History of Language

By Carlos Coronado

Thesis Statement: Communication, in its historic time,

influenced modern written language by using those same representations and give them meanings.

Symbolism

A symbol is something that represents something else

What can be a symbol?− An object− Picture− Written word− Sound− Numerals− Language

Let's focus on written words

Symbols

Symbols are THE one and only and most powerful way of communication.

Symbolism does not lack any barriers, it can be anything and IS everything around you.

Although language is a part of life today, in it primeval stages, oral

language was most existent.

Written language came along to the Homo Sapiens, or the modern day

humans. Based on opinion, I believe that the real reason that

our species developed this complex new way of

communication is because not of learning new tools, per say, but to

preserve the species and adapt as we go. No one knows for certain

what those cave paintings meant, if either a story or some religious

article.

Advances In Writing

The first real explanation of the advancement in writing began with the usage of tokens as a bartering system inside early civilizations. Circa 4000 BCE, these tokens began taking a definite shape and were impressed with certain symbols that represented certain items, such as grains, cattle or early forms of cuneiform, or other glyphs.

In the bottom of this slide, early symbols for the specified words are explained, later on, these same concepts of ideas in a written statement were drastically changed. Eventually, all changed shape.

Later on, many other civilizations shortly after the Mesopotamians, among others, became interested in this lifestyle and developed an ALPHABET

The Development of an ALPHABET

Alphabet, which derives from the Greek roots of Alpha and Beta, the first two letters of their written language, was first methodically used by the Egyptians. These glyphs, per say, had no vowels, but were used in acrophony, or the naming of letters by which they begin with, hence why the Egyptians can be credited with their way of communication, yet the alphabet was not yet BORN.

Credit of an alphabet can date back into the Proto-Canaanites around 1700 BC, they were clearly inspired by the Egyptians to create a written language which consisted of acrophony, just like the Egyptians. They developed 30 symbols for 30 consonant sounds. This language preceded the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Latin languages.

Credited for inspiring the Greeks to form a writtenLanguage, the Phoenicians developed what looksVery close to the written language we have today,

The Greeks earned a place in history by being theFirst civilization to come up with VOWELS, somethingVery important in today's written languages.

Modern Writing

The real essence of modern written language is very constantly changing, giving new forms to old symbols. From the quill to the iPad, and from Alpha to Omega and A to Z, the world is changing the way we once thought it would have been. We once had clay and a chisel, to write down our glyphs and other various symbols, and now with binary code, another type of writing system, the world changed to e-mails and instant messaging, connecting us to new and immortal society.