Writing Systems: Crash Course Linguistics #16 - Free Educational videos for Students in K-12

Writing Systems: Crash Course Linguistics #16 - By Math and Science

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00:0-1	Hi , I'm taylor and welcome to the last episode
00:02	of crash course linguistics . All human societies have language
00:05	either spoken or signed or both . But writing is
00:09	a technology that got invented in different ways in different
00:12	places . So not all languages have a standardized written
00:15	form . The development of writing is influenced by lots
00:18	of things . The structure of the languages they represent
00:21	, the tools used to produce them and whose powerful
00:24	in a given place in time . And this set
00:26	of conventions that are used to represent a language in
00:28	writing are called a writing system or an Ortho graffiti
00:33	. Yeah , yeah . A writing system involves two
00:45	parts . There's the symbols or graph themes and then
00:48	there's what the symbols stand for . Broadly speaking ,
00:51	graph teams can represent three different levels of linguistic information
00:55	. Individual sounds , syllables or words . Let's start
00:59	with graph teams that represent the smallest amount of information
01:02	. Single sounds or phonemes . A writing system where
01:05	each grapheme represents . A phoneme is known as an
01:08	alphabet . We've seen in earlier episodes . How the
01:11	international phonetic alphabet represents each possible sound in any language
01:16	with a simple , the alphabetic principle of one sound
01:19	per symbol is also the case at least most of
01:21	the time for the latin alphabet . This system is
01:23	used for many languages in Western year , like english
01:26	and Finnish , and for the ones that were influenced
01:29	by european colonization , such as Vietnamese and Swahili .
01:32	There are other alphabets to including the cyrillic alphabet .
01:35	Used to write many languages in Eastern europe , including
01:38	Bulgarian and Russian , as well as greek . There
01:40	are a few reasons why alphabets get more complicated than
01:43	exactly one symbol per sound . First . Many languages
01:47	used accent marks or write several graph teams together to
01:50	represent various sounds , especially sounds that weren't in the
01:53	language they borrowed their alphabet from like the sounds english
01:56	rights with th S . H . And C .
01:58	H . Weren't present in latin , which we borrowed
02:00	our alphabet from Second . Although languages naturally change over
02:03	time , it's harder to convince people to change how
02:06	they learned to write the silent K . And knee
02:09	was can A . In middle english and it still
02:12	hasn't gone away . Third languages often borrow words from
02:15	each other and stick with the other languages spelling conventions
02:19	fourth and finally , while spelling maybe standardized across the
02:22	language , the pronunciation may vary greatly in english .
02:25	We spell the word running with a G at the
02:27	end , even though in many varieties of english it's
02:29	pronounced running , even if people wanted to reform the
02:32	spelling , whose version of running should they prefer for
02:35	further nuance . Some researchers distinguish between alphabets proper where
02:39	every phoneme gets a symbol and ab gods . In
02:42	an ab dad , primarily constants get their own symbols
02:45	and valves can be left unwritten . Many Semitic languages
02:48	are written with ab gods including Arabic and hebrew .
02:51	The next type of writing system is where each grapheme
02:53	represents a syllable known as the silla bury in a
02:56	silly berry . There's a different symbol for say Gava
02:59	and guy rather than symbols for good . Uh ,
03:03	and so on . Many writing systems in the region
03:06	around India are based on the new Gari scylla berry
03:09	where there's a different symbol for each syllable like ca
03:12	or ga . Then there's a small modification to indicate
03:15	the vowel to make key or co . Finally at
03:18	the upper end , we have writing systems where each
03:21	grapheme can represent a whole word or more forms of
03:24	any length . These systems are called log a .
03:26	Graphic writing . The chinese writing system is generally considered
03:29	to be an example of log a graphic writing .
03:32	This character means rabbit . It can't be broken down
03:35	into smaller parts . it's rabbit whether it's pronounced to
03:38	in mandarin or toe . In Cantonese . Some writing
03:41	systems also make use of more than one of these
03:43	strategies . For example , japanese uses a log a
03:46	graphic system called candy to represent many words as well
03:49	as a silly berry kana , to represent syllables for
03:52	adding grammatical information or loan words from other languages .
03:55	Some systems work really well for some languages . Semitic
03:59	languages are well suited to the Abkhaz system because they
04:02	don't have a strong focus on vowels . As we
04:04	discussed , an episode to the roots of many words
04:07	in Semitic languages are based on the continents and languages
04:10	where there aren't very many possible syllables like inuktitut Are
04:14	easier to write with a silla berry . But each
04:16	system has its trade offs . It's much easier to
04:18	learn . The 26 letters of the English Alphabet ,
04:21	Then the 4000 plus characters needed to read Chinese .
04:24	But the Chinese system takes much less space to convey
04:27	information . Plus it can be read by people whose
04:30	languages sound very different . The development of writing systems
04:33	was influenced by the tools available . Some writing systems
04:36	are carved into stone . Others involve using a brush
04:39	and ink on paper . Some scholars even believe that
04:42	the Incas may have had a system of knotted strings
04:45	called keep up to record their language . Usually the
04:47	medium used to record a writing system influences the way
04:50	it looks . Roman script was very angular because that
04:54	was easy to carve into rock while the brush is
04:56	used to write Chinese scripts influenced their flowing style .
04:59	But language existed for a very long time before anyone
05:02	started writing anywhere from 200,000 to 50,000 years ago .
05:07	It's impossible to pin down because sounds and signs don't
05:10	leave fossils . We know writing is much more recent
05:12	, but unfortunately no one has left us a written
05:15	record that says February 21 today , I invented writing
05:19	, archaeologists have found records of proto writing , which
05:21	involves using symbols to represent specific meanings but not in
05:25	whole strings like a sentence as best we can tell
05:27	. Writing was only invented independently three times in human
05:31	history . Each of these three times the idea of
05:34	writing spread to other cultures , sometimes changing shape a
05:37	lot along the way and each time the leap to
05:39	writing most likely was a slow process that took place
05:42	over generations . Not a sudden invention by a single
05:45	clever person . Let's head to the thought bubble for
05:48	some time travel through symbols , invention of writing number
05:51	one . In the Bronze Age around 4500 years ago
05:55	a cluster of cultures developed writing systems . The earliest
05:58	was the sumerian culture in Mesopotamia Modern day Iraq .
06:02	They're writing system is known as cuneiform and involved pressing
06:05	a stylist into soft clay . This sumerian writing probably
06:09	inspired the writing systems of other major Bronze Age civilizations
06:12	around the Mediterranean , like the Egyptians with their high
06:15	rock cliffs , those high reliefs inspired a writing system
06:17	that eventually became the phoenician writing system , Which was
06:20	adapted by the Greeks and ultimately became the Latin Alphabet
06:23	that English uses number two . There is evidence that
06:26	at least 3500 years ago writing developed in China .
06:31	The earliest examples of this writing system , known as
06:34	the Oracle Bone script have been found carved onto ox
06:37	phones and turtle shells which were used in divination rituals
06:40	. The Chinese writing system continued to develop and today
06:43	each character represents a word or one syllable of a
06:46	multi syllable word number three . Around 3000 years ago
06:50	. The old necklace , the oldest writing system in
06:53	meso America was created in modern day Mexico . This
06:56	system used a combination of word level logger , grams
06:59	with syllable level symbols . A number of Mesoamerican civilizations
07:02	have written records using such cliffs , including the Zapotec
07:05	and the Aztecs , but the most successfully deciphered is
07:08	the mayan system . Thanks for taking us back in
07:11	time thought bubble . Since its origins , the latin
07:13	alphabet has involved repeated borrowing from one language to another
07:17	, Often unrelated language . Each time the system was
07:19	changed to better represent the sands in a particular language
07:22	or to fit the writing tools and surfaces used by
07:25	a particular culture before getting borrowed again by another language
07:28	. Some letters of the alphabet have had relatively uneventful
07:31	histories . The letter B started as the letter bet
07:35	, originally meaning house . It changed form to the
07:38	character we recognize his B . But kept the same
07:40	pronunciation . In contrast , the phoenician letter wall meaning
07:44	hook has had a wild ride . It's the origin
07:47	of the english letters that we know today as F
07:49	. U . V . W . And Y .
07:52	Other symbols were influenced by technology . English . Used
07:55	to use the symbols thorn and ev to represent the
07:58	sounds at the beginning of the and thing . But
08:01	they weren't available on early printers from continental europe .
08:04	So people started using th or why instead . That's
08:08	why ye olde tea shop is just another spelling of
08:11	the old tea shop . Once the idea of writing
08:14	as a technology spread , some writing systems were built
08:17	from scratch without directly borrowing systems and symbols . In
08:20	some exceptional cases , these newly created writing systems became
08:24	the Ortho graffiti for a whole language . The Cherokee
08:27	scylla berry was created by native american polymath sequoia in
08:31	the early 18 hundreds . It quickly led to many
08:33	Cherokee language newspapers and other publications and is still in
08:37	use today . Although some symbols in the Cherokee scylla
08:40	berry resemble latin letters . They stand for completely different
08:43	sounds , such as these three , which stand forth
08:46	psychology or Cherokee . Another example is Hung Gle ,
08:50	the writing system used for korean . It was devised
08:53	by King Sejong the Great in 14 43 as a
08:56	replacement for chinese characters , which weren't well suited for
08:59	the structure of korean . Mango is especially cool ,
09:01	linguistically speaking , because the shapes of the symbols are
09:04	based on the position of the mouth while producing them
09:07	. For example , no looks like the tongue touching
09:10	the front part of the roof of the mouth ,
09:11	whereas gaga looks like the tongue touching the back part
09:14	of the roof of the mouth instead , and the
09:16	evolution of writing systems hasn't stopped . Sometimes these changes
09:20	are political , like when the Turkish moved from the
09:22	Arabic script to latin in 1928 as part of President
09:26	Ataturk's political reforms . And after the american revolution ,
09:29	lexicographer , Noah Webster had some luck differentiating american english
09:34	from british english with spelling reforms like color without the
09:37	U and the center instead of center . But regularized
09:41	spelling itself isn't even that old . There was lots
09:44	of inconsistency in the spelling of even basic words .
09:47	In the earliest written english medieval manuscripts were written by
09:51	monks who wrote in ways that reflected their own accents
09:54	and even Shakespeare spelled his own name six different ways
09:57	. When the printing press was invented , it got
09:59	easier and cheaper to produce written material , which led
10:02	to greater regularization in spelling and more widespread literacy .
10:06	English spelling is in many ways a reflection of where
10:08	the languages that four centuries ago when the standardization started
10:12	the internet made producing and sharing writing even easier ,
10:16	a social media post can go viral without passing through
10:18	the hands of an editor or a printer . And
10:21	the average person writes a lot more often than before
10:23	. We had things like phones and texting . So
10:25	people are using creative re spelling like repeated letters and
10:28	all caps and visual editions like emojis , emoticons and
10:32	gifts to convey more than the literal meaning of words
10:35	. They can express sarcasm , irony and other kinds
10:37	of nuances that usually come from tone of voice or
10:40	gesture and speech . We can see our writing system
10:43	evolving before our eyes . People also use more recent
10:46	technology to sidestep the need for writing altogether . For
10:50	languages that haven't historically been written down as often ,
10:52	including many signed languages . People often send audio or
10:56	video files through social media . And here in crash
10:59	course linguistics we've been using the Internet to learn about
11:01	linguistics . We've learned about how language is made up
11:04	of smaller pieces like sounds and hand shapes , which
11:07	combined into larger ones like morphine signs and words and
11:11	into even larger sentences and conversations . We've also learned
11:14	that all forms of language are worth getting excited about
11:18	. Language is the world's greatest collaborative project and we're
11:21	all participating in it every day . So the next
11:24	time you find yourself distracted from what someone saying by
11:26	wondering about how they're saying it . Congratulations . You're
11:31	thinking like a linguist . Thanks for watching the final
11:33	episode of crash course linguistics . If you want to
11:36	help keep all crash course free for everybody forever ,
11:39	you can join our community on Patreon .

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