Orly Goldwasser makes the claim that the alphabet was invented by Canaanites who were directly influenced by Egyptian hieroglyphics. He suggests that Egyptian hieroglyphics made it possible for the alphabet to be invented. She explains that the Canaanites likely used hieroglyphics as models and taking small sections of the pictograms and using them in a way to represent sounds. She clarifies that he thinks it’s likely that for some of the letters, they used objects from their own world as models instead of hieroglyphics. She further argues that these Canaanites were not sophisticated scribes, but rather were illiterate, based on his belief that they could not read hieroglyphics. She takes this position based on his observations of letters …show more content…
While both arguments are logical and based on evidence that could prove either true, Goldwasser gives a better picture and a more clear explanation of his hypothesis. Additionally, Rainy makes claims which are simply assumptions that not based on factual evidence such as when he states “It is obvious that the original pictorial forms of the alphabet must have been written on dozens, hundreds, of papyrus sheets that have not survived.” He does not, however, provide any explanation for how he arrived at this conclusion and what makes him believe to be absolute fact. In addition, Goldwasser, provides a response for each of Rainey’s points by providing a clear explanation with evidence and pictures to illustrate and support his claims. For example, in response to Rainy’s argument that the consonants of the alphabet from a life too sophisticated for pastoral nomads and mining laborers, Goldwasser provides a list of identified in the emerging alphabet such as a fish, the head of a bull, a hand, water, a snake and an eye. All of these signs, he explains, reference the everyday and spiritual work and not the sophisticated life identified by
How can it be that something so uniquely human and commonplace in our everyday existence as language, could transcend the limits of our immediate understanding? We all know how to speak and comprehend at least one language, but defining what we actually know about that language an infinitely more demanding process. How can a child without previous knowledge of the construction and concepts of language be born into the world with an innate ability to apprehend any dialect? Mark Baker, in his book The Atoms of Language, seeks to address these unsettling questions, proposing as a solution, a set of underlying linguistic ingredients, which interact to generate the wide variety of languages we see today.
Writing is one of the many factors which can lead to an unequal world. Writing was “One of the most important inventions in human history” (Prososki, “Writing”). It was believed to come from the Fertile Crescent called Sumer around 5,000 years ago. Over the years, writing has advanced as people created writing and printing systems, which were able to reach
To start out, the Sumerians invented cuneiform, which had a major impact on the future. It was invented 5,000 years ago (Doc. 1). They used it to keep records about their crops, business dealings, and occasionally love letters (OI). They also used cuneiform to write myths (OI). Cuneiform was written on clay tablets, then baked
Egyptian hieroglyphs were carved in stone, and later hieratic script was written on papyrus. However, Olmec glyphs was discovered on cylinders. Hence, Egyptians and Olmec had different types of writing, and different places to write.
were not the first to use writing and several areas such as Mesopotamia developed writing
civilization. They started the Olympic games. Greeks come up with the idea of an alphabet
Alphabet, a short story by Ryan O 'Neill, uses a variety of literary techniques to portray the importance of relationships and a work-life balance by examining a writer 's interactions.
Still, there are many other writing systems of numerous lost civilizations that have yet to be deciphered. Until then, we can only make well thought inferences, and educated guesses until the next Rosetta Stone is unearthed. Works Cited 1. What is the difference between a. and a. Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis. Egyptian Language- Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphs.
Humans have been using written language to communicate ideas with one another since as early as 3200 BCE in Mesopotamia. Since then, every great civilization has had a written language, each with its own unique characteristics. However, it was the writin...
The ancient Egyptians believed that it was important to record and communicate information about religion and government. Thus, they invented written scripts that could be used to record this
William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, in 1897. He wrote a variety of short stories, plays, and novels, including the classic As I Lay Dying. This innovative novel, published in 1930, has a sense of dark humour and shock value. It has an unconventional narrative style, with 15 first person narrators. As I Lay Dying features The Bundrens, an incredibly poor family who live on their farm in Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional county in Mississippi. The family matriarch, Addie Bundren, dies early in the novel. The rest of the story is based on her family- her husband, Anse, and their five children: Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman, and their attempt to fulfill her wish of being buried in Jefferson. They must transport her coffin on a wagon across the county, a trip which takes a total of ten days. They encounter many obstacles during their journey, all while trying to deal with the death of their recently passed mother. While the whole family goes to Jefferson for varying motivations, it seems that Jewel is the driving force of the journey, which Darl does everything in his power to sabotage it.
... helped the architecture to have accurate measurements . Another civilization that also developed a system of writing was China. The written language could be easily to read and understand, but when they spoke it it was difficult to understand. This civilization had a big advantage with the system of writing because all parts of china everyone could learn the language even if they already spoke a different language. This helped make a great civilization because it unifies a large and diverse land and this helped to control it easier. One disadvantage it has is that the writing system has a lot of things to memorize. So if you were a wealthy kid and went to a good school you could memorize the major part of the language, but if you were in the lower class and went to a cheap school then you had trouble learning the language because they didn’t teach the whole language
Remove barriers: If follow these steps and reach this point in the change process, and will discuss the vision and build the support of all levels of the organization. The Organization shall review the organizational structure, job descriptions, compensation and performance systems to ensure they are in line with this vision. Create urgency for change to occur, it is useful if the whole society really wants. Develop a sense of urgency about the need for change. This can help the company Alphabet Games spark of motivation to get things moving. It will help to identify potential threats, and develop scenarios showing what could happen in the future. It also examines
Also, they were considered the first people to use a metal plow in farming due to their development of the bronze which they also used in making weapons and tools. But one of their most prize contribution to this world is their invention of writing. From one of the empires of the Mesopotamians, the Sumerians are responsible for the oldest writing system that exist in this world. They called their form of writing as cuneiform which is composed of shape marks that represent syllables (Mark,
According to Ezra Pound, great literature is “simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree,” (Pound 28) and “news that stays news” (29). In his book, ABC of Reading, Pound explains that one can “charge words with meaning mainly in three ways, called phanopoeia, melopoeia, logopoeia” (37). The way he wrote his book is analogous to the way any writing should be: clear rather than abstract and very concise. The poetry appended to the volume, too, tends toward the clean, precise and concise. John Donne’s, “The Ecstasy” is one of many that Pound classifies as “great literature” and therefore part of the canon of great literature.