LING 215: The Structure of Colonial Valley Zapotec (HC): Writing & Paleography

A tool for correctly identifying hundreds of abbreviations found in the hand written documents of the Spanish colonial period. The Guide is concise, easy to use and of a very manageable size. All of the abbreviations were scanned from photo copies of extant Spanish documents written between the years 1500 and 1700 and are presented in their original handwriting. Together with each abbreviation is a printed display of the letters represented, the full spelling of the word or words in early modern Spanish and the current Spanish spelling.

Andrew Robinson tells the fascinating story of the history of writing, shedding light on its development and examining the enormous variety of writing and scripts we use today. Starting with the origins of writing five thousand years ago, with cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, Robinson explains how these early forms developed into hundreds of scripts, including the Roman alphabet and Chinese characters. He reveals how the modern writing symbols and abbreviations we take for granted today--including airport signage and text messaging--resemble ancient ones much more closely than we might think. The book also includes a chronology of events from 3300 BC to AD 2000, a list of titles for further reading, and an index.

Andrew Robinson explains the interconnection between sound, symbol, and script in a succinct and absorbing text. He discusses each of the major writing systems in turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan, as well as topics such as the Cherokee "alphabet" and the writing of runes. Full coverage is given to the history of decipherment, and a provocative chapter devoted to undeciphered scripts challenges the reader: can these codes ever be broken?

An earlier edition is also available.

"In total, fifty-eight lavishly illustrated chapters present detailed yet accessible commentaries from a team of leading specialists in the study of writing. Together they explain and clarify the birth, evolution, and dissemination of over thirty key scripts and alphabets and their numerous derivatives. The breadth and scope of material covered, along with the detailed sources of documentation provided, make A History of Writing an essential and exciting new contribution to existing scholarship on this fascinating subject."--BOOK JACKET