Transcript Document 7415415

Writing systems
Linguistics 484
Preview
Some ideas about how to think about
writing systems
Japanese, Chinese, syllable structure
Written languages are effectively codes
Bee
Belief
Leaf
Rebus principle
The symbols represent the parts of the
word.
The connection to the full word is through
the sound.
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.
Class 1
Ugaritic: language assumed to be
Phoenician, script unknown
Class 2
Gothic: script known, language not known,
but clearly an ancestor of modern
Germanic languages.
Class 3
Hieroglyphics: language unknown,
principles of script not understood
Linear B: same
Cryptography
For which class is it easiest to see how to
use ideas we have already studied?
Types of writing system
Logographic
Logophonetic
Syllabic
Consonantal alphabetic
Syllabic alphabetic
C&V alphabetic
Chinese
Chinese is logographic. (From Greek
“logos” = word, “graphos”= writing)
This means that each symbol represents a
word.
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.
Pictograms: sign
looks (a bit) like
what it means
Ideograms: character represents an
abstract concept
Semantic phonetic
Sound and
meaning
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.
Chinese
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.
Logographic systems
There may be thousands of signs.
Probably, no individual knows/uses them
all.
Counting the signs is helpful
Syllables
Every language has syllables.
A syllable consists of a vowel plus
(perhaps) some consonants before and
after it
Parts of the syllable
Onset
Onset
Syllable
Syllable
Rime
Rime
Coda
Coda
Nucleus
Nucleus
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
For example
English allows the “NG” sound in the
coda, but not in the onset.
This is called a “phonotactic constraint”.
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 nonempty coda
(e.g. “book”,”moon”,”at”,”strengths”)
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.
Hawaiian
Akamai
Laulea
Aloha
Laulima
Hiapo
Lehua
Hauoli
Leilani
Kahu
Luna
Kahuna
Mahalo
Koa
Maikai
Kumu
Makana
Kupuna
Makua
Kuuipo
Malama
Laki
Moopuna
Lani
Puuwai
Tutu
Waipahe
Hawaiian
A-ka-mai
Lau-lea
A-lo-ha
Lau-lima
Hi-a-po
Le-hua
Hau-o-li
Lei-lani
Ka-hu
Lu-na
Ka-hu-na
Ma-ha-lo
Koa
Mai-kai
Ku-mu
Ma-ka-na
Ku-pu-na
Ma-kua
Kuu-i-po
Ma-la-ma
La-ki
Moo-pu-na
La-ni
Puu-wai
Tu-tu
Wai-pa-he
Hawaiian
Simple rule 1: no coda allowed
Simple rule 2: onset has zero or one
consonants
Simple rule 3: some long vowels
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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
Mandarin initial sounds
UA
A
N
UF
L
b
p
m
f
A
d
t
n
V
g
k
h
P
j
q
x
DS
z
c
s
R
zh
ch
sh
VF
l
r
Mandarin final sounds
Vowels
a,e,i,o,u,ü
Dipthongs
ai,ao,ei,ia,iao, ie, iou, ou, ua, uai,
üe, uei, uo
Back Nasals an, en, ian, in, uan, üan, uen, ün
ang, eng, iang, ing, iong, ong,
Front Nasals
uang, ueng
Standalone syllables
Do not combine.
er, hm, hng, m, n, ng, ~r
Total number of sounds
411 possible sounds, plus 4 tones, makes
about 1600 syllables
Rules for Mandarin
No consonant clusters.
Consonants only in onset, apart from two
nasals.
All syllables are (kind of) open.
Pronunciations
http://www.uvm.edu/~chinese/pinyin.htm
Implications for writing
Syllables quite restricted.
Explains need for radicals.
How would you use ciphers with
Chinese?
Japanese
Differs from Chinese linguistically.
Chinese is isolating.
Japanese has inflections
Inflections
Mary-ga
Nihon kara-no
ta
Mary-SUBJkono
that Japan
from kagaku-no
chemistry gakusei-o
of student-DO korosi
killed PAST
Writing system
First shot at Japanese writing used
Chinese characters for both content
words and grammatical endings.
Way too confusing
Solution
Three scripts!
Hiragana - used for native Japanese
words
Katakana - used for inflexions and
non-Chinese foreign words
Kanji - the literate language
Hiragana
Katakana
Kanji
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
Kanji
Many Chinese words have been
borrowed into Japanese. Same
characters get used for both
Kun yomi - Japanese reading
On yomi - Sino-Japanese reading
Water
Native Japanese: water = mizu
Sino- Japanese: water = sui
Japanese codes?
How do you make a code or cipher for
this?
Abjad: Hebrew
Hindi: alphasyllabary
Code breaking
How many symbols?
How organized?
What patterns will we see
Cherokee
Greek
23 separate symbols.
Greek writing is an alphabet. Consonants and vowels
both exist in written form.
6
13
Cherokee
Cherokee is a syllabary, each sign
corresponds to a consonant paired with a
vowel.
6 * 13 = 78 symbols.