into four categories: logographic, syllabic, alphabetic, and featural.
Another category, [[ideographic]] (symbols for ideas), has never been developed sufficiently to represent language. A sixth category, [[pictographic]], is insufficient to represent language on its own, but often forms the core of logographies.

==== Logographies ====
A [[logogram]] is a written character which represents a word or [[morpheme]]. The vast number of logograms needed to write language, and the many years required to learn them, are the major disadvantage of the logographic systems over alphabetic systems. However, the efficiency of reading logographic writing once it is learned is a major advantage.
No writing system is wholly logographic: all have phonetic components as well as logograms ("logosyllabic" components in the case of [[Chinese characters]], [[cuneiform]], and [[Mayan script|Mayan]], where a glyph may stand for a morpheme, a syllable, or both; "logoconsonantal" in the case of hieroglyphs), and many have an ideographic component (Chinese "radicals", hieroglyphic "determiners"). For example, in Mayan, the glyph for "fin", pronounced "ka'", was also used to represent the syllable "ka" whenever the pronunciation of a logogram needed to be indicated, or when there was no logogram. In Chinese, about 90% of characters are compounds of a semantic (meaning) element called a ''radical'' with an existing character to indicate the pronunciation, called a ''phonetic.'' However, such phonetic elements complement the logographic elements, rather than vice versa.

The main logographic system in use today is Chinese characters, used with some modification for various languages of China, Japanese, and, to a lesser extent, Korean in South Korea. Another is the classical [[Yi script]].

==== Syllabaries ====
A [[syllabary]] is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) [[syllable]]s. A glyph in a syllabary typically represents a consonant followed by a vowel, or just a vowel alone, though in some scripts more complex syllables (such as consonant-vowel-consonant, or consonant-consonant-vowel) may have dedicated glyphs. Phonetically related syllables are not so indicated in the script. For instance, the syllable "ka" may look nothing like the syllable "ki", nor will syllables with the same vowels be similar.

Syllabaries are best suited to languages with relatively simple syllable structure, such as Japanese. Other languages that use syllabic writing include the [[Linear B]] script for [[Mycenaean Greek]]; [[Cherokee]]; [[Ndjuka]], an English-based [[creole language]] of [[Surinam]]; and the [[Vai language|Vai]] script of [[Liberia]]. Most logographic systems have a strong syllabic component. [[Ge'ez alphabet|Ethiopic]], though technically an alphabet, has fused consonants and vowels together to the point that it's learned as if it were a syllabary.

==== Alphabets ====
{{see also|History of the alphabet}}

An [[alphabet]] is a small set of symbols, each of which roughly represents or historically represented a phoneme of the language. In a perfectly [[phonology|phonological]] alphabet, the phonemes and letters would correspond perfectly in two directions: a writer could predict the spelling of a word given its pronunciation, and a speaker could predict the pronunciation of a word given its spelling. As languages often evolve independently of their writing systems, and writing systems have been borrowed for languages they were not designed for, the degree to which letters of an alphabet correspond to phonemes of a language varies greatly from one language to another and even within a single language.

In most of the alphabets of the Mid-East, only consonants are indicated, or vowels may be indicated with optional diacritics. Such systems are called ''[[abjad]]s''. In most of the alphabets of India and Southeast Asia, vowels are indicated through diacritics or modification of the shape of the consonant. These are called ''[[abugida]]s''. Some abugidas, such as [[Ethiopic]] and [[Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics|Cree]], are learned by children as syllabaries, and so are often called "syllabics". However, unlike true syllabaries, there is not an independent glyph for each syllable.

Sometimes the term "alphabet" is restricted to systems with separate letters for consonants and vowels, such as the [[Latin alphabet]]. Because of this use, [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] is often considered to be the first alphabet. 

==== Featural scripts ====
A featural script notates the building blocks of the phonemes that make up a language. For instance, all sounds pronounced with the lips ("labial" sounds) may have some element in common. In the Latin alphabet, this is accidentally the case with the letters "b" and "p"; however, labial "m" is completely dissimilar, and the similar-looking "q" is not labial. In Korean [[hangul]], however, all four labial consonants are based on the same basic element. However, in practice, Korean is learned by children as an ordinary alphabet, and the featural elements tend to pass unnoticed.

Another featural script is [[SignWriting]], the most popular writing system for many [[sign languages]], where the shapes and movements of the hands and face are represented iconically. Featural scripts are also common in fictional or invented systems, such as [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien's]] [[Tengwar]].

==== Historical significance of writing systems ====
Historians draw a distinction between prehistory and history, with history defined by the advent of writing. The cave paintings and petroglyphs of prehistoric peoples can be considered precursors of writing, but are not considered writing because they did not represent language directly.

Writing systems always develop and change based on the needs of the people who use them. Sometimes the shape, orientation and meaning of individual signs also changes over time. By tracing the development of a script it is possible to learn about the needs of the people who used the script as well as how it changed over time.

=== Tools and materials ===
{{Unreferencedsection|date=September 2007}}
The many tools and writing materials used throughout history include [[stone tablets]], [[clay tablet]]s, [[wax tablet]]s, [[vellum]], [[parchment]], [[paper]], [[copperplate]], [[stylus]]es, [[quill]]s, [[ink brush]]es, [[pencil]]s, [[pen]]s, and many styles of [[lithography]].  It is speculated that the Incas might have employed knotted threads known as [[quipu]] (or khipu) as a writing system.  

For more information see [[writing implements]].

== History of early writing ==
{{main|History of writing}}
By definition, [[history]] begins with written records; evidence of human culture without writing is the realm of [[prehistory]]. 

The evolution of writing was a process involving economic necessity in the ancient near east. Archaeologist [[Denise Schmandt-Besserat]] determined the link between previously uncategorized clay "tokens" and the first known writing, [[cuneiform]].<ref name="Rudgley">{{cite book | title=The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age| last=Rudgley| first=Richard| authorlink=Richard Rudgley| date=2000| pages=48-57| publisher=Simon & Schuster| location=New York}}</ref> The clay tokens were used to represent commodities, and perhaps even units of [[time]] spent in [[labor]], and their number and type became more complex as civilization advanced. A degree of complexity was reached when over a hundred different kinds of tokens had to be accounted for, and tokens were wrapped and fired in clay, with markings to indicate the kind of tokens inside. These markings soon replaced the tokens themselves, and the clay envelopes were demonstrably the prototype for clay writing tablets.<ref name="Rudgley" />

=== Mesopotamia ===
The original [[Mesopotamian]] writing system was derived from this method of keeping accounts, and by the end of the [[4th millennium BC]],<ref>The Origin and Development of the Cuneiform System of Writing, Samuel Noah Kramer, ''Thirty Nine Firsts In Recorded History'' pp 381-383</ref> this had evolved into using a triangular-shaped stylus pressed into soft clay for recording numbers.  This was gradually augmented with pictographic writing using a sharp stylus to indicate what was being counted.  Round-stylus and sharp-stylus writing was gradually replaced by writing using a wedge-shaped stylus (hence the term [[cuneiform script|cuneiform]]), at first only for [[logogram]]s, but evolved to include phonetic elements by the 29th century BC. Around the 26th century BC, cuneiform began to represent syllables of spoken [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]. Also in that period, cuneiform writing became a general purpose writing system for logograms, syllables, and numbers, and this script was adapted to another Mesopotamian language, [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], and from there to others such as [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]], and [[Hittite language|Hittite]]. Scripts similar in appearance to this writing system include those for [[Ugaritic language|Ugaritic]] and [[Old Persian language|Old Persian]].

=== China ===
In [[China]] historians have found out a lot about the early Chinese dynasties from the written documents left behind. From the [[Shang Dynasty]] most of this writing has survived on bones or bronze implements. Markings on [[turtle]] [[Animal shell|shell]]s have been carbon-dated to around 1500 BC. Historians have found that the type of [[Media (arts)|media]] used had an effect on what the writing was documenting and how it was used.

There have recently been discoveries of tortoise-shell carvings dating back to c. 6000 BC, but whether or not the carvings are of sufficient complexity to qualify as writing is under debate.<ref>China Daily, 12 June 2003, ''Archaeologists Rewrite History'', http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Jun/66806.htm</ref> If it is deemed to be a written language, writing in China will predate Mesopotamian cuneiform, long acknowledged as the first appearance of writing, by some 2000 years.

=== Egypt ===
The earliest known [[Egyptian hieroglyph|hieroglyphic]] inscriptions are the [[Narmer Palette]], dating to c.3200 BC, and several recent discoveries that may be slightly older, though the glyphs were based on a much older artistic tradition. The hieroglyphic script was [[logogram|logographic]] with phonetic adjuncts that included an effective [[Egyptian hieroglyph#Script|alphabet]].

Writing was very important in maintaining the Egyptian empire, and literacy was concentrated among an educated elite of [[scribe]]s. Only people from certain backgrounds were allowed to train to become scribes, in the service of temple, pharaonic, and military authorities. The hieroglyph system was always difficult to learn, but in later centuries was purposely made even more so, as this preserved the scribes' status.

The world's [[Middle Bronze Age alphabets|oldest known alphabet]] was developed in central [[Egypt]] around 2000 BC from a [[hieroglyph]]ic prototype, and over the next 500 years spread to [[Canaan]] and eventually to the rest of the world.

=== Indus Valley ===
{{main|Indus script}}

[[Image:The'Ten Indus Scripts' discavered near the northen gateway of the citadel,Dholavira.JPG|thumb|Ten Indus scripts discovered near the northern gate of [[Dholavira]] (perhaps 5000 years old)]]
The [[Indus Valley Civilization|Indus Valley]] script is a mysterious aspect of ancient Indian culture as it has not yet been deciphered. All known inscriptions are short.

=== Phoenician writing system and descendants ===
The [[Phoenician script|Phoenician writing system]] was adapted from the Proto-Caananite script in around the 11th century BC, which in turn borrowed ideas from [[Egyptian hieroglyphics]]. This writing system was an [[abjad]] — that is, a [[writing system]] in which only consonants are represented. This script was adapted by the [[Greek alphabet|Greeks]], who adapted certain consonantal signs to represent their vowels. The [[Cumae alphabet]], a [[variant]] of the early Greek alphabet gave rise to the [[Etruscan alphabet]], and its own descendants, such as the [[Latin alphabet]] and [[Rune]]s. Other descendants from the [[Greek alphabet]] include the [[Cyrillic alphabet]], used to write [[Russian language|Russian]], among others. The Phoenician system was also adapted into the [[Aramaic script]], from which the [[Hebrew script]] and also that of [[Arabic script|Arabic]] are descended.

The [[Tifinagh]] script (Berber languages) is descended from the Libyco-Berber script which is assumed to be of Phoenician origin.

=== Mesoamerica ===
Of several [[pre-Colombian]] scripts in [[Mesoamerica]], the one that appears to have been best developed, and the only one to be deciphered, is the [[Maya script]]. The earliest inscriptions which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BC, and writing was in continuous use until shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century AD. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs, somewhat similar in function to modern Japanese writing.

== Creation of text or information ==
=== Creativity ===
{{main|Creativity|Creative Writing}}

=== Author ===
{{main|Author}}

=== Writer ===

{{main|Writer}}

=== Critiques ===
{{Unreferencedsection|date=September 2007}}
Writers sometimes search out others to evaluate or criticize their work. To this end, many writers join [[writing circle]]s, often found at local [[Library|libraries]] or [[bookstore]]s. With the evolution of the [[Internet]], writing circles have started to go online.

{{Wikibookspar||Fiction technique}}

==See also==
{| width="100%"
|- valign=top
|width="33%"| 
* [[Calligraphy]]
* [[Collaborative writing]]
* [[Communication]]
* [[Composition studies]]
* [[Creative writing]]
* [[Essay]]
* [[Grammar]]
* [[Graphonomics]]
* [[Interactive fiction]]
|width="33%"|
* [[Journalism]]
* [[Linguistics]]
* [[Literacy]]
* [[Literature]]
* [[Manuscript]]
* [[Note taking]]
* [[Orthography]]
* [[Printing]]
* [[Proofreading]]
|width="33%"| 
* [[Publishing]]
* [[Rhetoric]]
* [[Speech communication]]
* [[Typography]]
* [[Verbal ability]]
* [[Word processing]]
* [[Writer]]
* [[Writer's block]]
* [[Writing skills]]
* [[Writing style]]
* [[Writing systems]]
* [[Writer's voice]]
|}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20060428121604/http://www.delmar.edu/engl/instruct/stomlin/1301int/lessons/language/history.htm History of Writing]
* <Cite>A History of Writing: From Hieroglyph to Multimedia</cite>, edited by Anne-Marie Christin, [http://www.flammarion.com/groupe/ Flammarion] (in French, hardcover: 408 pages, 2002, ISBN 2-08-010887-5)
* [http://www.newjewishbooks.org/ITB/ ''In the Beginning:  A Short History of the Hebrew Language.''] By Joel M. Hoffman, 2004.  [http://www.newjewishbooks.org/ITB/toc.html Chapter 3] covers the invention of writing and its various stages. 
* [http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws.html Origins of writing on AncientScripts.com]
* [http://www.museumofwriting.co.uk/ Museum of Writing]: UK Museum of Writing with information on writing history and implements
* On ERIC Digests: [http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/writing.htm ''Writing Instruction: Current Practices in the Classroom'']; [http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/development.htm ''Writing Development'']; [http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/views.htm ''Writing Instruction: Changing Views over the Years'']
* [http://www.childrenofthecode.org/Tour/c5/index.htm Children of the Code: The Power of Writing - Online Video]
* Rogers, Henry. 2005. ''Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach.'' Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-23463-2 (hardcover); ISBN 0-631-23464-0 (paperback)
* Ankerl, Guy. 2000. ''Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western.'' Geneva: INU Press, ISBN 2-88155-004-5, pp. 59-66, 235s.
* Robinson, Andrew "The Origins of Writing" in David Crowley and Paul Heyer (eds) <em>Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society</em> (Allyn and Bacon, 2003).

==External links==
* [http://www.uca.edu.ar/esp/sec-ffilosofia/esp/docs-institutos/s-cehao/boletin/damqatum3_eng2007.pdf Language, Writing and Alphabet: An Interview with Christophe Rico] [[Damqatum]] 3 (2007)
* [http://www.bl.uk/learning/artimages/why/whywrite.html Why write?] - a history of writing and the alphabet from the British Library
* [http://www.techtact.org/ TechTact.org] - A website for tactful technical writing
* [http://www.writiki.com Writiki.com] - A collaborative writing wiki

[[Category:Verbal communication]]
[[Category:Writing| ]]

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