Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Introduction-to-Writing-Systems

Writing systems are visual carriers of languages. They are tools, so they can be evaluated as tools. Here are the important information about the currently used and some historical writing systems.

Visit https://polyglotclub.com/wiki/Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Writing-Implements to see how to write.

In progress.

The writing direction of writing systems can vary.

Han used to be top-to-bottom, right-to-left. When writing, the left hand holds the roll of bamboo slips or other materials and the right hand writes.

Some writing systems were right-to-left, top-to-bottom. When writing, the left hand presses the parchment or other materials and the right hand writes.

The writing direction of Mayan and some others are zigzag: in the first two columns, write two characters in the first line, then the two characters in the second line; upon reaching the bottom, start a new column.

The writing direction of Greek used to be something called “Boustrophedon”: odd lines are normal, even lines are mirrored.

To avoid wiping the ink with the right hand, the writing direction of many writing systems are changed to left-to-right.

Logogram

It is the earliest form of writing systems. As what its name suggests, they are pictures (logo).

Its advantage is able to express the meaning easily, even without needing unified pronunciations. Its disadvantage is having too many glyphs to memorise.

writing system	language	region	timespan	parent writing system	example
Anatolian	Luwian	Anatolia	14th to 13th century BC – 7th century BC
Aztec	Nahuatl	Mesoamerica	? – c. 1530
Chữ Nôm	Vietnamese	Vietnam	15th century – 19th century	Han
Cretan	Minoan	Crete	c. 2100 BC – 1700 BC		(Δίσκος της Φαιστού Dískos tis Phaistós)
Cuneiform	Sumerian, Akkadian, etc.	Mesopotamia	c. 35th century BC – 2nd century
Cypro-Minoan	Eteocypriot	Cyprus	c. 1550 BC – 1050 BC	Linear A
Dongba	Naxi	Southeastern China	1000 –
Egyptian	Egyptian	Egypt	c. 3200 BC – 400
Han	Chinese, etc.	East Asia	2nd millennium BC –
Jurchen	Jurchen	Northeastern China	12th century–16th century	Han
Khitan large script	Khitan	Northeast Asia	920 – 1191	Han
Linear A	Minoan	Crete	c. 1800 BC – 1450 BC
Mayan	Chʼoltiʼ, Yucatec Maya, etc.	Mesoamerica	3rd century BC – 16th century
Mixtec	Mixtec languages	Mesoamerica	? – c. 1530
Sawndip	Zhuang	Southern China	7th century –	Han
Sui	Sui	Southern China	? –	Han
Tangut	Tangut	Northwestern China	1036–1502	Han
Yi logogram	Nuosu, etc.	Southwestern China	15th to 16th century –
Zapotec	Zapotec	Mesoamerica	5th century BC – 8th century

Han

Han writing system is the one of the logograms that are still used today.

There are 6 ways of creating characters, concluded by scholars in Han dynasty.

It has several different scripts. There used to be many different writings of a characters. After the unification of China, Qin Shi Huang abolished other writings, only keeping Qin State's writing as the official one, written with the small seal script.

During its development, many modifications took place. Wrong characters and unorthodox character variants are plenty. For example, “肉” (flesh) became confused with “月” (moon) and as a result, many characters with meanings related to flesh have the radical 月.

The simplification of Han was also happening through history. For example, “爲” became “為” and finally “为”, like Picasso's bull. In People's Republic of China, there were two attempts of simplification of Han, one of which was successful and the other failed. In Japan, there was one simplification and it was successful.

Currently, it is being used in China and Japan regularly; in Korea and Vietnam sporadically.

There have been some attempts to abolish Han. In China and Japan, they failed; in Korea and Vietnam, they were largely successful. In the Republic of Korea, some people call for having Han along with Hangul in textbooks; In Vietnam, some people call for having Han and Chữ Nôm as a compulsory course in liberal arts.

Related resources:

• Chinese Etymology 字源 https://etymology.azurewebsites.net/ | https://hanziyuan.net/

main scripts

script	timespan	example
oracle bone script
bronzeware script
seal script		(廿六年詔權量銘 Niànliù Nián Zhào Quànliàng Míng)
clerical script		(華山庙碑 Huà Shān Miào Bēi)
regular script		(九成宮醴泉銘 Jiǔchéng Gōng Lǐquán Míng)

other scripts

script	timespan	example
cursive script		(書論書 Shūlùn Shū)
semicursive script		(蘭亭集序 Lántíng Jí Xù)

Phonogram

Abjad

To avoid the disadvantages of the logogram, this new writing system was formed. In Abjad, the characters represent the consonants.

To show its vowels, there are two ways: add diacritics or become alphabetical.

writing system	language	region	timespan	parent writing system	example
Arabic	Arabic, Persian, Urdu, etc.	Arabia	400 –	Nabataean
Ancient South Arabian	South Arabian, Ge'ez	South Arabia	2nd millennium BC – 6th century	Proto-Sinaitic
Aramaic	Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, etc.	Mesopotamia	800 BC – 600	Phoenician
Hebrew	Jewish languages	Southern Levant	2nd to 1st century BC –	Aramic
Libyc	Tuareg languages	Sahara and Sahel	first millennium BC – 4th to 7th century	Egyptian?
Nabatean	Nabataean	Nabataea	2nd century BC – 4th century	Aramic
Paleo-Hebrew	Hebrew	Southern Levant	c. 1000 BC – 135	Phoenician
Perso-Arabic	Indo-Iranian languages	Persia	7th century –	Arabic
Phoenician	Phoenician, Punic, etc.	Mediterranea	c. 1050 BC – 150 BC	Proto-Sinaitic
Ugaritic	Ugaritic	Ugarit	c. 1400 BC – 1190 BC
Samaritan	Samaritan	Levant	600 BC –	Paleo-Hebrew
Sogdian	Sogdian	Central Asia	c. 100 – 1200	Syriac
Syriac	Aramaic, etc.	Mesopotamia	c. 1 –	Aramaic
Tifinagh	Tuareg languages	Sahara and Sahel	1980s –	Libyc

Phoenician

Phoenician was derived from Egyptian and is the ancestor of most writing systems in the current time.

Syllabary

In this type of writing systems, every letter is a syllable.

writing system	language	region	timespan	parent writing system	example
Afaka	Eastern Maroon Creole	Suriname	1910 –
Cherokee	Cherokee	Southeastern Woodlands	1820s –	Latin
Kana	Japanese	Japan	c. 800 –	Han
Linear B	Mycenaean Greek	Mycenae	c. 1450 BC – 1200 BC	Linear A
Vai	Vai	Liberia	1830s –	Cherokee
Yi syllabary	Nuosu, etc.	Southwestern China	1974 –	Yi logogram

Abugida

writing system	language	region	timespan	parent writing system	example
Bengali–Assamese	Bengali, Assamese, etc.	Bengal and Assam	c. 1100 –	Gaudi
Brahmi	Indo-Aryan languages	South Asia	3rd century BC – 5th century	Aramaic?
Devanāgarī	Indo-Aryan languages	South Asia	1st century –	Brahmi
Dogri	Dogri	Jammu	? –	Takri
Gaudi	Bengali languages	Gauḍa	c. 900 – 1300	Siddhaṃ
Geʽez	Ethiopian Semitic languages	Horn of Africa	c. 1st century – 4th century (as abjad), – (as abugida)	Ancient South Arabian
Gujarati	Gujarati, etc.	Gujarat	c. 1592 –	Devanāgarī
Gupta	Sanskrit	Northern India	c. 4th – 6th century	Brāhmī
Kaithī	Indo-Aryan languages	Northern and Eastern India,	c. 16th – mid 20th century	Nāgarī
Khojkī	Kutchi, Sindhi	Khoja	16th century –	Laṇḍā
Khudabadi	Sindhi	Khudabad	c. 16th century–	Laṇḍā
Laṇḍā	Punjabi	North India	10th – 11th century	Brāhmī
Mahajani	Hindi, Punjabi, Marwari	Marwar	? –	Laṇḍā
Mōḍī	Marathi, etc.	Maharashtra	c. 1200 or c. 1600 – c. 1950	Nāgarī
Multani	Saraiki	Multan	c. 18th – 20th century	Laṇḍā
Nandinagari	Sanskrit, Kannada	Deccan	c. 8th – 19th century	Nāgarī
Nāgarī	Prakrit, Sanskrit	South Asia	1st century – c. 1000	Siddhaṃ
Odiā	Odia, Sanskrit, etc.	Odisha	c. 14th century –	Gaudi
Śāradā	Sanskrit, Kashmiri	Kashmir	700 –	Gupta
Siddhaṃ	Sanskrit	South Asia	c. 6th century – c. 1200	Gupta
Soyombo	Mongolian, Tibetan, Sanskrit	Mongolia	1686 – 18th century	Devanāgarī
Sylheti Nagri	Eastern Bengali languages	Bengal and Assam	c. 15th century –	Kaithī
Thaana	Dhivehi	Maldives	1970s –	Hindu-Arabic numerals
Tirhuta	Maithili, Sanskrit	Mithila	c. 13th century –	Gaudi
Tibetan	Tibetic languages	Tibet	c. 650 –	Brahmi
Zanabazar's square script	Mongolian, Tibetan, Sanskrit	Mongolia	? – ?	Tibetan

Alphabet

writing system	language	region	timespan	parent writing system	example
Adlam	Fulah	Sahel	1989 –
Armenian	Armenian	Armenia	c. 405 –	Greek
Coptic	Coptic	Egypt	2nd century –	Greek
Cyrillic	Slavic languages	Eastern Europe	890s –	Greek
Galik	Mongolian	Mongolia	1587 –	Mongolian
Georgian	Kartvelian languages	Georgia	430 – 10th century	?
Gothic	Gothic, Ulfilas	Germania	c. 350 – 600	Greek
Greek	Greek	Greece	c. 800 BC –	Phoenician
Latin	Latin, English, French, etc.	Italy	c. 700 BC –	Old Italic
Mandaic	Mandaic	Mesopotamia	2nd – 7th century	Aramaic
Mongolian	Mongolian	Mongolia	c. 1204 –	Sogdian
N'Ko	N'Ko, Manding languages	West Africa	1949 –	Arabic
Oirat	Oirat, Tibetan, etc.	North Asia	c. 1648 –	Mongolian
Old Italic	European languages	Europe	700 BC – 100 BC	Greek
Old Uyghur	Uighur	Qocho	c.700s – 1800s	Sogdian
ʼPhags-pa	Mongolian	Mongolian	c. 1269 – 1368	Tibetan
Runes	Germanic languages	Germania	2nd century –	Old Italic?
Uyghur Arabic	Uighur, Sarikoli	Xinjiang	10th century –	Perso-Arabic

Georgian

There are 3 scripts in Georgian

writing system	timespan	example
Asomtavruli	430 – 10th century
Nuskhuri	9th century – 10th century
Mkhedruli	10th century –

Semi-syllabary

In this type of writing system, a letter may be a syllable or a phoneme. It is a combination of syllabary and alphabet.

writing system	language	region	timespan	parent writing system	example
Bamum	Bamum	Western Cameroon	c. 1896 –
Bopomofo	Chinese	China	1918 –	Han
Celtiberian	Celtiberian	Northeastern Iberia	5th century BC – ?	Phoenician
Northeastern Iberian	Iberian	Northeastern Iberia	5th century BC – ?	Phoenician
Old Persian	Persian	Persia	525 BC – 330 BC
Sortheastern Iberian	Iberian	Sortheastern Iberia	5th century BC – ?	Phoenician
Tartessian	Tartessian	Southwest Iberia	5th century BC – ?	Phoenician

Featural writing system

This type of writing systems has phonological features. It is based on phonology, so it is the latest type of writing system. They are designed and thus often considered more precise than most other phonograms in use. Its disadvantage is leaving fewer clues on the evolution of the language.

writing system	language	region	timespan	parent writing system	example
Canadian	Algonquian languages, Eskaleut languages, Athabaskan languages	Canada	1840s –	Devanāgarī
Ditema tsa Dinoko	Southern Bantu languages, Swazi	South Africa	2010s –
Duployan shorthand	multiple languages	United States of America	1868 –
Gregg shorthand	multiple languages	United States of America	1888 –
Hangul	Korean	Korea	1443 –	Han
Quikscript	English	North America	c. 1966 –
Shavian	English, Esperanto	North America	1960s –
SignWriting	sign languages	United States of America	1974 –
Visible Speech	multiple languages	United States of America	1867 –