Transcript Anthropology 027a

Week 1 Cont’d
Writing
Course web address:
http://anthropology.uwo.ca/faculty/creider/027
Teaching Assistant:
Sheena McKay
[email protected]
Office Hours: Thu 3:30-5:30
To Think About From Previous
Lecture
 Language as tool for representation
• Simplification of reality
• Typical focus on actors/undergoers, processes
• Fictional worlds
 Language as tool for communication
• Preservation of cultural knowledge
• Cooperation
• Planning
Overview
 Spoken & written lg -- Part I (historical)
 Technical terms
 History
• Ancient Sumer
• Ancient Egypt
 Cuneiform writing
 Linear B
 Alphabetic writing
Overview, cont’d
 Syllabic writing: Inuktitut
 Spoken and written lg -- Part II
• orality & literacy
• consequences of alphabetic writing
 Spelling
Spoken & Written Lg I
 Primacy of spoken language
 Evolution
• c. 40,000 y.b.p. spoken only
• c. 5,000 y.b.p. written lg first appear
 1-way relation: written represents spoken
 Exception: spelling pronunciations
Technical terms
 petroglyph
• petros ‘stone’
• glyphê ‘carving’
 pictogram
• iconic relationship to referent
• can be part whole (bed for accomodation)
 ideogram
• sun > warmth, heat, light, daytime
Technical terms cont’d
 logographic writing
• logos ‘word’
• graphê ‘writing’
 cuneiform writing
• L. cuneus ‘wedge’
 syllabic writing
 phonographic writing
• phonê ‘sound’
Technical terms cont’d
 rebus
• target syllable or word same as source
• using a symbol for its phonetic value
 hieroglyphic writing
• hieros ‘sacred’
 diacritic
• ñ, ü, ç, ê
 digraph
• æ, sh, ch, ng
Technical terms cont’d
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phonemic principle
morphophonemic writing
grapheme
allograph
THE PHONEMIC PRINCIPLE
(1 sound = 1 symbol)
 Violation 1: SAME PRONUNCIATION BUT
DIFFERENT SPELLINGS (DIFFERENT
MEANINGS): cite-sight-site, marry-Mary-merry,
pair-pare-pear, there-their-they're
 Violation 2: SAME SPELLINGS BUT
DIFFERENT PRONUNCIATIONS (SAME
WORD FAMILIES): nation-national, sereneserenity, sign-signature, go-gone, cone-conic,
human-humane-humanity
A MORPHOPHONEMIC
SPELLING SYSTEM
 A morphophonemic spelling system will spell
different words differently although they are
pronounced the same: their, there, they’re
 A morphophonemic spelling will spell words in the
same family the same even though they are
pronounced differently: go, gone
 A morphophonemic spelling will spell a particular
suffix the same regardless of how it is pronounced:
cats, dogs, horses
‘Graphology’
 Grapheme: abstract unit
 Allograph: positional variant
 <σ>
• <ς>
• <σ>
word-finally
elsewhere
Evolution of writing
 Cuneiform writing
 Linear B
 Alphabetic writing
•
•
•
•
•
hieroglyphic writing
Egyptian Semitic (2000 BC)
Sinaitic Semitic (1800 BC)
Phoenician
Greek (800 BC)
John 1:1 4th c. AD

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ΕΝΑΡΧΗΗΝΟΛΟΓΟC
ΚΑΙΟΛΟΓΟCΗΝ
ΠΡΟCΤΟΝΘΕΟΝΚΑΙ
ΘΕΟCΗΝΟΛΟΓΟCΟΥ
ΤΟCΗΝΕΝΑΡΧΗ
ΠΡΟCΤΟΝΘΕΟΝ
Word Divisions


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ΕΝ ΑΡΧΗ ΗΝ Ο ΛΟΓΟC
ΚΑΙ Ο ΛΟΓΟC ΗΝ
ΠΡΟC ΤΟΝ ΘΕΟΝ
ΚΑΙ ΘΕΟC ΗΝ Ο ΛΟΓΟC
ΟΥΤΟC ΗΝ ΕΝ ΑΡΧΗ
ΠΡΟC ΤΟΝ ΘΕΟΝ
Punctuation, accents



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Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος
καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν
πρὸς τὸν θεόν,
καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ
πρὸς τὸν θεόν.
Translation (literal)






In (the) beginning was the Word
and the Word was
with *(the) God.
and God was the Word.
This (one) was in (the) beginning
with *(the) God.
Spoken & Written Lg, Part II
 Orality
• History: self-revising, telescoping
• Knowledge public because spoken
− Poetry
 Literacy: pre-alphabetic
• Elitist (Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Egyptian, Chinese)
 Alphabetic
• Democratic, egalitarian (end of Greek tyrants)
• Logical, scientific, questioning of myths
• Fragmentism
− If written don’t have to read (must listen when spoken)
− Specialization of knowledge (everyone doesn’t know everything)
− Prose (novel –portrays interior life)
• Individulaism: self/society, alienation possible
English Spelling
 OUR ENGLISH ALPHABET HAS ONLY 26 LETTERS
TO REPRESENT 45 DIFFERENT SOUNDS
AND SOME OF OUR LETTERS (LIKE C, Q, H, AND X)
AREN’T VERY USEFUL
ENGLISH HAS 5 VOWEL LETTERS TO REPRESENT
13 VOWEL SOUNDS
AND WE USE THEM ALL UP FOR OUR SHORT
VOWELS, AS IN: pat, pet, pit, pot, and put
SO WE DON’T HAVE ANY LETTERS LEFT FOR OUR
LONG VOWELS, AND THE RESULT IS CHAOS
HOW WE SPELL OUR LONG VOWELS
 A: He ate the freight. It was his fate. How
 E: The silly amoeba stole the key to the machine. or

Did he believe that Caesar could see the people?
 I: I write eye-rhyme, like “She cited the sight of the site.”
 O: Our chauffeur, although he stubbed his toe, yeomanly
towed four more boards through the open door of the
depot.
 U: blue, blew, gnu, Hugh, new, Pooh, Sioux, through, two
GHOTI
 What does “ghoti” spell?
 It spells “fish”
 the <gh> of “enough”
 the <o> of “women”
 the <ti> of “nation”
British
Canadian
American
centre
centre
center
colour
colour
color
labelled
labelled
labeled
judgement
judgement
judgment
cheque
cheque
check
catalogue
catalogue
catalog
programme
programme
program
organise
organize
organize
analyse
analyze
analyze
plough
plow
plow
tyre
tire
tire
enrolment
enrolment
enrollment