Writing systems, alphabets, scripts Books

Book SynopsisCultural Graphology could be the name of a new human science: this was Derrida's speculation when, in the late 1960s, he imagined a discipline that combined psychoanalysis, deconstruction, and a commitment to the topic of writing. He never undertook the project himself, but he did leave two brief sketches of how he thought cultural graphology might proceed. In this book, Juliet Fleming picks up where Derrida left off. Using his early thought and the psychoanalytic texts to which it is addressed to examine the print culture of early modern England, she drastically unsettles our knowledge of the key vehicle of modern writing: the book. Fleming shows that the single most important lesson to survive from Derrida's early work is that we do not know what writing is. Channeling Derrida's thought into places it has not been seen before, she takes on topics such as errors, spaces, and print ornaments that have hitherto been marginal to our accounts of print culture and excavates the long-forgot

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Book SynopsisSi Nae Park examines how the culture of Chosŏn Seoul gave rise to a new vernacular literary form (yadam), anonymously and unofficially circulating tales. She focuses on the collection Repeatedly Recited Stories of the East, which was written in a new medium in which Literary Sinitic is hybridized with the vernacular realities of Chosŏn society.Trade ReviewPark’s research into No’s linguistic-literary experimentation opens a new path for understanding the multilayered diglossia in Chosŏn literature. It also helps us reflect on issues in Korea today, such as Seoul-centrism, social mobility, and wealth and status. I feel that this, the first monographic work on yadam in a Western language, will appeal not only to specialists of premodern Korea, but to a wide range of readers as well. -- Jeongsoo Shin * Journal of Asian Studies *Si Nae Park’s The Korean Vernacular Story: Telling Tales of Contemporary Choson in Sinographic Writing offers a new look at the intriguing classical literary genre of yadam. Her thorough study of the late eighteenth-century collection known as Dongpae naksong, or Repeatedly Recited Stories of the East, compiled by No Myeongheum, casts light on the formation and significance of the yadam genre in the literary history of the Joseon period. -- Charles La Shure * Seoul Journal of Korean Studies *[An] impressively-researched book . . . The Korean Vernacular Story will not only appeal to scholars (there is much here that is analytical and scholarly) but to anyone interested in finding out about Asian writing which is not Chinese or Japanese. * Asian Review of Books *In The Korean Vernacular Story, Park unfurls a sparkling canvas of eighteenth-century Chosŏn Korea, where new forms of the written vernacular, social mobility, literary sociability—both Seoul- and Beijing-centered metageographies—and vernacular temporalities intersect. A remarkable intervention in Korean studies with crucial implications for the study of East Asia’s Sinographic literatures. -- Wiebke Denecke, author of Classical World Literatures: Sino-Japanese and Greco-Roman ComparisonsThe major project in Korean cultural history is to recapture Korea’s hidden vernacular past in the forest of “Chinese” writing by Koreans. Si Nae Park’s reading of the hitherto neglected yadam genre does exactly this, bringing these voices from Chosŏn Korea to life in their original earthy splendor. -- John Whitman, author of Korean: A Linguistic IntroductionIn this valuable study of yadam, Si Nae Park deftly handles the tensions between the oral and contemporary origins of the tales and the Sinitic script in which they are inscribed. Park has made a subtle, significant, and lasting contribution to an emerging but important field—the study of vernacularization in East Asia. -- Peter Kornicki, University of CambridgeThe Korean Vernacular Story is a meticulous and compelling reassessment of the emergence of yadam, elaborated through No Myŏnghŭm’s compilation of real-world stories in highly vernacularized Sinitic. This insightful study demonstrates how premodern Korea, its culture increasing influenced by women, came to appreciate and readily circulate stories about itself. -- Sunglim Kim, author of Flowering Plums and Curio Cabinets:The Culture of Objects in Late Chosŏn Korean ArtThe first full-length examination of the yadam genre, The Korean Vernacular Story examines the literary and social milieu in late Chosŏn Seoul. Using meticulous research, Park forms arguments that will certainly serve as the foundation for further research. -- Michael J. Pettid, coeditor of Premodern Korean Literary ProseA rethinking of vernacularity in late Chosŏn, free from modernist assumptions about the relationship between language and text. -- Sixiang Wang * Journal of Korean Studies *Park’s achievement does not lie merely in her nuanced historicization of the rise of the literary vernacular in eighteenth-century Chosŏn Korea. Her book also powerfully foregrounds the intricacy of the cosmopolitan-vernacular dynamics in a larger sinographic world. . . This is a must-read book for anyone who is interested in Chosŏn literary history and manuscript culture, early modern East Asian literature, and literary Sinitic and local vernaculars in the sinographic world. -- Suyoung Son * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *The Korean Vernacular Story is indispensable for all scholars dealing with questions of Korean language, literature, or pre-modern societal structures. Furthermore, this book about the telling of stories is itself a wonderful story and, in fact, a delightful read. -- Vladimir Glomb * Acta Koreana *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsA Note to the ReaderIntroduction1. The Compiler: A Marginalized Yangban at the Center of the Chosŏn Cultural Scene2. The Narrative World: A Window Into the Zeitgeist of Contemporary Chosŏn at Large3. The Language: Articulating in the Language of the Here and Now4. The Text in Motion: The Circulation of the Tongp’ae naksong and the Rise of Yadam in the Chosŏn Manuscript ContextCodaAppendix A: The Original Text and Translation of “The Biography of No, the Clumsy Old Man”Appendix B: A Translation of “The Story of a Slave Girl from Chirye”NotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisGrounded in ethnographic and archival research on the Indonesian island of Bali, More Than Words challenges conventional understandings of textuality and writing as they pertain to the religious traditions of Southeast Asia. Through a nuanced study of Balinese script as employed in rites of healing, sorcery, and self-defense, Richard Fox explores the aims and desires embodied in the production and use of palm-leaf manuscripts, amulets, and other inscribed objects. Balinese often attribute both life and independent volition to manuscripts and copperplate inscriptions, presenting them with elaborate offerings. Commonly addressed with personal honorifics, these script-bearing objects may become partners with humans and other sentient beings in relations of exchange and mutual obligation. The question is how such practices of the living letter may be related to more recently emergent conceptions of writinglinked to academic philology, reform Hinduism, and local politicswhiTrade ReviewIn eight carefully focused and crafted chapters—each of which could stand alone—Fox explores the what, when, where, and why of writing on Bali. Fox more than delivers on his promise to add to an understanding of the local belief that the inscription itself is animated and as such venerated.... Fox more than surpasses his two stated goals: to make a "modest" contribution to the study of the Balinese system of beliefs, and to rethink human writing itself. This important work is a must for those interested in Asian religions and recommended for those interested in humanity's unique abilities. * Choice *Richard Fox has written the present book to elucidate what is going on in Bali and he has managed to do so in an attractive and readable way...The book is a breath of fresh air because of its admirable lucidity. It has been written in an accessible way and does not run away with theoretical language and thus does not alienate non-experts. This is crucial because it can now be read by non-specialists but also by specialists in other fields. It would be extremely useful if this book would be seen as an example of how indeed to study this kind of subject. -- Dick van der Meij, DREAMSEA * Archipel *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgements A Note on Orthography and Related Conventions 1. Manuscripts, Madness 2. Writing and the Idea of Ecology 3. The Meaning of Life, or How to Do Things with Letters 4. Practice and the Problem of Complexity 5. Maintaining a Houseyard as a Practice 6. Tradition as Argument 7. Translational Indeterminacy 8. Wagging the Dog Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisGrounded in ethnographic and archival research on the Indonesian island of Bali, More Than Words challenges conventional understandings of textuality and writing as they pertain to the religious traditions of Southeast Asia. Through a nuanced study of Balinese script as employed in rites of healing, sorcery, and self-defense, Richard Fox explores the aims and desires embodied in the production and use of palm-leaf manuscripts, amulets, and other inscribed objects. Balinese often attribute both life and independent volition to manuscripts and copperplate inscriptions, presenting them with elaborate offerings. Commonly addressed with personal honorifics, these script-bearing objects may become partners with humans and other sentient beings in relations of exchange and mutual obligation. The question is how such practices of the living letter may be related to more recently emergent conceptions of writinglinked to academic philology, reform Hinduism, and local politicswhiTrade ReviewIn eight carefully focused and crafted chapters—each of which could stand alone—Fox explores the what, when, where, and why of writing on Bali. Fox more than delivers on his promise to add to an understanding of the local belief that the inscription itself is animated and as such venerated.... Fox more than surpasses his two stated goals: to make a "modest" contribution to the study of the Balinese system of beliefs, and to rethink human writing itself. This important work is a must for those interested in Asian religions and recommended for those interested in humanity's unique abilities. * Choice *Richard Fox has written the present book to elucidate what is going on in Bali and he has managed to do so in an attractive and readable way...The book is a breath of fresh air because of its admirable lucidity. It has been written in an accessible way and does not run away with theoretical language and thus does not alienate non-experts. This is crucial because it can now be read by non-specialists but also by specialists in other fields. It would be extremely useful if this book would be seen as an example of how indeed to study this kind of subject. -- Dick van der Meij, DREAMSEA * Archipel *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgements A Note on Orthography and Related Conventions 1. Manuscripts, Madness 2. Writing and the Idea of Ecology 3. The Meaning of Life, or How to Do Things with Letters 4. Practice and the Problem of Complexity 5. Maintaining a Houseyard as a Practice 6. Tradition as Argument 7. Translational Indeterminacy 8. Wagging the Dog Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisThe field of text technologies is a capacious analytical framework that focuses on all textual records throughout human history, from the earliest periods of traceable communication—perhaps as early as 60,000 BCE—to the present day. At its core, it examines the material history of communication: what constitutes a text, the purposes for which it is intended, how it functions, and the social ends that it serves. This coursebook can be used to support any pedagogical or research activities in text technologies, the history of the book, the history of information, and textually based work in the digital humanities. Through careful explanations of the field, examinations of terminology and themes, and illustrated case studies of diverse texts—from the Cyrus cylinder to the Eagles' "Hotel California"—Elaine Treharne and Claude Willan offer a clear yet nuanced overview of how humans convey meaning. Text Technologies will enable students and teachers to generate multiple lines of inquiry into how communication—its production, form and materiality, and reception—is crucial to any interpretation of culture, history, and society.Trade Review"Elaine Treharne and Claude Willan provide the big picture of the history of text—all the ways humans have recorded information from cave paintings to paper money and radar. Their work offers a rich conceptual framework and broad historical coverage to orient students and teachers amidst this fascinating landscape. Whether you are interested in theories that guide textual study, case studies about the Cyrus Cylinder or the Zoetrope, or questions of how technologies of inscription evolve, this clear and lucid book has ample material for a wide variety of curious readers."—Andrew Piper, McGill University"If there is one book to assign Humanities and Digital Humanities students that provides a wide range of knowledge about text technologies, it is this one. It introduces principal concepts along with ample historical examples, five diverse case studies, and an explanation about the way in which particular text technologies have shifted over time."—Dene Grigar, Washington State University Vancouver"A lucid and stimulating introduction to the history of text technologies, ranging from cave paintings, clay tablets, and Japanese tsunami memorials to films, mp3s, and iPads. Packed with thought-provoking examples and discussion, this book will engage a wide range of students, encouraging them to explore how the complex interplay between creativity, communication, and technology shapes global cultures."—Andrew Prescott, University of Glasgow

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Book SynopsisThe field of text technologies is a capacious analytical framework that focuses on all textual records throughout human history, from the earliest periods of traceable communication—perhaps as early as 60,000 BCE—to the present day. At its core, it examines the material history of communication: what constitutes a text, the purposes for which it is intended, how it functions, and the social ends that it serves. This coursebook can be used to support any pedagogical or research activities in text technologies, the history of the book, the history of information, and textually based work in the digital humanities. Through careful explanations of the field, examinations of terminology and themes, and illustrated case studies of diverse texts—from the Cyrus cylinder to the Eagles' "Hotel California"—Elaine Treharne and Claude Willan offer a clear yet nuanced overview of how humans convey meaning. Text Technologies will enable students and teachers to generate multiple lines of inquiry into how communication—its production, form and materiality, and reception—is crucial to any interpretation of culture, history, and society.Trade Review"Elaine Treharne and Claude Willan provide the big picture of the history of text—all the ways humans have recorded information from cave paintings to paper money and radar. Their work offers a rich conceptual framework and broad historical coverage to orient students and teachers amidst this fascinating landscape. Whether you are interested in theories that guide textual study, case studies about the Cyrus Cylinder or the Zoetrope, or questions of how technologies of inscription evolve, this clear and lucid book has ample material for a wide variety of curious readers."—Andrew Piper, McGill University"If there is one book to assign Humanities and Digital Humanities students that provides a wide range of knowledge about text technologies, it is this one. It introduces principal concepts along with ample historical examples, five diverse case studies, and an explanation about the way in which particular text technologies have shifted over time."—Dene Grigar, Washington State University Vancouver"A lucid and stimulating introduction to the history of text technologies, ranging from cave paintings, clay tablets, and Japanese tsunami memorials to films, mp3s, and iPads. Packed with thought-provoking examples and discussion, this book will engage a wide range of students, encouraging them to explore how the complex interplay between creativity, communication, and technology shapes global cultures."—Andrew Prescott, University of Glasgow

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Book SynopsisMedieval books that survive today have been through a lot: singed by fire, mottled by mold, eaten by insects, annotated by readers, cut into fragments, or damaged through well-intentioned preservation efforts. In this book, Michelle Warren tells the story of one such manuscript—an Arthurian romance with textual origins in twelfth-century England now diffused across the twenty-first century internet. This trajectory has been propelled by a succession of technologies—from paper manufacture to printing to computers. Together, they have made literary history itself a cultural technology indebted to colonial capitalism. Bringing to bear media theory, medieval literary studies, and book history, Warren shows how digital infrastructures change texts and books, even very old ones. In the process, she uncovers a practice of "tech medievalism" that weaves through the history of computing since the mid-twentieth century; metaphors indebted to King Arthur and the Holy Grail are integral to some of the technologies that now sustain medieval books on the internet. This infrastructural approach to book history illuminates how the meaning of literature is made by many people besides canonical authors: translators, scribes, patrons, readers, collectors, librarians, cataloguers, editors, photographers, software programmers, and many more. Situated at the intersections of the digital humanities, library sciences, literary history, and book history, Holy Digital Grail offers new ways to conceptualize authorship, canon formation, and the definition of a "book."Trade Review"Deeply learned, self-reflective and ethical, and a really good read, Holy Digital Grail represents a lifetime's worth of thinking deeply."—Siân Echard, University of British Columbia"Book history built around the precarious adventures of a single—and singularly embattled—Arthurian manuscript. Michelle Warren is among the most original, creative, and technologically alert medieval scholars of our time."—Paul Strohm, Columbia University"This is the kind of book history scholarship we need in the twenty-first century: connective, imaginative, and unafraid to follow the histories of books wherever they lead. Michelle Warren's fascinating account of a single manuscript and its many afterlives connects our digital present and the medieval past with insight and verve, deftly combining the study of manuscripts, digitization, and media history in a remarkable synthesis."—Alan Galey, University of Toronto"Warren's book is praiseworthy not just for her knowledge about MS 80, but also for her detailed understanding of the work involved in creating digital editions and the clarity with which she explains (what may be) unfamiliar technical terminology and processes to the reader. Warren's focus on the paratextual features of the manuscript, along with the attention she pays to processes of editing, collating, and preservation, make a thoughtful contribution to publishing studies in highlighting much of the unseen (and frequently unacknowledged) work that shapes audience interactions with medieval manuscripts."—Martha Claire Baldon, The Medieval Review"Warren's personal approach presents a tangible expression of how new digital platforms have allowed and even prompted new avenues in manuscript studies."—C. E. M. Henderson, Modern Philology"As with the search for the Holy Grail, the goal is not always entirely tangible, but the journey itself is very enlightening—and, in this case, also entertaining.... [Holy Digital Grail] is about much more than merely tracing the history of the records of one manuscript. The book addresses key questions about interactions between digital infrastructure and book history as well as the making and remaking of books. Ultimately, one could also see behind this a reflection of research data in the humanities, which results from the source, its digitization, and the multilayered enrichment over time."—Luise Borek, H-Sci-Med-Tech"Holy Digital Grail is a carefully constructed and refreshing account of the history of a medieval book, from the origins of its text to its digital existence. Warren's interdisciplinary and reflective approach allows her to successfully disentangle the intricate connections between text, matter, technology, politics, and people."—Renske Annelize Hoff, Jarbuch für KommunikationsgeschichteTable of ContentsIntroduction: Medieval Literature in the Digital Dark Ages 1. Translating Arthur: Books, Texts, Machines 2. Performing Community: Merchants, Chivalry, Data 3. Marking Manuscripts: Makers, Users, Coders 4. Cataloguing Libraries: History, Romance, Website 5. Editing Romance: Poetry, Print, Platform 6. Reproducing Books: Binding, Microfilm, Digital Conclusion: Indexing the Grail, Romancing the Internet

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Book SynopsisMedieval books that survive today have been through a lot: singed by fire, mottled by mold, eaten by insects, annotated by readers, cut into fragments, or damaged through well-intentioned preservation efforts. In this book, Michelle Warren tells the story of one such manuscript—an Arthurian romance with textual origins in twelfth-century England now diffused across the twenty-first century internet. This trajectory has been propelled by a succession of technologies—from paper manufacture to printing to computers. Together, they have made literary history itself a cultural technology indebted to colonial capitalism. Bringing to bear media theory, medieval literary studies, and book history, Warren shows how digital infrastructures change texts and books, even very old ones. In the process, she uncovers a practice of "tech medievalism" that weaves through the history of computing since the mid-twentieth century; metaphors indebted to King Arthur and the Holy Grail are integral to some of the technologies that now sustain medieval books on the internet. This infrastructural approach to book history illuminates how the meaning of literature is made by many people besides canonical authors: translators, scribes, patrons, readers, collectors, librarians, cataloguers, editors, photographers, software programmers, and many more. Situated at the intersections of the digital humanities, library sciences, literary history, and book history, Holy Digital Grail offers new ways to conceptualize authorship, canon formation, and the definition of a "book."Trade Review"Deeply learned, self-reflective and ethical, and a really good read, Holy Digital Grail represents a lifetime's worth of thinking deeply."—Siân Echard, University of British Columbia"Book history built around the precarious adventures of a single—and singularly embattled—Arthurian manuscript. Michelle Warren is among the most original, creative, and technologically alert medieval scholars of our time."—Paul Strohm, Columbia University"This is the kind of book history scholarship we need in the twenty-first century: connective, imaginative, and unafraid to follow the histories of books wherever they lead. Michelle Warren's fascinating account of a single manuscript and its many afterlives connects our digital present and the medieval past with insight and verve, deftly combining the study of manuscripts, digitization, and media history in a remarkable synthesis."—Alan Galey, University of Toronto"Warren's book is praiseworthy not just for her knowledge about MS 80, but also for her detailed understanding of the work involved in creating digital editions and the clarity with which she explains (what may be) unfamiliar technical terminology and processes to the reader. Warren's focus on the paratextual features of the manuscript, along with the attention she pays to processes of editing, collating, and preservation, make a thoughtful contribution to publishing studies in highlighting much of the unseen (and frequently unacknowledged) work that shapes audience interactions with medieval manuscripts."—Martha Claire Baldon, The Medieval Review"Warren's personal approach presents a tangible expression of how new digital platforms have allowed and even prompted new avenues in manuscript studies."—C. E. M. Henderson, Modern Philology"As with the search for the Holy Grail, the goal is not always entirely tangible, but the journey itself is very enlightening—and, in this case, also entertaining.... [Holy Digital Grail] is about much more than merely tracing the history of the records of one manuscript. The book addresses key questions about interactions between digital infrastructure and book history as well as the making and remaking of books. Ultimately, one could also see behind this a reflection of research data in the humanities, which results from the source, its digitization, and the multilayered enrichment over time."—Luise Borek, H-Sci-Med-Tech"Holy Digital Grail is a carefully constructed and refreshing account of the history of a medieval book, from the origins of its text to its digital existence. Warren's interdisciplinary and reflective approach allows her to successfully disentangle the intricate connections between text, matter, technology, politics, and people."—Renske Annelize Hoff, Jarbuch für KommunikationsgeschichteTable of ContentsIntroduction: Medieval Literature in the Digital Dark Ages 1. Translating Arthur: Books, Texts, Machines 2. Performing Community: Merchants, Chivalry, Data 3. Marking Manuscripts: Makers, Users, Coders 4. Cataloguing Libraries: History, Romance, Website 5. Editing Romance: Poetry, Print, Platform 6. Reproducing Books: Binding, Microfilm, Digital Conclusion: Indexing the Grail, Romancing the Internet

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Book SynopsisThe K-Effect shows how the roman alphabet has functioned as a standardizing global model for modern print culture. Investigating the history and ongoing effects of romanization, Christopher GoGwilt reads modernism in a global and comparative perspective, through the works of Joseph Conrad and others. The book explores the ambiguous effect of romanized transliteration both in the service of colonization and as an instrument of decolonization. This simultaneously standardizing and destabilizing effect is abbreviated in the way the letter K indexes changing hierarchies in the relation between languages and scripts. The book traces this K-effect through the linguistic work of transliteration and its aesthetic organization in transnational modernism. The book examines a variety of different cases of romanization: the historical shift from Arabic script to romanized print form in writing Malay; the politicization of language and script reforms across Russia and Central Europe; the role of Chinese debates about romanization in shaping global transformations in print media; and the place of romanization between ancient Sanskrit models of language and script and contemporary digital forms of coding. Each case study develops an analysis of Conrad’s fiction read in comparison with such other writers as James Joyce, Lu Xun, Franz Kafka, and Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The first sustained cultural study of romanization, The K-Effect proposes an important new way to assess the multi-lingual and multi-script coordinates of modern print culture.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Conrad’s “timely appearance in English” 1 The K-effect, 6 • Conrad’s “timely appearance in English,” 13 • The K-effect circa 1911, 21 • Overview of the Book, 25 1 The English Case of Romanization: From Conrad’s “blank space” to Joyce’s “iSpace” 31 Defining Romanization: The Oxford English Dictionary and Joseph Conrad, 32 • Conrad’s Accusative Case: Lord Jim and Nostromo, 51 • Joycean “iSpace” and the Conradian “blank space,” 59 2 The Russian Face of Romanization: The K in Conrad and Kafka 72 Language, Script, and Reform in the Russian Empire, 77 • Under Western Eyes, A Personal Record, and “Prince Roman,” 83 • Kafka and Conrad: The Character and Function of K in Central Europe, 102 3 The Chinese Character of Romanization: Conrad and Lu Xun 117 The Chinese Script Revolution and Romanization, 118 • Conrad’s Chinese Characters: Almayer’s Folly to Victory, 127 • Conrad and Lu Xun: The Interface of Chinese and Roman Characters, 144 4 Sanskritization, Romanization, Digitization 157 Sanskritization, 165 • Sanskritization and Romanization in the OED and in Pramoedya Ananta Toer, 174 • Digitization, 179 Acknowledgments 191 Notes 195 Bibliography 217 Index 227

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Book SynopsisThe cultures of the world have chosen different ways to make spoken language visible and permanent. The original edition of Writing Systems represented the first time that modern linguistic principles were brought to bear on a study of this. Now this new edition brings the story up to date; it incorporates topics which have emerged since the first edition (such as electronic techniques for encoding the world's scripts), together with new findings about established topics, including the ultimate historical origin of our alphabet. Featuring a series of detailed case studies of scripts of diverse types, and giving due attention to the psychology of reading and learning to read, the book is written so as to be accessible to those with no prior knowledge of any writing systems other than our own.Trade ReviewPraise for the first edition This is a splendid book ... of outstanding interest to professional linguists and students of linguistics, and also to the large number of lay readers who are fascinated by facts about human language. British Book News A refreshing and rigorous contemporary scientific examination of writing ... Linguists on all fronts should welcome this. Choice An incredible tour de force, covering both Western and East Asian scripts, their historical development and their linguistic features. The treatment of Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts is particularly fascinating for a Western reader. ASI Newsletter I have found Sampson's book invaluable as a source of descriptive information ... it is written in a straightforward and approachable manner which makes it very engaging as general reading matter ... shows an acquaintance with recent psychological work that is seldom to be found in linguistic writing. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology the best linguistic introduction to the study of writing systems now available. LanguageTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. Theoretical Preliminaries 3. The Earliest Writing 4. A Syllabic System: Linear B 5. Consonantal Writing 6. European Alphabetic Writing 7. Influences on Graph-shape Evolution 8. A Featural System: Korean Hangul 9. A Logographic System: Chinese Writing 10. Pros and Cons of Logography 11. A Mixed System: Japanese Writing 12. Writing Systems and Information Technology 13. English Spelling 14. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisAn Exploration of Writing is a book about our alphabets, our syllabaries, and all the other kinds of writing that people use and have used for 5000 years. It introduces the general public to a topic that hardly anyone has heard about, so it clarifies basic linguistic terms as they occur. For linguists exploring the growing field of graphonomy-the study of writing systems-in which the author has long been a pioneer, it weaves together the many threads of theory into a tapestry showing a fuller picture of what all our scripts are seen to share. An Exploration of Writing begins with more familiar kinds of writing considered in unfamiliar ways-starting with English viewed syllabically--and leads the reader across the Old World and the New to less familiar kinds of writing, showing how all writings share a fundamental essence, however diverse they appear to be, because all writing represents language. The more familiar (Hebrew, Chinese, Korean) leads on to the less familiar (Udi, Pahlavi, Javanese). Featured are some of the world's most recently elucidated scripts, and some that are long known but long neglected, such as those for Central Asian languages, and some of the most recent interpretations of long-mysterious scripts, such as Sumerian and Mesoamerican. An Exploration of Writing is in the tradition of and in part a response to A Study of Writing (1952/1963), by I. J. Gelb. It encapsulates more than thirty years of the author's work and his dozens of articles on writing systems, ranging from investigating the physical process of writing to bringing to light the achievements of those who had deciphered forgotten scripts to developing a theoretical approach to the origins of writing which leads to insights into the nature of writing itself.Trade Review"Peter Daniels has thought more and more deeply about writing than anyone else around. This very engaging book reflects both. It incorporates the taxonomy of types of writing systems that he pioneered and is organized very nicely around the various ways in which a writing system reflects its (spoken) language. The book presupposes little linguistic knowledge and is clearly written." Professor Mark Aronoff, Stony Brook University "No student of linguistics, nor educator, psychologist, or social scientist concerned with literacy, can afford to remain ignorant of the fundamentals of writing systems. It is a great honor to commend to the reader a work of such exceptional scholarship." Professor David L. Share, University of Haifa (from the Foreword)Table of ContentsForeword David L. Share, University of HaifaIntroduction1. Syllables and Syllabaries2. Segments and Alphabets3. Consonants and Abjads4. Moras and Kana5. Clusters and Abugidas6. Morphemes and Morphograms7. Words and Heterograms8. Hybrids and Innovations9. Recoveries and Decipherments10. Pictograms and Mysteries11. Origins and Characteristics12. Graphonomy and Linguistics

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Book SynopsisAn Exploration of Writing is a book about our alphabets, our syllabaries, and all the other kinds of writing that people use and have used for 5000 years. It introduces the general public to a topic that hardly anyone has heard about, so it clarifies basic linguistic terms as they occur. For linguists exploring the growing field of graphonomy-the study of writing systems-in which the author has long been a pioneer, it weaves together the many threads of theory into a tapestry showing a fuller picture of what all our scripts are seen to share. An Exploration of Writing begins with more familiar kinds of writing considered in unfamiliar ways-starting with English viewed syllabically--and leads the reader across the Old World and the New to less familiar kinds of writing, showing how all writings share a fundamental essence, however diverse they appear to be, because all writing represents language. The more familiar (Hebrew, Chinese, Korean) leads on to the less familiar (Udi, Pahlavi, Javanese). Featured are some of the world's most recently elucidated scripts, and some that are long known but long neglected, such as those for Central Asian languages, and some of the most recent interpretations of long-mysterious scripts, such as Sumerian and Mesoamerican. An Exploration of Writing is in the tradition of and in part a response to A Study of Writing (1952/1963), by I. J. Gelb. It encapsulates more than thirty years of the author's work and his dozens of articles on writing systems, ranging from investigating the physical process of writing to bringing to light the achievements of those who had deciphered forgotten scripts to developing a theoretical approach to the origins of writing which leads to insights into the nature of writing itself.Trade Review"Peter Daniels has thought more and more deeply about writing than anyone else around. This very engaging book reflects both. It incorporates the taxonomy of types of writing systems that he pioneered and is organized very nicely around the various ways in which a writing system reflects its (spoken) language. The book presupposes little linguistic knowledge and is clearly written." Professor Mark Aronoff, Stony Brook University "No student of linguistics, nor educator, psychologist, or social scientist concerned with literacy, can afford to remain ignorant of the fundamentals of writing systems. It is a great honor to commend to the reader a work of such exceptional scholarship." Professor David L. Share, University of Haifa (from the Foreword)Table of ContentsForeword David L. Share, University of HaifaIntroduction1. Syllables and Syllabaries2. Segments and Alphabets3. Consonants and Abjads4. Moras and Kana5. Clusters and Abugidas6. Morphemes and Morphograms7. Words and Heterograms8. Hybrids and Innovations9. Recoveries and Decipherments10. Pictograms and Mysteries11. Origins and Characteristics12. Graphonomy and Linguistics

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisAntonyms in Mind and Brain presents a multi-method empirical investigation of opposition with a particular focus on the processing of opposite pairs and their representation in the mental lexicon. Building on recent cognitive accounts of antonymy which highlight the fundamentally conceptual nature of antonymy, this book outlines previous literature to draw out criteria for good opposites and establish the state of the art on the question whether the strong connection of certain opposite pairs is primarily of a conceptual or lexical nature. presents a detailed cross-linguistic empirical study combining corpus data, speaker judgements and behavioural experiments for a wide range of central (e.g. big:little) and peripheral (e.g. buy:sell; wife:husband) opposite pairs to establish the contribution of individual factors. proposes a model of the representation of opposite pairs in the mental lexicon Table of ContentsPART I Theoretical foundations 1. Introduction 2. Previous perspectives on antonymy PART II Empirical investigation 3. Antonymic and associative strength: evidence from English and German 4. Processing opposite pairs: an antonym-decision task 5. Case studies PART III Theoretical implications 6. Antonyms in mind and brain: towards a psycholinguistic model of opposition 7. Conclusions

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisWriting does not begin and end with the encoding of an idea into a group of symbols. It is practised by people who have learnt its principles and acquired the tools and skills for doing it, in a particular context that affects what they do and how they do it. Nor are these practices static, as those involved exploit opportunities to adapt old features and develop new ones. The act of writing then has tangible and visible consequences not only for the writers but also for those encountering what has been produced, whether they can read its content or not – with potential for a wider social visibility that can in turn affect the success and longevity of the writing system itself.With a focus on the syllabic systems of the Bronze Age Aegean, this book attempts to bring together different perspectives to create an innovative interdisciplinary outlook on what is involved in writing: from structuralist views of writing as systems of signs with their linguistic values, to archaeological and anthropological approaches to writing as a socially grounded practice. The main chapters focus on the concepts of script adoption and adaptation; different methods of logographic writing; and the vitality of writing traditions, with repercussions for the modern world.Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems (CREWS) is a project funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 677758), and based in the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Tables and Figures Introduction Cretan Hieroglyphic, Linear A and Linear B (and their Cypriot cousins) Chronology Theoretical perspectives and terminology 1: Exploring script adoption How do we know that Linear B adopted Linear A syllabographic sign values with little change? Can we use Linear B sign values or structural features to reconstruct Minoan phonology or other linguistic features? How should we understand the nature of the transition from Linear A to B? 2: Exploring logography Classifying signs in writing systems Linear B Linear A Cretan Hieroglyphic Understanding logography in the Bronze Age Aegean 3: Exploring vitality Cretan Hieroglyphic Linear A Linear B Syllabic writing in Cyprus Relationships between writing and language vitality The vitality of writing traditions Epilogue: writing for the future Bibliography

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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