HOW WAS WRITING BORN?
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HOW WAS WRITING BORN?
Writing: a means of communication. Testimonial legacies from our past. What were previous civilisations like? Law, literature and science are all preserved and transmitted through their being written down. History of writing: The Sumerians, Mesopotamia, Egypt (hieroglyphics, papyrus) and Chinese writing. The Phoenician, Arabic and Greek alphabets. Johannes Gütenberg: The printing-press and its evolution. Summary.
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INTRODUCTION
In ancient times, culture was stored in mankind’s memory and was transmitted orally.
The invention of writing serves to distinguish History from Prehistory times.
We can, nowadays, know a great deal about past civilisations.
Newspapers and magazines, laws, literature and Science are conserved and transmitted in writing.
Traffic signs.
WRITING
The oldest form of writing of which we know was invented by the Sumerians.
Pictographs.
Rawlinson deciphered a text carved in three different languages.
Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. Champollion. The Rosetta Stone.
Papyrus: a support for their writing.
Cursive or demotic writing.
The Chinese writing
THE ALPHABET
The alphabet only uses thirty signs.
The Phoenicians had one of the very first alphabets.
Arabic is a language which has no vowels.
The Greek alphabet.
The Latin alphabet.
THE PRINTING PRESS
During the Middle Ages, monks were charged with the preservation and propagation of the written word.
Guttenberg invented the first printing-press with interchangeable type-keys.
Moderns printing is carried out using presses fed with continuous paper reels.lay out the pages in a variety of ways.
Instruments for writing by hand: brushes, feather-pens, ballpoints, felt-tip pens.
SUMMARY |
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