the vvM-tKv* 3 ^VT5<"CVM5 EDITED 8Y PETER T.DANIELS WILLIAM BRIGHT L4 Ml Written language is the most neglected aspect of linguistic study, as the majc of research focuses on historical and retical aspects of spoken lang" > ' ;n >HABET (revised to 1989) studies devoted to writing syst. /al- ly place little emphasis on the scripts lem- selves, limiting coverage to the external history of writing systems. The World's Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Phar>nj;eal Glottal tWorietxipnlgorSeysitnedmesptishthhoewonslcyriaptvsaialraeblaeppwloirekd t 4 c j k g q G f to individual languages. 1 Jl IN Beginning with the ancient Near East and the earliest known scripts, this unique refer- R ence documents the history and typology of writing to the presentday, cover—ing scoresof c scripts from around the world both those S \ 9 j x y X K h ? h n currently in use and those now defunct. In 1 more than eighty articles, it explains and documents in—accessible terms how writing systems work how Egyptian hieroglyphs, K j uj Chinese characters, and European alphabets convey meaning in graphic form. I k\ L Sections devoted to the scripts of the ancient Near East, East Asia, Europe, South 9 c9 1 1k? q Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East |<r j|£ cftf are introduced with discussion of the social rf and cultural contexts in which each group of sonant.Shadedareasdenotearticulationsjudgedimpossible. writing systems was developed. Articles on individual scripts within these sections pro- vide a wealth of background information, U C along with helpful visuals for each writing alized I Nasalized system: the historical origin of the writing lalized tJ rji n Nasal release LI system is detailed, its structure is delineated with tables showing the forms ofthe written L. tY dv ' Lateral release VJ symbols, and its relationship to the phonol- ogy of the corresponding spoken language Lngealized I CI Noaudible release CI is thoroughly explored. Every major writing system is presented in a passage of text, lan/edorpharyngealized accompanied by a romanized version, a C ised (J =voicedalveolarfricative) phonetic transcription, and an English trans- lation. A bibliography concludes each entry. wered 6 ( 13 = voicedbilabialappro\imanti Presenting the finest and most current C vancedTongueRoot international scholarship. The World's Writ- ing Systems is the only comprehensive traded Tongue Root 6 resource covering every major writing sys- tem. Unparalleled in it scope and in its coverage of the way Ms relate to the languages they reprc s is a resource that anyone with an in language will want to own, ana hould be a part ofevery library's rt 'lection. APR 2 9 1996 VOWELS OTHER SYMBOLS Front AA Voiceless labial-velarFricative Close 1 \y W Voiced labial-velarapproximant U Voiced labial-palatalapproximan H Voicelessepiglottal fricative T Voicedepiglottalfricative T Epiglottalplosive Open-mid V fa Alveolo-palatal fricatives 3 Additionalmidcentralvowel a*(E a* d W Open Bilabialclick Wheresymbolsappearinpairs,theonetotheright representsaroundedvowel Dentalclick ! (Post)alveolarclick * Palatoalveolarclick SUPRASEGMENTALS Alveolarlateralclick i Primary stress c .. r X Alveolarlateralflap Secondary stress , X C IJ SimultaneousJ and * Long * ? Half-long C? Affricatesanddoublearticulations w s^ canberepresentedbytwosymbols Extra-short £• joinedbyatiebarifnecessary. . Syllablebreak jLifikt kp Minor(foot)group ts I Major(intonation)group | w Linking(absenceofabreak) s Globalrise \ Globalfall TONES&WORDACCENTS LEVEL CONTOUR Cor 1 Extrahigh CorA Rising C e N 1 High Falling C e 1 1 Mid Highrising C e A —\ Low Lowrising C es/s 1 _l Extralow Rising-falling etc. 4- Downstep T Upstep ARCHBISHOP MITTY LIBRARY 8689 Archbishop Mitfy High Schoof Library 5000 Mffiy Way San Jose. A 95129 . The World's Writing Systems THE WORLD'S WRITING SYSTEMS Edited by Peter T. Daniels and William Bright Archbishop M'rtty High School Library 5000 Mitty Way San Jose, CA 95129 New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1996 6 OXFORD UNIVERSITYPRESS Oxford NewYork Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay Calcutta CapeTown DaresSalaam Delhi Florence HongKong Istanbul Karachi KualaLumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto andassociatedcompaniesin Berlin Ibadan Copyright© 1996byOxfordUniversity Press, Inc. PublishedbyOxford University Press,Inc., 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork, NY 1001 OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrieval system,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofOxford UniversityPress. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data Theworld'swritingsystems/editedby PeterT. DanielsandWilliam Bright p. cm. Includesbibliographical referencesand index. ISBN0-19-507993-0 1.Writing. 2.Alphabet. 3.Graphemics. I. Daniels, PeterT., 1951- . II. Bright,William. 1928- . — P211.W714 1995 411 dc20 95-2247 CIP r952 Rev. Printing(lastdigit): 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Printed intheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper In memory ofmy father, who taught me to read; and in honorofmy mother, who taught me to write — P.T.D. To RobertThiel, oldest friend and companion in the study oflanguage — W.B. Digitized by the Internet Archive 2012 in http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937