Origin Of Writing Essay, Research Paper

Writing can be defined as a way to communicate thought using permanent notation symbols. Origins of Writing by Andrew Robinson begins with an introduction of how writing is significant to our society and how in current times people are taking for granted this skill and the value it possesses. The article is divided into several different subheadings, each addressing a different aspect of writing. It begins with The Function of Writing, then it continues with The Origins of Writing, The Development of Writing, Script, Speech and Language and it concludes with Modern Hieroglyphs . Understanding the origins and development of the writing system allows our society to prepare for the future of a technological era.

Given that writing made history possible it is often seen as tool created for the good of humanity. Like many other items of human invention there are certain side effects that have to be considered and it is important to acknowledge them. Robinson in a single sentence presents the advantages and disadvantages of writing as seen throughout history. Writing has been used to tell lies as well as the truth, to bamboozle and exploit as well as educate, to make minds lazy as well as to stretch them . Several purposes are set forth in Robinson s article for writings function and its influence on societies. In politics, propaganda tactics have been used to promote or exploit issues. For the Romans, these very tactics allowed their empire to span over a vast area. Writing became space sensitive and knowledge became power. Immortality, the need preserve ones identity and history over time, is another purpose that writing served. On a global scale, writing was also a tool used for predicting the future. The Mayans used this extensively, writing and noting the unexplained cosmos phenomenon that they envisioned.

The Origin(s) of Writing, The Development of Writing and Script, Speech and Language, and Hieroglyphs, these sections show the development and progression of writing and how it was applied to different languages over time. The actual origins of writing are still a matter of controversy, yet many scholars now accept the idea that writing developed from an accounting system. As society progressed, people needed a better form of notation to keep track of a new emerging economy. This can be traced back to ancient Sumerian stone tablets in Mesopotamia. An oral memory based system was no longer sufficient for the amount of information needing to be recorded. The diffusion of writing from one civilization is another issue. Some people tend to believe that writing developed independently in each corner of the earth. There is also another notion that people copied the written word from one civilization to another. This can be seen in many contemporary languages of today. Though languages and writing styles vary, there is one thing they have in common which is their use of phonic and semantic signs to represent sound. As history has a tendency to repeat itself, hieroglyphs are beginning to reemerge in today s modern society in common areas such as airports and on traffic signs.

With technology moving at phenomenal speed, our society is in the progress and transition from a literate society to an electronic society. Analyzing the history of literate society and the enormous impact writing has made on people is very important. It gives us an insight into our own future that deals with an electronic era. Electronic print, an extension of writing, is changing our society and the way we communicate once again. Will electronic print have the same drastic impact as writing has had on an oral society?