Writing systemsLinguistics 484

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Some ideas about how to think about writing systems

Japanese, Chinese, syllable structure

Written languages are effectively codes

Bee Leaf

Belief

Rebus principle

The symbols represent the parts of the word.

The connection to the full word is through the sound.

Three kinds of problem

Class 1: language known, script not known.

Class 2: language not known, script known.

Class 3: neither script nor language known.

Class 1

Ugaritic: language assumed to be Phoenician, script unknown

Class 2

Gothic: script known, language not known, but clearly an ancestor of modern Germanic languages.

Class 3

Hieroglyphics: language unknown, principles of script not understood

Linear B: same

Cryptography

For which class is it easiest to see how to use ideas we have already studied?

Types of writing system

Logographic

Logophonetic

Syllabic

Consonantal alphabetic

Syllabic alphabetic

C&V alphabetic

Chinese

Chinese is logographic. (From Greek “logos” = word, “graphos”= writing)

This means that each symbol represents a word.

Chinese

Omniglot (great resource http://www.omniglot.com) calls Chinese “semantic/phonetic”

Characters may contain a hint at meaning.

Characters may contain a hint at sound.

Pictograms: signlooks (a bit) likewhat it means

Ideograms: character represents anabstract concept

Semantic phonetic

Sound and meaning

Radicals

Early Chinese writing was strongly pictographic and phonetic.

Used rebus principle.

But this led to ambiguity, so scribes began to add radicals to disambiguate the words. These are extra symbols that have no independent sound.

Chinese

Sound change

Because of changes in the language, the “phonetic” part of the characters of modern Chinese may represent the sounds of old words that are no longer used.

Logographic systems

There may be thousands of signs.

Probably, no individual knows/uses them all.

Counting the signs is helpful

Syllables

Every language has syllables.

A syllable consists of a vowel plus (perhaps) some consonants before and after it

Parts of the syllableSyllable

Onset Rime

Nucleus

Coda

Syllable

Onset Rime

Nucleus

Coda

Syllable structure

Languages have rules about what can appear in each structural position

Every syllable has to have a nucleus

All languages allow at least one consonant in the onset

For example

English allows the “NG” sound in the coda, but not in the onset.

This is called a “phonotactic constraint”.

Types of syllable

An open syllable is one that has an empty coda. (e.g. “boo”,”moo”,”ah”,”strew”)

A closed syllable is one that has a non-empty coda (e.g. “book”,”moon”,”at”,”strengths”)

Consonant clusters

“Strengths” has two clusters of three consonants each “S” “T” “R” and “NG” “TH” “S”

Languages can differ in what consonant clusters they allow, and where.

For example, English does allow “PT” in the coda “KEPT”, but not in the onset.

HawaiianAkamai

Aloha

Hiapo

Hauoli

Kahu

Kahuna

Koa

Kumu

Kupuna

Kuuipo

Laki

Lani

Laulea

Laulima

Lehua

Leilani

Luna

Mahalo

Maikai

Makana

Makua

Malama

Moopuna

Puuwai

Tutu

Waipahe

HawaiianA-ka-mai

A-lo-ha

Hi-a-po

Hau-o-li

Ka-hu

Ka-hu-na

Koa

Ku-mu

Ku-pu-na

Kuu-i-po

La-ki

La-ni

Lau-lea

Lau-lima

Le-hua

Lei-lani

Lu-na

Ma-ha-lo

Mai-kai

Ma-ka-na

Ma-kua

Ma-la-ma

Moo-pu-na

Puu-wai

Tu-tu

Wai-pa-he

Hawaiian

Simple rule 1: no coda allowed

Simple rule 2: onset has zero or one consonants

Simple rule 3: some long vowels

• a, ai, an, ang, ao• ba, bai, ban, bang, bao, bei, ben, beng, bi, bian, biao, bie, bin, bing, bo, bu• ca, cai, can, cang, cao, ce, cei, cen, ceng, cha, chai, chan, chang, chao, che, chen, cheng, chi, chong, chou, chu, chua, chuai, chuan, chuang, chui, chun, chuo, ci, cong, cou, cu, cuan, cui, cun, cuo• da, dai, dan, dang, dao, de, dei, den, deng, di, dian, diao, die, ding, diu, dong, dou, du, duan, dui, dun, duo• e, ê, ei, en, er• fa, fan, fang, fei, fen, feng, fo, fou, fu• ga, gai, gan, gang, gao, ge, gei, gen, geng, gong, gou, gu, gua, guai, guan, guang, gui, gun, guo• ha, hai, han, hang, hao, he, hei, hen, heng, hm, hng, hong, hou, hu, hua, huai, huan, huang, hui, hun, huo• ji, jia, jian, jiang, jiao, jie, jin, jing, jiong, jiu, ju, juan, jue, jun• ka, kai, kan, kang, kao, ke, kei, ken, keng, kong, kou, ku, kua, kuai, kuan, kuang, kui, kun, kuo• la, lai, lan, lang, lao, le, lei, leng, li, lia, lian, liang, liao, lie, lin, ling, liu, long, lou, lu, luo, luan, lun, lü, lüe• m, ma, mai, man, mang, mao, mei, men, meng, mi, mian, miao, mie, min, ming, miu, mo, mou, mu• n, na, nai, nan, nang, nao, ne, nei, nen, neng, ng, ni, nian, niao, nie, nin, ning, niu, nong, nou, nu, nuo, nuan, nü, nüe• o, ou• pa, pai, pan, pang, pao, pei, pen, peng, pi, pian, piao, pie, pin, ping, po, pou, pu• qi, qia, qian, qiang, qiao, qie, qin, qing, qiong, qiu, qu, quan, que, qun• ran, rang, rao, ren, reng, ri, rong, rou, ru, rua, ruan, rui, run, ruo• sa, sai, san, sang, sao, se, sei, sen, seng, sha, shai, shan, shang, shao, she, shei, shen, sheng, shi, shou, shu, shua, shuai, shuan, shuang, shui, shun, shuo, si, song, sou, su, suan, sui, sun, suo• ta, tai, tan, tang, tao, te, teng, ti, tian, tiao, tie, ting, tong, tou, tu, tuan, tui, tun, tuo• wa, wai, wan, wang, wei, wen, weng, wo, wu• xi, xia, xian, xiang, xiao, xie, xin, xing, xiong, xiu, xu, xuan, xue, xun• ya, yan, yang, yao, ye, yi, yin, ying, yong, you, yu, yuan, yue, yun• za, zai, zan, zang, zao, ze, zei, zen, zeng, zha, zhai, zhan, zhang, zhao, zhe, zhei, zhen, zheng, zhi, zhong, zhou, zhu, zhua, zhuai, zhuan, zhuang, zhui, zhun, zhuo, zi, zong, zou, zu, zuan, zui, zun, zuo

Mandarin initial sounds

UAUA AA NN UFUF VFVF

LL b p m f

AA d t n l

VV g k h

PP j q x

DSDS z c s

RR zh ch sh r

Mandarin final sounds

Vowels a,e,i,o,u,ü

Dipthongsai,ao,ei,ia,iao, ie, iou, ou,

ua, uai, üe, uei, uo

Back Nasals

an, en, ian, in, uan, üan, uen, ün

Front Nasals

ang, eng, iang, ing, iong, ong, uang, ueng

Standalone syllables

Do not combine.er, hm, hng, m, n, ng, ~r

Total number of sounds

411 possible sounds, plus 4 tones, makes about 1600 syllables

Rules for Mandarin

No consonant clusters.

Consonants only in onset, apart from two nasals.

All syllables are (kind of) open.

Pronunciations

http://www.uvm.edu/~chinese/pinyin.htm

Implications for writing

Syllables quite restricted.

Explains need for radicals.

How would you use ciphers with Chinese?

Japanese

Differs from Chinese linguistically.

Chinese is isolating.

Japanese has inflections

Inflections

Mary-ga kono Nihon kara-no kagaku-no gakusei-o korosi ta Mary-SUBJ that Japan from chemistry of student-DO killed PAST

Writing system

First shot at Japanese writing used Chinese characters for both content words and grammatical endings.

Way too confusing

Solution

Three scripts!

Hiragana - used for native Japanese words

Katakana - used for inflexions and non-Chinese foreign words

Kanji - the literate language

Hiragana

Katakana

Kanji

Kanji

Basic repertoire of 1945 Chinese characters everyone has too learn

About another 8,000 you might see in a novel but not in a government leaflet

Kanji

Many Chinese words have been borrowed into Japanese. Same characters get used for both

Kun yomi - Japanese reading

On yomi - Sino-Japanese reading

Water

Native Japanese: water = mizu

Sino- Japanese: water = sui

Japanese codes?

How do you make a code or cipher for this?

Abjad: Hebrew

Hindi: alphasyllabary

Code breaking

How many symbols?

How organized?

What patterns will we see

Cherokee

Greek

23 separate symbols.

Greek writing is an alphabet. Consonants and vowels both exist in written form.

6

13

Cherokee

Cherokee is a syllabary, each sign corresponds to a consonant paired with a vowel.

6 * 13 = 78 symbols.