- Hardcover: 966 pages
- Publisher: OUP USA (6 Jun 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195079930
- ISBN-13: 978-0195079937
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 16.8 x 5.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
868,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #88 in Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Paleography
- See Complete Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £42.95
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The World's Writing Systems for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £42.95, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
Product Description
Review
"Without question the most comprehensive work ever published on this subject."--Times Literary Supplement
"Recommended for most reference collections."--Library Journal
"Divided into thirteen parts from grammatology to printing, it provides succinct and accurate descriptions of all the languages of the biblical world in addition to all others....an unusually informative collection...it will be of great value to those working in Near Eastern and biblical fields and will remain an indispensable tool for scholars and students for many years to come."--Religious Studies Review
"A wonderful book....A valuable contribution to the study of writing and one which will be of great practical use."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"A remarkable reference....This volume is the only comprehensive resource covering every major writing system and the way scripts relate to the languages they represent. It is a resource that belongs in every library's reference section and in the
Product Description
The World's Writing Systems meets the need for a definitive volume on the major historical and modern writing systems of the world. Comprising more than eighty articles contributed by expert scholars in the field, the work is organized in twelve units, each dealing with a particular group of writing systems defined historically, geographically, or conceptually. Each unit begins with an introductory article providing the social and cultural context in which the group of writing systems was created and developed. Articles on individual scripts detail the historical origin of the writing system in question, its structure (with tables showing the forms of the written symbols), and its relationship to the phonology of the corresponding spoken language. Each writing system is illustrated by a passage of text, accompanied by a romanized version, a phonetic transcription, and a modern English translation. Each article concludes with a bibliography. Units are arranged according to the chronological development of writing systems and their historical relationship within geographical areas. First, there is a discussion of the earliest scripts of the ancient Near East. Subsequent units focus on the scripts of East Asia, the writing systems of Europe, Asia, and Africa that have descended from ancient West Semitic ("Phoenician"), and the scripts of South and Southeast Asia. Other units deal with the recent and ongoing process of decipherment of ancient writing systems; the adaptation of traditional scripts to new languages; new scripts invented in modern times; and graphic systems for numerical, music, and movement notation. The result is a comprehensive resource of all of the major writing systems of the world.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
HUMANKIND IS DEFINED BY LANGUAGE; but civilization is defined by writing. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
HUMANKIND IS DEFINED BY LANGUAGE; but civilization is defined by writing. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I think this is the best book you could find on the market about writing systems and phonetics. Chinese, Japanese, Corean, Inuit, Greek, Slavic, Braille, Shorthand etc. you will find everything in it!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The most wide-ranging treatment of the subject I have ever seen. The depth of coverage is also excellent. There are 74 sections, each dealing with anything up to a dozen or so scripts. This book covers everything from Sumerian "Counting Tokens" up to Computerised Representations, across the whole globe. It is very thoroughly illustrated throughout with generally high quality charts of the writing systems themselves, as well as numerous short texts in each script. The example texts are neatly translated on a step-by-step basis into English, giving a very clear notion of how the scripts (and underlying languges) work. The 900 or so pages are full of very clear and informative text giving an incredible amount of highly authoritative information about each script.
All in all, a most worthy addition to the bookshelf of any person interested in the the form and development of any or all of the world's writing systems.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The World's Writing Systems is an essential addition to the library of anyone interested in or involved in any of the myriad aspects of language, both as a fascinating browsing book and as an important reference work.
As reviewed by Laurence Urdang, in the Summer 1996 issue (Vol. XXIII, No. 1) of VERBATIM, The Language Quarterly.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
