The World's Writing Systems

Contents: Part 1: Grammatology -- Introduction / Peter T Daniels -- Section 1: Study of writing systems / Peter T Daniels -- Grammatology -- History of the study of writing -- typology of writing systems -- Study of writing -- Related topics -- Part 2: Ancient Near Eastern Writing Systems -- Introduction / Peter T Daniels -- Section 2: First civilizations / Peter T Daniels -- Forerunners of writing -- Interconnections -- Significance of the alphabet -- Undeciphered scripts -- Section 3: Mesopotamian cuneiform -- Origin / Piotr Michalowski -- Sumerian and Akkadian / Jerrold S. Cooper -- Basic cuneiform syllabary -- Other languages / Gene B Graff -- Section 4: Egyptian writing / Robert K Ritner -- Hieroglyphic -- Hieratic -- Demotic -- Meroitic script / NB Millet -- Section 5: Epigraphic Semitic scripts / M O'Connor -- Scripts in the Bronze Age (2000-1200 BCE) -- Scripts in the Iron Age and later times (from1200 BCE) -- Salient features of carious groups of texts -- Iberian scripts / Pierre Swiggers -- Berber scripts / M O'Connor -- Section 6: Anatolian hieroglyphs / H Craig Melchert -- Usage and history -- General characteristics -- Signs -- Section 7: Aegean scripts / Emmett K Bennett -- Linear B -- Scripts of Cyprus -- Minoan Linear A -- Pictographic or Cretan Hieroglyphic script -- Phaistos disk -- Section 8: Old Persian cuneiform / David D Testen -- Part 3: Decipherment -- Introduction / Peter T Daniels -- Section 9: Methods of decipherment / Peter T Daniels -- Types of decipherment -- Processes in decipherment -- Accounts of decipherment -- Section 10: Proto-Elamite script / Robert K Englund -- History of decipherment -- Basic characteristics of Proto-Elamite script and texts -- Section 11: Indus script / Asko Parpola -- Historical background and development -- Obstacles to decipherment -- Characteristics -- Section 12: Maya and other Mesoamerican scripts / Martha J Marcri -- Logographic/syllabic scripts -- Codified pictorial systems -- Section 13: Rongorongo of Easter Island / Martha J Macri -- Progress in decipherment -- Linguistic approach to decipherment -- Part 4: East Asian Writing Systems -- Introduction / William G Boltz -- Section 14: Early Chinese writing / William G Boltz -- Unit characters -- Compound characters -- Section 15: Modern Chinese writing / Victor H Mair -- Relationship to the Chinese languages -- Reform -- Section 16: Japanese writing / Janet S (Shibamoto) Smith -- Kanji -- Hiragana and katakana -- Romaji -- Other script elements -- Direction, punctuation, and organization of texts -- Conclusion -- Section 17: Korean writing / Ross King -- Chinese writing in Korea -- Hankul: general characteristics -- Symbols -- Orthography and letter shapes -- Relationship of Hankul to other scripts -- Section 18: Siniform scripts of inner Asia --Tangut / E I Kychanov -- Kitan and Jurchin / Gyorgy Kara -- Section 19: Yi script / Dingxu Shi -- Classic Yi -- Modern Yi -- Section 20: Asian calligraphy / John Stevens -- Comparative table of Sinitic characters -- Comparative table of Sinitic characters -- Part 5: European Writing Systems -- Introduction / Peter T Daniels -- Section 21: Transmission of the Phoenician script to the West / Pierre Swiggers -- Geographical and chronological aspects -- Linguistic aspects -- Problems -- Observations -- Section 22: Greek alphabet / Leslie Threatte -- Symbols -- Diacritical marks and punctuation -- Numerals -- Anatolian alphabets / Pierre Swiggers and Wolfgang Jenniges -- Phrygian -- Pamphylian and Sidetic --Lycian -- Lydian -- Carian -- Other languages -- Coptic alphabet / Robert K Ritner -- Gothic alphabet / Ernest Ebbinghaus -- Special features -- Section 23: Scripts of Italy / Larissa Bonfante -- Etruscan -- Other languages and scripts of Italy -- Section 24: Roman alphabet / Stan Knight -- Ancient Roman scripts -- Regional hands -- Insular scripts -- Carolingian Minuscule -- Gothic scripts -- Humanist scripts -- Cursive writing from the sixteenth century -- Printed word -- Section 25: Runic script / Ralph W V Elliott -- Later developments -- Section 26: Ogham / Damian McManus -- Script -- Section 27: Slavic alphabets / Paul Cubberley -- Historical background -- Forms of letters and phonological fit in old alphabets -- Glagolitic: later history -- Cyrillic: later history -- Orthography and phonotactics in Russian -- Section 28: Armenian alphabet / Avedis K Sanjian -- Symbols -- Symbol-sound correspondences -- Orthographic change and script reform -- Section 29: Georgian alphabet / Dee Ann Holisky -- Sound-symbol correspondance -- Development of mxedruli.; Part 6: South Asian Writing Systems -- Introduction / Richard G Salomon -- Section 30: Brahmi and Kharoshthi / Richard G Salomon -- Systemic features -- Linguistic features -- Functions -- Origins -- Development -- Section 31: Devanagari script / William Bright -- Symbols -- Specific features -- Correspondences -- Relations to other scripts -- Section 32: Gujarati writing / PJ Mistry -- Symbols -- Specific features -- Section 33: Gurmukhi script / Harjeet Singh Gill -- Consonants -- Vowels and accessory signs -- Tones -- Section 34: Bengali writing / Tista Bagchi -- Differences in inventory of characters -- Script-to-pronunciation correspondences -- Clusters -- Section 35: Oriya writing / BP Mahapatra -- Symbols -- Conjunct consonants -- Distinctive characteristics -- Section 36: Sinhala writing / James W Gair -- Symbols -- Correspondence of speech to writing -- Section 37: Kannada and Telugu writing / William Bright -- Symbols -- Characteristic features -- Correspondences -- Section 38: Malayalam writing / K P Mohanan -- Section 39: Tamil writing / Sanford B Steever -- Historical background -- Description -- Adequacy in representing Tamil phonology -- Trends -- Section 40: Tibetan script and derivatives / Leonard W J van der Kuijp -- Symbols and specific features -- Additional features -- Lepcha script -- Phags pa script -- Part 7: Southeast Asian Writing Systems -- Introduction / Christopher Court -- Section 41: Spread of Brahmi script into Southeast Asia / Christopher Court -- Beginnings of writing -- Indigenization of Indian scripts -- Section 42: Burmese writing / Julian J Wheatley -- History -- Symbols -- General characteristics -- Pronunciation -- Miscellaneous signs and modifications -- Section 43: Thai and Lao writing / Anthony Diller -- Development -- Consonant symbols -- Vowel symbols -- Tone rules -- Numerals and other symbols -- Section 44: Khmer writing / Eric Schiller -- Symbols -- Correspondences -- Punctuation and numerals -- Section 45: Insular Southeast Asian scripts / Joel C Kuipers and Ray McDermott -- Structure and historical continuity: the Holle charts -- Cultural uses of the writing systems of Insular -- Southeast Asia -- Arresting case: the Hanunoo of Mindoro, Philippines -- Part 8: Middle Eastern Writing Systems -- Introduction / Peter T Daniels -- Section 46: Jewish scripts / Richard L Goerwitz -- From Phoenician to Aramaic to Jewish script -- From consonants to vowels -- Codification of the medieval script -- Section 47: Aramaic scripts for Aramaic languages / Peter T Daniels -- Classical Syriac -- Modern Aramaic / Robert D Hoberman -- Mandaic / Peter T Daniels -- Section 48: Aramaic scripts for Iranian languages / P Oktor Skjaerovo -- Orthographic principles -- Developments from Imperial Aramaic -- Developments from Estrangelo Syriac -- Developments from Nestorian Syriac -- Section 49: Aramaic scripts for Altaic languages / Gyorgy Kara -- Runiform alphabet of the ancient Turks -- Uyghur alphabet -- Manichean script of the Uyghurs -- Mongolian script -- Clear script -- Manchu alphabet -- Buryat alphabet -- Cyrillic script -- Section 50: Arabic writing / Thomas Bauer -- Basic characters -- Morphophonemic representation -- Optional signs -- Effects of defectiveness -- Dhivehi writing / James W Gair and Bruce D Cain -- Symbols -- Section 51: Ethiopic writing / Getatchew Haile -- Consonants -- Vowels -- Characters or diagrams -- Numerals -- Writing Ethiopic -- Part 9: Scripts Invented In Modern Times -- Introduction / Peter T Daniels -- Section 52: Invention of writing / Peter T Daniels -- Sophisticated grammatogenies -- Unsophisticated grammatogenies -- Origin of writing -- Section 53: Cherokee writing / Janine Scancarelli -- Characters of the Cherokee syllabary and their arrangement -- Appearance of written Cherokee -- Sound and spelling of Cherokee -- Uses of the syllabary -- Section 54: Scripts of West Africa / John Victor Singler -- N'Ko alphabet -- Vai script -- Section 55: Cree syllabary / John D Nichols -- Algonquian syllabaries -- Scripts for Inuit (Eskimo) languages -- Syllabics for Sub-Arctic Athabaskan languages -- Section 56: Scripts for Munda languages / Norman Zide -- Sorang Sompeng -- Ol Cemet' -- Ho -- Section 57: Pahawh Hmong script / Martha Ratliff -- Features of the system -- Symbols -- Use -- Part 10: Use And Adaptation Of Scripts -- Introduction / Peter T Daniels -- Section 58: Functional classification / John Mountford -- Functional kinds of writing system -- General-purpose versus special-purpose writing systems -- Terminology -- Composition of writing systems in relation to function -- Multiplicity of writing systems -- More functional kinds? -- Conclusion -- Section 59: Adaptations of the Roman alphabet -- Romance languages / Edward Tuttle -- Germanic languages / Wayne