Writing Systems Over the Years

Writing has been around since the earliest homosapiens walked this Earth. However, our studies take us back to some of the earliest advanced writing systems that were used not only as a means of intertainment, but also as a crutial form of communication. For instance, the earliest known writing system is cuneiform, invented by the Sumerians living in the Mesopotamia around 3300 B.C, which used marks to record the number of different kinds of items that Sumerians traded. What was unique about this writing is that it could be read by people who spoke different languages because the pictures and symbols were just interpreted in their own language. Egyptian Hieroglyphics was also a writing system developed around 3200 B. C. and consisted of both pictures and marks that stood for sounds. It represented a mixed system of pictographic or ideographic writing and alphabetic writing. Similarly, the Greeks further down the road, developed, an alphabet that included both consonant and vowels  using the Phoenician system as a base. After adding more letters to represent sounds in Greek not present in the Phoenician language, the result became the first true alphabet. In fact, the English word 'alphabet' comes from the first two letters of the Greek writing system, 'alpha' and 'beta' which contained 24 letters. Afterwards, the Romans based their alphabet on the Greek, which was then used to create Old English.

It's very interesting to see how the developments of language and writing have evolved over the centuries, much like our population's growing language needs. Language will continue to further develop and education should accordingly continue to grow and improve as well.

Resource:
Freeman, D. E. and Freeman, Y. S. (2004). Essential Linguistics: What You Need to Know to Teach. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
~Brenda