S1220 Writing: from Technology to Knowledge. Writing Systems in different Languages (S1220)
This course analyses how one of the greatest inventions of humanity appears, the unexpected changes it brings to the societies when it emerges, and how diverse can be the ways of writing throughout the different cultures in the world. The course pretends to show also how the technical changes used in media keep transforming it endlessly.
The first point stresses on the difficulty of being aware of the occurrence of other writing systems than ours. We are so familiar with our own writing system that we easily forget that writing is not a natural phenomenon (like speaking) and that its relation to language is not spontaneous, but the result of a long experimentation and, thus, an artificial device with an enormous complexity. To understand the revolution it produced in illiterate societies, we will try to understand what an illiterate society is, what kind of solutions it has for daily life; we will see how literacy, indented at the beginning merely to solve some problems in these illiterate societies, brought such a revolution that societies were transformed for ever. The creation of writing systems greatly disturbed past (and present) societies and we will see how, with examples of the so-called "psychodynamics of writing": how it has changed relations between individuals and even the structure of whole societies.
The second point points on the importance of using a definition for "writing systems" that include all types throughout history, and the need for a typology of writing signs. Names like "pictogram", "logogram", "phonogram", etc. should be fixed in a terminology that remains consistent during the whole course. A peculiar case in history, the Egyptian hieroglyphs, should help us in this investigation.
The following point concentrates in phonetic writing. We will need a general survey on phonetics, and some major points, like the distinction between "sounds" and "phonemes". Then we will see which are the main writing systems based in phonetic writing: syllabaries and alphabets, alphabets with vowels and consonants, and alphabets with no vowels. We'll concentrate at the end on the Latin system (the one used in class, not necessarily the only one used by students), and we will see its history. A second point discusses the problems awakened when this system is applied to spelling languages for which it was not primarily designed, and its results on standardization and the establishment of orthography.
A last analysis will try to understand which are the consequences when writing meets digital support: chats and SMS seem to menace the spelling rules and to impose ways of writing coming from other languages or from a rebellion that may, at the end, blow up the whole system or force new rules.
Learning Outcomes
The main purpose of the course is to make students conscious of how important and complex is a device they are familiar with since their childhood. On the other hand, they should understand that other types of writing are not just oddities from minority groups, but devices as sophisticated and complete as the one they use. The fact that at the VIU students from different countries who use different writing systems meet in the same class, makes the discussion more challenging.
Teaching and Evaluation Methods
Classes will begin with a short lecture on each of the main topics followed by a discussion on the materials (text, film, images...) found on the current blog section or the web page and previously read by students.
A composition will be assigned every fortnight, to be written over the weekend and be handed in the following Monday.
These essays will have a length of 4.500 characters. The percentage for this part will be 35%.
Participation, including class preparation, attendance and classroom participation (frequency and quality), will have a percentage of 25%
There will be an essay question, and a short-answer section, all to be written at the assigned exam time, with a percentage of 40%.
Preliminary knowledge required
None, except the standard required to any undergraduate.
The first point stresses on the difficulty of being aware of the occurrence of other writing systems than ours. We are so familiar with our own writing system that we easily forget that writing is not a natural phenomenon (like speaking) and that its relation to language is not spontaneous, but the result of a long experimentation and, thus, an artificial device with an enormous complexity. To understand the revolution it produced in illiterate societies, we will try to understand what an illiterate society is, what kind of solutions it has for daily life; we will see how literacy, indented at the beginning merely to solve some problems in these illiterate societies, brought such a revolution that societies were transformed for ever. The creation of writing systems greatly disturbed past (and present) societies and we will see how, with examples of the so-called "psychodynamics of writing": how it has changed relations between individuals and even the structure of whole societies.
The second point points on the importance of using a definition for "writing systems" that include all types throughout history, and the need for a typology of writing signs. Names like "pictogram", "logogram", "phonogram", etc. should be fixed in a terminology that remains consistent during the whole course. A peculiar case in history, the Egyptian hieroglyphs, should help us in this investigation.
The following point concentrates in phonetic writing. We will need a general survey on phonetics, and some major points, like the distinction between "sounds" and "phonemes". Then we will see which are the main writing systems based in phonetic writing: syllabaries and alphabets, alphabets with vowels and consonants, and alphabets with no vowels. We'll concentrate at the end on the Latin system (the one used in class, not necessarily the only one used by students), and we will see its history. A second point discusses the problems awakened when this system is applied to spelling languages for which it was not primarily designed, and its results on standardization and the establishment of orthography.
A last analysis will try to understand which are the consequences when writing meets digital support: chats and SMS seem to menace the spelling rules and to impose ways of writing coming from other languages or from a rebellion that may, at the end, blow up the whole system or force new rules.
Learning Outcomes
The main purpose of the course is to make students conscious of how important and complex is a device they are familiar with since their childhood. On the other hand, they should understand that other types of writing are not just oddities from minority groups, but devices as sophisticated and complete as the one they use. The fact that at the VIU students from different countries who use different writing systems meet in the same class, makes the discussion more challenging.
Teaching and Evaluation Methods
Classes will begin with a short lecture on each of the main topics followed by a discussion on the materials (text, film, images...) found on the current blog section or the web page and previously read by students.
A composition will be assigned every fortnight, to be written over the weekend and be handed in the following Monday.
These essays will have a length of 4.500 characters. The percentage for this part will be 35%.
Participation, including class preparation, attendance and classroom participation (frequency and quality), will have a percentage of 25%
There will be an essay question, and a short-answer section, all to be written at the assigned exam time, with a percentage of 40%.
Preliminary knowledge required
None, except the standard required to any undergraduate.
Syllabus
Evaluation
Readings
Evaluation
Readings