Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Evolution of writing
How has writing developed from the earlier centuries
Evolution of writing
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Evolution of writing
Throughout history, writing has had many various uses that have helped record information from history to the present day. Writing has obtained many different uses as to how and what we use writing today. When writing was formed in 3200 B.C. it was used to record and communicate. We have since then used writing for numerous issues such as recording information in which we may learn about the past, and for poetry or literature for people, both children and adults, to read and learn from. People throughout history and today even use writing for religious reasons such as writing out a prayer to God or even taking note on what has happened or talked of in the sermon.
Not only has writing revolutionized, nevertheless writing utensils have as well. Writing utensils have gone from bone, to clay, to pen and pencil in thousands of years. With bone, you would scratch the bone against the clay to create the letters. With clay, cuneiform was formed and written by taking a wedge utensil and make the letters on a clay tablet. And today we use pen and pencil to take notes, write down information, and communicate.
So yes, writing has improved much from when it was formed by the Sumerians in 3200 B.C. We went from clay, to paper, and have many different sorts of writing that are available to people today to use and to develop; such as cuneiform and hieroglyphics from thousands of years ago. Here in the present day, we even partake in diverse types of writing in literature such as fiction, non-fiction, scientific, etc. to create different feelings for the reader.
Sumerians created writing in 3200 B.C., which at the time, was used for recording and communication. However, from 10,000- 40,000 B.C., cave paintings...
... middle of paper ...
...
History of Writng. 2013. [online] Available at: http://www.historian.net/hxwrite.htm [Accessed: 12 Nov 2013].
The Cuneiform Writing System in Ancient Mesopotamia: Emergence and Evolution | EDSITEment. 2013. [online] Available at: http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/cuneiform-writing-system-ancient-mesopotamia-emergence-and-evolution [Accessed: 12 Nov 2013].
Timeline. 2013. [online] Available at: http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/time/explore/main_wri.html [Accessed: 12 Nov 2013].
TimeRime.com - The History of Writing timeline. 2013. [online] Available at: http://timerime.com/en/timeline/1608357/The+History+of+Writing/ [Accessed: 12 Nov 2013].
Writing. 2013. [online] Available at: http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/writing/home.html [Accessed: 12 Nov 2013].
Writing. 2013. [online] Available at: http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/writing/home_set.html [Accessed: 12 Nov 2013].
Cuneiform was the first ever form of writing. The Sumerians were the main inventors of this writing. The symbol as we know them now consist of lines and wedges. One of the
Centuries ago, man faced a significant transition in society from an oral-based to a writing-based culture. In Phaedrus 274, Socrates said with regard to written culture “Writing will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. . . .” Others, such as Plato saw the benefits of writing and recommended that all citizens should receive education in writing. Change was indeed coming, with both positive and detrimental
Writing is one of the many factors which can lead to an unequal world. Writing was “One of the most important inventions in human history” (Prososki, “Writing”). It was believed to come from the Fertile Crescent called Sumer around 5,000 years ago. Over the years, writing has advanced as people created writing and printing systems, which were able to reach
Writing is perhaps the most important building block of communication - after verbal speech, of course. Writing, like most of human civilization, has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia. The first writing systems began in a style known as cuneiform (Cuneiform, 2013). These wedge-shaped markings have their roots in Sumerian culture and were used predominantly for record keeping and accounting. At the archaeological site of Uruk in what is modern day Iraq, a great wealth of knowledge has been gained from the artifacts located there. Uruk was a ceremonial site and is home to the world’s oldest known documented written documents (Price and Feinman, 2013). The documents discovered list quantities of goods that may have been stored at Uruk, leading archaeologists to believe that writing in this part of the world was developed primarily to keep lists of transactions and stockpiled quantities of goods located at the site.
Writers throughout history have always influenced or have been influenced by the era that which they live in. Many famous authors arose during The Age of Discovery and The Romantic Period all of whom had very distinctive writing styles that held true to their era. To find the differences between the two eras, it is important to understand the era at which time the literature was wrote, the writing style, and the subject matter.
Everyday writing has been done since the Sumerians created cuneiform. Postcards, diaries, letters, to-do lists are all included in everyday writing. Although some people claim we are faced with an inundation of information, and trivial writings should be discarded for the sake of space, it is important to preserve and study these everyday writings, as these everyday writings are part of the United States’ heritage, and studying them enriches our knowledge of rhetorical and historical concepts. (Source F)
In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates mourned the development of writing, fearing that people would rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge; they would, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” They would be filled with false wisdom, full of knowledge that makes us lose touch with our culture. Everyone would also be losing a part of himself or herself.
were not the first to use writing and several areas such as Mesopotamia developed writing
Pearce wrote volume 1 on the Adaptation of Akkadian into Cuneiform for Towson University. This was part of her Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate Research Journal. Throughout her journal, she emphasized how the Sumerians tried to adapt to Akkadian. Akkadian is one of the two languages that belonged to the East Semitic language family and one of the best to rattest Semitic languages. The earliest attest phase of Akkadian is called Old Akkadian, used around 2350 BCE. It was written in cuneiform based on the rebus principle style writing and had been used to write Semitic and non-Sumerian names for centuries. Cuneiform was a very adaptable writing system that was attested in various forms for nearly three millennia. It was created to represent the language of Sumerian and its first adaptation of the cuneiform writing system that occurred with Akkadian.
The earliest writing in Mesopotamia was a picture writing invented by the Sumerians who wrote on clay tablets using long reeds. The script the Sumerians invented and handed down to the Semitic peoples who conquered Mesopotamia in later centuries, is called cuneiform, which is derived from two Latin words: cuneus , which means "wedge," and forma , which means "shape." This picture language, similar to but more abstract than Egyptian hieroglyphics, eventually developed into a syllabic alphabet under the Semites (Assyrians and Babylonians) who eventually came to dominate the area.
The ancient Mesopotamian world triggered many future technological advances that have allowed our society to be as sophisticated as it is today. Some of the main impacts that Mesopotamia had on the modern world was the first writing system of its kind, along with the most complete set of laws created as a governing system. Cuneiform was a new alphabetical written language developed by the Sumerians during the ancient Mesopotamian times. Cuneiform allowed them to write down very
Our “traditional” writing was not traditional in ancient times. The birth of writing itself was a new technology. This is similar to the birth of the computers years ago. The writing process is taught in grade school. It begins with brainstorming, writing a rough draft, proofreading and completing a final draft. This process is often obsolete with modern writing. Traditionally a writer uses a writing utensil and paper to create their writings. Modern technology allows us to type as we write. This occurs when a writer begins to type their thoughts as they think. I personally design a paper structure similar to the traditional format to assist in my paper creation prior to typing; however, some people sit at the computer and type as the think. Some may argue eliminating the traditional process damages the fundamentals of writing. However, I feel we brainstorm in a different way with modern writing. As the person types, he/she deletes and rearranges sentences to make the paper complete. The writer is able to use spell check or proof read from a printed copy. The fundamentals are not tarnished because the purpose of traditional process applies to the modern process as well.
Cuneiform Writing in the Ancient Near East 1. Writing was invented about 3100 BCE (B.C.). At this time, settlements were being established and writing became a necessity due to economics; sales of grain, animals, claims to land, etc. needed to be recorded. Reliable records had to be kept for all sorts of transactions -- animals kept in warehouses, land sales, and money paid for slaves, bills of sale, etc. Before writing was invented, clay tokens, sticks and other kinds of objects were used to keep records of household and commercial bookkeeping.
This language was used 5000 years ago to 2500 years ago, and it was mostly used as a literary language for English, and an official language by other languages. It is the oldest written language that has ever existed which developed in 3100 BC in southern Mesopotamia, and became well known during the 3rd millennium BC, beginning with the Jemdet Nasr (Uruk III) period from the 31st to 30th centuries BC. The chronology omits the Late Sumerian phase and regard all writings written after 2000 BC as “Post-Sumerian”, which is meant to refer to the time when the language was already extinct and only preserved by Babylonians and Assyrians as a liturgical and classical language meant for religious, artistic and scholarly purposes. According to the status of the spoken Sumerian between 2000 and 1700 BC, it reveals that a particularly large amount of literary texts and bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian lexical lists survive, but this is the basis for the distinction between a Late Sumerian period and all subsequent time.
Letter writing is among our most ancient of arts. It is estimated that this particular craft of writing letters on paper was born in 200 BC when the Chinese perfected the pulp papermaking process and began to produce papyrus. When one thinks of letters, our minds are instantly drawn to the likenesses of Saint Paul, Abraham Lincoln, Jane Austen, and Mark Twain; on love letters written during the many wars, or letters written home straight from the battlefront.