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CHAPTER 12WRITING:

THE ABCs OF LANGUAGE

by Don L. F. Nilsen

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Written language is more conservative than spoken language!

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 521)

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BRITISH AIRWAYS PAMPHLET(cf Fromkin Rodman Hyams 532)

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HISTORY OF WRITING SYSTEMS

1500 BC: Cave Drawings as Pictograms4000 BC: Sumerian Cuneiform3000 BC: Hieroglyphics1500 BC: West Semitic Syllabary of the Phonecians1000 BC: Ancient Greeks Borrow the Phoenician Consonantal

Alphabet750 BC: Etruscans Borrow the Greek Alphabet500 BC: Romans Adapt the Etruscan/Greco Alphabet to Latin

(Fromkin, Rodman &Hyams [2011] 553)

Later Cyrus and Methodius invented the Cyrillic Alphabet taking some symbols from the Greek Alphabet, some from the Roman Alphabet and inventing some of the own.

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RECYCLING OF SYMBOLS

A Pictographic writing system has the advantage of looking like what it represents, but it requires a different picture for every different concept, and some concepts are so abstract that pictures are problematic.

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PICTOGRAMS

Invent a pictogram for each of the following words:

eye boy library

tree forest war

honesty ugly run

Scotch tape smoke

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2011] 545-546)

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Cuneiform writing was wedge shaped (from Latin “cuneus” meaning “wedge”).

Darius, a King of the Persian empire, used cuneiform writing on rocks to write about the people and countries he had conquored.

In Avestan (Old Persian) this is called “resmaelxaet mixi” or “nail writing.”

(See Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2011] 543-545)

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The term “hieroglyph” comes from Greek “hiero” meaning “sacred” and “glyphikos” meaning “carvings.”

For a long time, Egyptian heiroglyphs were a mystery, but then in the Rosetta Stone it was noticed that some words were highlighted as cartouches.

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Linguists figured out that these cartouches were reserved for the names of royalty, and they figured out that one of the names was “Cleopatra.”

Since these hieroglyphics were alphabetical in nature, this told them how the following sounds were written: /kleopætra/ were written.

Another clue in the Rosetta stone is that there were three translations of the same story on the stone, so linguists could compare the versions.

(cf. Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2011] 546-547)

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THE REBUS PRINCIPLE

Since a person can’t draw a picture of an abstract concept, people discoverered that they can draw a picture of words that sound the same.

So for “I can see you” it is possible to draw a picture of an eye, a can, the sea, and a female sheep.

(cf. Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams [2011] 545-547)

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A Syllabary System requires fewer symbols than does a pictographic or ideagraphic system.

But it would a different symbol for every consonant-vowel combination, not to mention that in English there are long and short vowels and consonant clusters, etc.

So a syllabary would still require too many symbols.

An alphabet would require far fewer “letters.”(Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams [2011] 544, 5490-550)

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CONSONANTAL WRITING SYSTEMS

Hebrew and Arabic are in the same language family (Hamitosemitic, named after Ham and Shem in the Bible).

In Hebrew and Arabic the vowels are often not written. People who speak the languages can figure out the vowels.

Furthermore, words in these two languages are mostly based on three-consonant radicals, so that “SLM” meaning “peace” in Arabic can end up as “Salaam,” “Islam,” or “Mulsem.” Compare Hebrew “Shalom.”

(cf. Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2011] 552)

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English spelling is morphophonemic.

It represents both the sounds and the meanings of words.

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OUR ENGLISH ALPHABET HAS ONLY 26 LETTERS TO REPRESENT 45 DIFFERENT SOUNDS

AND SOME OF OUR LETTERS (LIKE C, Q, H, AND X) AREN’T VERY USEFUL

ENGLISH HAS 5 VOWEL LETTERS TO REPRESENT 13 VOWEL SOUNDS

AND WE USE THEM ALL UP FOR OUR SHORT VOWELS, AS IN: pat, pet, pit, pot, and put

SO WE DON’T HAVE ANY LETTERS LEFT FOR OUR LONG VOWELS, AND THE RESULT IS CHAOS

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SO THIS IS HOW WE SPELL OUR LONG VOWELSA, E, I, O, and U:

A: He ate the freight. It was his fate. How

E: The silly amoeba stole the key to the machine. or Did he believe that Caesar could see the people?

I: I write eye-rhyme, like “She cited the sight of the site.”

O: Our chauffeur, although he stubbed his toe, yeomanly towed four more boards through the open door of the depot.

U: blue, blew, gnu, Hugh, new, Pooh, Sioux, through, two

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A MORPHOPHONEMIC SPELLING SYSTEM

A morphophonemic spelling system will spell different words differently although they are pronounced the same: their, there, they’re

A morphophonemic spelling will spell words in the same family the same even though they are pronounced differently: go, gone

A morphophonemic spelling will spell a particular suffix the same regardless of how it is pronounced: cats, dogs, horses

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EXPLAIN WHAT THE FOLLOWING WORD PAIRS TELL YOU ABOUT ENGLISH SPELLING

I am vs. iamb

goose vs. produce

fashion vs. complication

Newton vs. organ

no vs. know

hymn vs. him

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2011] 546)

line vs. children

sonar vs. resound

cent vs. mystic

crumble vs. bomb

cats vs. dogs

stagnant vs. design

serene vs. obscenity

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2011] 564-565)

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VIOLATIONS OF THE PHONEMIC PRINCIPLE

SAME PRONUNCIATION BUT DIFFERENT SPELLINGS (DIFFERENT MEANINGS): cite-sight-site, marry-Mary-merry, pair-pare-pear, there-their-they're

SAME SPELLINGS BUT DIFFERENT

PRONUNCIATIONS (SAME WORD FAMILIES): nation-national, obscene-obscenity, sign-signature, go-gone, ct. soup-supper

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HOMONYMS

Have students in the class pronounce a homonym and then you respond with two or more spelligs, such as:

eye, aye, I

site, sight

die, dye

there, their, their

(Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams [2011] 198)

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CONSONANT GRADES

REDUCED GRADE: act-action-actual, critic-criticize, medicine-medication, part-partial, rite-ritual, seize-seizure

MARKED GRADE: chip, cough, hiccough, enough, phone, ship, this, thought (NOTE: The <h> of ch, gh, ph, sh, and th indicate that these are strange kinds of c, g, p, s, and t respectively.

ZERO GRADE: acknowledge-knowledge; amnesia-mnemonic; though, thought, through, thumb-thimble-Thumbelina

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 524)

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“Gnus and gnomes and gnats and such

Gnouns with just one G too much.

Pseudonym and psychedelic

P becomes a psurplus relic.

Knit and knack and knife and knocked

Kneedless Ks are overstocked.

Rhubarb, rhetoric and rhyme

Should lose an H from thyme to time.”

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2011] 558)

(from Robert Feinstein’s “Gnormal Pspelling.”)

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VOWEL GRADES

VOWEL REDUCTION (SCHWA GRADE): natural-naturalize-naturalization, photo-photograph-photographic-photography, s'pose-suppose-supposition, telegraph- telegraphic-telegraphy

VOWEL REDUCTION (-R or –N GRADE): ; pin-

pen; absurd, bird, heard, herd, word

VOWEL REDUCTION (ZERO GRADE): ambidextrous-dexterity, busy-business

(cf. Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 525-526)

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Note that English has some ideagraphs like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, @, #, $, %, &, =, +, etc.

English can also be written in syllabary symbols.

Consider the following two stories written in syllabry symbols.

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I S U, F U NE M?S, V F M.F U NE X?S, V F X.OK, L F M N X.

I ask you, have you any ham?Yes, we have ham.Have you any eggs?Yes, we have eggs.OK, I’ll have ham and eggs.

(Nilsen & Nilsen Language Play 107)

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LE, C D puppies.L, M N O puppies.O S M R puppies.C M P N?

Ellie, see the puppies.Hell, them ain’t no puppies.Oh yes them are puppies.See ‘em peein?

(Nilsen & Nilsen Language Play 107)

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EGYPTIAN CHARACTERS (Hughes 715)

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GREEK & ROMAN CHARACTERS (Hughes 718)

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PHOENICIAN, HEBREW & ARABIC CHARACTERS (Hughes 713)!

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CYRILLIC CHARACTERS (NOTE ROMAN & GREEK INFLUENCE) (Hughes 720)!!

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GHOTI

What does “ghoti” spell? (Daniels, 58)

It spells “fish”

the <gh> of “enough”the <o> of “women”the <ti> of “nation”

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ACRONYM JOKES

These jokes are often found on vanity license plates or bumper stickers:

10SNE1 (tennis anyone?)

XQUSME (excuse me)

4RGRAN (for our grandchild)

BS, MS, PhD (Bull Shit, More of the Same, Piled Higher and Deeper)

(Nilsen & Nilsen 175)

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AMBIGUOUS IN SPEECH BUT NOT IN WRITING

John said he’s going.

John said, “He’s going.”

my cousin’s friends (one cousin)

my cousins’ friends (two or more cousins)

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 519)

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They’re my brothers’ keepers.

He said, “He will take the garbage out.”

The red book was read.

The flower was on the table.

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 531)

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AMBIGUOUS IN WRITING BUT NOT IN SPEECH

John hugged Bill and then he kissed him.

What are we having for dinner, Mother?

She’s a German language teacher.

They formed a student grievance committee.

Charles kissed his wife and George kissed his wife too.

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 531)

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METALANGUAGE (Language about Language)

Railroad crossing, watch out for cars.How do you spell it without any r’s? (AMBIGUOUS IN

SPEECH BUT NOT IN WRITING)

Railroad crossing, watch out for cars.How do you spell it (or “it”) without any r’s?

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 520)

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!HOW SPEECH IS REPRESENTED IN WRITING

PAUSE = COMMA

Jack, thinks Jill, is smart.

Jack thinks Jill is smart.

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 519)

Woman, without her, man is nothing.

Woman, without he man, is nothing.

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!!

STRESS AND SENTENCE INTONATION=

UNDERLINE OR PUNCTUATION

The children are going to bed at 8 o’clock. (a simple statement)

The children are going to bed at eight o’clock! (an order)

The children are going to bed at 8 o’clock? (a question)

John whispered the message to Bill and then he whispered it to Mary.

John whispered the message to Bill, and then he whispered it to Mary.

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 519)

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!!!EMOTOCONS

Explain what might be meant by each of the following, and add some of your own:

>:-[ :-# 8:-[

:D :-o :-O

|-) :/)

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 532)

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References:

Algeo, John. “What Makes Good English Good?” (Clark, 723-733).

Clark, Virginia, Paul Eschholz, and Alfred Rosa. Language: Readings in Language and Culture, 6th Edition. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

Daniels, Harvey A. “Nine Ideas about Language” (Clark 43-59).

Feinstein, Robert N. “Gnormal Pspelling.” National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal. Summer, 1986.

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Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams. “Writing: The ABCs of Language.” An Introduction to Language, 9th Edition. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2011, 540-568.

Hudson, Barbara. “Sociolinguistic Analysis of Dialogues and First-Person Narratives in Fiction” (Clark, 740-748).

Hughes, John. “Languages and Writing” (Clark, 705-722).

Larson, Charles Larson. “Its Academic, or Is It? (Clark, 734-736).

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Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Encyclopedia of 20th Century American Humor. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000.

Nilsen, Don L. F., and Alleen Pace Nilsen. “English Spelling as a Morphophonemic System,” in Pronunciation Contrasts in English, 2nd Edition. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2010, 1-34.

Nilsen, Don L. F., and Alleen Pace Nilsen. Language Play: An Introduction to Linguistics. Rowley, MA: Newbury House, 1978.

O’Conner, Patricia. “Like I Said, Don’t Worry” (Clark, 737-739).

Winter, Anne. “Graffiti as Social Discourse.” in Living Language. Ed. Alleen Pace Nilsen. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999, 106-111.