What is Writing?/Reading Assignment #1/Bascuñan Isaura

1. According to the article, why was writing invented?
Was invented, in order to recording information.

2. Writing is both a noun and a verb. Explain.
noun is like the "thing" that they write and verb is which designates the activity of writing.

3. Name the 4 different categories of writing systems.
they are: logographic, syllabic, alphabetic, and featural.

4. Why are ideographic and pictographic methods NOT considered categories of writing systems?
because they are insufficient to represent language.

5. Name 10 different types of writing tools and materials.
1 stone tablets, 2 clay tablets, 3wax tablets, 4 vellum, 5 parchment, 6 paper,7 copperplate,
8 quills, 9 brushes,10 pencils.

6. True or False: The difference between prehistory and history is when written records were kept.
True because, in the prehistory the paintings and petroglyphs weren't consider like a writing because they did not represent language directly, but the writtin system always is changing based on the needs of the people who use them.

7. Who developed the first writing system:
a. Sumerians
b. Mesopotamians
c. Hittites
d. none of these answers are correct.

my answer is letter "d" because the first writing system was created by Egyptians because, oldest known alphabet was developed in central Egypt around 2000 BC from a hieroglyphic prototype, and over the next 500 years spread to Canaan and eventually to the rest of the world.


8. Which cultural group were the only ones to develop a written language in the Americas?

They were "The Mayas"

9. It is possible that the Chinese language was developed:
a. c. 1500 BCE
b. c. 6000 BCE
c. c. 3200 BCE
d.none ot the answers are correct.

letter "b" because they used turtle shells as oracle bones and recently been discoveries of tortoise-shell carvings dating back to c. 6000 BC

10. Where does the word, alphabet, originate?
The word "alphabet" came into Middle English from the Late Latin word Alphabetum, which in turn originated in the Ancient Greek.

11. Name 3 types of NON-linear writing systems.
mathematical symbols, punctuation and numerals.

12. Name 2 examples of NON-alphabetic writing systems.
Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters

13. The alphabet helps distinguish between which 2 types of spoken sounds?
the International Phonetic Alphabet and phonetic approximation of foreign words.

14. In English, what was The Great Vowel Shift?
in Old English the vowel is "æ"

15. Japanese is a complicated language not only because there a 3 different forms of the written language and there are at least 14 levels of formality, but because the spoken language originated from the Korean peninsula and the written language originated from China. English has a similar complicated history. Briefly explain the origins of the English language.

English is a West Germanic language which originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of what is now northwest Germany and the northern Netherlands.
Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms of Great Britain.The original Old English language was then influenced by two waves of invasion. The first was by language speakers of the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family; they conquered and colonized parts of the British Isles in the 8th and 9th centuries.
The second was the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman.

Writing Assignment: Autobiography Paragraph/Bascuñan Isaura

I love reading books about Egypt.

I remember when my mother gave me my first Egyptian book.

Since that moment, I started to get interested in Egyptian culture.

I still spend a lot of time reading books about Egypt.

Someday, I am going to travel that amazing and wonderful country.