Writing systems

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Writing systems

• Linguistics 484

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Preview

• Some ideas about how to think about writing
  systems
• Japanese, Chinese, syllable structure
• Written languages are effectively codes

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(No Transcript)
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Leaf
Bee
Belief
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Rebus principle

• The symbols represent the parts of the word.
• The connection to the full word is through the
  sound.

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Three kinds of problem

• Class 1 language known, script not known.
• Class 2 language not known, script known.
• Class 3 neither script nor language known.

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Class 1

• Ugaritic language assumed to be Phoenician,
  script unknown

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Class 2

• Gothic script known, language not known, but
  clearly an ancestor of modern Germanic languages.

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Class 3

• Hieroglyphics language unknown, principles of
  script not understood
• Linear B same

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Cryptography

• For which class is it easiest to see how to use
  ideas we have already studied?

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Types of writing system

• Logographic
• Logophonetic
• Syllabic
• Consonantal alphabetic
• Syllabic alphabetic
• CV alphabetic

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Chinese

• Chinese is logographic. (From Greek logos
  word, graphos writing)
• This means that each symbol represents a word.

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Chinese

• Omniglot (great resource http//www.omniglot.com)
  calls Chinese semantic/phonetic
• Characters may contain a hint at meaning.
• Characters may contain a hint at sound.

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Pictograms signlooks (a bit) like what it means
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Ideograms character represents an abstract
concept
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Semantic phonetic
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Sound and meaning
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Radicals

• Early Chinese writing was strongly pictographic
  and phonetic.
• Used rebus principle.
• But this led to ambiguity, so scribes began to
  add radicals to disambiguate the words. These are
  extra symbols that have no independent sound.

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Chinese
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Sound change

• Because of changes in the language, the
  phonetic part of the characters of modern
  Chinese may represent the sounds of old words
  that are no longer used.

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Logographic systems

• There may be thousands of signs.
• Probably, no individual knows/uses them all.
• Counting the signs is helpful

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Syllables

• Every language has syllables.
• A syllable consists of a vowel plus (perhaps)
  some consonants before and after it

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Parts of the syllable
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Syllable structure

• Languages have rules about what can appear in
  each structural position
• Every syllable has to have a nucleus
• All languages allow at least one consonant in the
  onset

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For example

• English allows the NG sound in the coda, but
  not in the onset.
• This is called a phonotactic constraint.

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Types of syllable

• An open syllable is one that has an empty coda.
  (e.g. boo,moo,ah,strew)
• A closed syllable is one that has a non-empty
  coda (e.g. book,moon,at,strengths)

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Consonant clusters

• Strengths has two clusters of three consonants
  each S T R and NG TH S
• Languages can differ in what consonant clusters
  they allow, and where.
• For example, English does allow PT in the coda
  KEPT, but not in the onset.

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Hawaiian
Akamai Aloha Hiapo Hauoli Kahu Kahuna Koa Kumu Kup
una Kuuipo Laki Lani
Laulea Laulima Lehua Leilani Luna Mahalo Maikai Ma
kana Makua Malama Moopuna Puuwai Tutu Waipahe
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Hawaiian
A-ka-mai A-lo-ha Hi-a-po Hau-o-li Ka-hu Ka-hu-na K
oa Ku-mu Ku-pu-na Kuu-i-po La-ki La-ni
Lau-lea Lau-lima Le-hua Lei-lani Lu-na Ma-ha-lo Ma
i-kai Ma-ka-na Ma-kua Ma-la-ma Moo-pu-na Puu-wai T
u-tu Wai-pa-he
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Hawaiian

• Simple rule 1 no coda allowed
• Simple rule 2 onset has zero or one consonants
• Simple rule 3 some long vowels

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a, ai, an, ang, ao ba, bai, ban, bang, bao,
bei, ben, beng, bi, bian, biao, bie, bin, bing,
bo, bu ca, cai, can, cang, cao, ce, cei, cen,
ceng, cha, chai, chan, chang, chao, che, chen,
cheng, chi, chong, chou, chu, chua, chuai,
chuan, chuang, chui, chun, chuo, ci, cong, cou,
cu, cuan, cui, cun, cuo da, dai, dan, dang,
dao, de, dei, den, deng, di, dian, diao, die,
ding, diu, dong, dou, du, duan, dui, dun,
duo e, ê, ei, en, er fa, fan, fang, fei,
fen, feng, fo, fou, fu ga, gai, gan, gang,
gao, ge, gei, gen, geng, gong, gou, gu, gua,
guai, guan, guang, gui, gun, guo ha, hai, han,
hang, hao, he, hei, hen, heng, hm, hng, hong,
hou, hu, hua, huai, huan, huang, hui, hun,
huo ji, jia, jian, jiang, jiao, jie, jin,
jing, jiong, jiu, ju, juan, jue, jun ka, kai,
kan, kang, kao, ke, kei, ken, keng, kong, kou,
ku, kua, kuai, kuan, kuang, kui, kun, kuo la,
lai, lan, lang, lao, le, lei, leng, li, lia,
lian, liang, liao, lie, lin, ling, liu, long,
lou, lu, luo, luan, lun, lü, lüe m, ma, mai,
man, mang, mao, mei, men, meng, mi, mian, miao,
mie, min, ming, miu, mo, mou, mu n, na, nai,
nan, nang, nao, ne, nei, nen, neng, ng, ni, nian,
niao, nie, nin, ning, niu, nong, nou, nu, nuo,
nuan, nü, nüe o, ou pa, pai, pan, pang,
pao, pei, pen, peng, pi, pian, piao, pie, pin,
ping, po, pou, pu qi, qia, qian, qiang, qiao,
qie, qin, qing, qiong, qiu, qu, quan, que,
qun ran, rang, rao, ren, reng, ri, rong, rou,
ru, rua, ruan, rui, run, ruo sa, sai, san,
sang, sao, se, sei, sen, seng, sha, shai, shan,
shang, shao, she, shei, shen, sheng, shi, shou,
shu, shua, shuai, shuan, shuang, shui, shun,
shuo, si, song, sou, su, suan, sui, sun,
suo ta, tai, tan, tang, tao, te, teng, ti,
tian, tiao, tie, ting, tong, tou, tu, tuan, tui,
tun, tuo wa, wai, wan, wang, wei, wen, weng,
wo, wu xi, xia, xian, xiang, xiao, xie, xin,
xing, xiong, xiu, xu, xuan, xue, xun ya, yan,
yang, yao, ye, yi, yin, ying, yong, you, yu,
yuan, yue, yun za, zai, zan, zang, zao, ze,
zei, zen, zeng, zha, zhai, zhan, zhang, zhao,
zhe, zhei, zhen, zheng, zhi, zhong, zhou, zhu,
zhua, zhuai, zhuan, zhuang, zhui, zhun, zhuo, zi,
zong, zou, zu, zuan, zui, zun, zuo
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Mandarin initial sounds
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Mandarin final sounds
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Standalone syllables
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Total number of sounds

• 411 possible sounds, plus 4 tones, makes about
  1600 syllables

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Rules for Mandarin

• No consonant clusters.
• Consonants only in onset, apart from two nasals.
• All syllables are (kind of) open.

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Pronunciations
http//www.uvm.edu/chinese/pinyin.htm
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Implications for writing

• Syllables quite restricted.
• Explains need for radicals.
• How would you use ciphers with Chinese?

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Japanese

• Differs from Chinese linguistically.
• Chinese is isolating.
• Japanese has inflections

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Inflections
Mary-ga kono Nihon kara-no kagaku-no
gakusei-o korosi ta Mary-SUBJ that Japan
from chemistry of student-DO killed PAST
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Writing system

• First shot at Japanese writing used Chinese
  characters for both content words and grammatical
  endings.
• Way too confusing

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Solution

• Three scripts!
• Hiragana - used for native Japanese words
• Katakana - used for inflexions and non-Chinese
  foreign words
• Kanji - the literate language

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Hiragana
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Katakana
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Kanji
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Kanji

• Basic repertoire of 1945 Chinese characters
  everyone has too learn
• About another 8,000 you might see in a novel but
  not in a government leaflet

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Kanji

• Many Chinese words have been borrowed into
  Japanese. Same characters get used for both
• Kun yomi - Japanese reading
• On yomi - Sino-Japanese reading

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Water
Native Japanese water mizu
Sino- Japanese water sui
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Japanese codes?

• How do you make a code or cipher for this?

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Abjad Hebrew
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Hindi alphasyllabary
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Code breaking

• How many symbols?
• How organized?
• What patterns will we see

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Cherokee
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Greek

• 23 separate symbols.
• Greek writing is an alphabet. Consonants and
  vowels both exist in written form.

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6
13
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Cherokee

• Cherokee is a syllabary, each sign corresponds to
  a consonant paired with a vowel.
• 6 13 78 symbols.