After Class 02/08/10

We noted today in class that writing progressed from pictographs, pectoglips, ideographs, into cuneiform and hieroglyphics and eventually into the Greek and Latin alphabets we are more familiar with today. It is interesting to see how humans began with representing single ideas or objects with a certain letter and then began to break down that object into representing the sound of the word with letters. However, not all writing evolved the same. The Phoenician's had 22 characters in their alphabet whereas the Chinese have over 44,000 symbols. The Greeks employed the alphabet to serve two functions. They explained their ideas but also set a tone of how their empire would be perceived by how the letters were formed. They recognized that all capital stiff looking letters implied power and whimsical calligraphy would not be useful to them. The most interesting thing I found in today's class was learning about the Chia-ku-wen people. They would read the cracks that were stabbed into bones and try to form words and meanings from them. I think their devotion and reverence for nature and it's ability to give meaning to humans is amazing. Their connection to outside forces was fascinating.
Movable type never caught on with the Chinese, so it makes me wonder with today's technology how have they adapted. Do they use English or other languages when typing on a computer?