Writing Systems of the World (06-090-199) Spring 2003

Th 8:10-11:10/Food Science Bldg. 109

The course provides an overview of different types of writing system, emphasizing their linguistic properties, history, and mental processing.

Instructor: Prof. Young-mee Yu Cho (yucho@rci.rutgers.edu)

Office Hours: Wed. 10:20-11:20 & by appointment

Office: Scott Hall 339 (932-5603)

Textbook: Sampson, Geoffrey (1985) Writing Systems. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Thurs. 1/23 Introduction	Fromkin and Rodman: ch. 12 Sampson: 1 Introduction
1/30 Theoretical background	Fromkin and Rodman: ch. 6 Sampson: chapters 2
2/6 The earliest writing A syllabic system: Linear B	Sampson: chapters 3, 4
2/13 Consonantal Writing The Graeco-Roman alphabet	Sampson: chapters 5, 6
2/20 A featural system A logographic system	Sampson: chapters 7, 8
2/27 A mixed system English spelling	Sampson: chapters 9, 10
3/6 Midterm
3/13 Practical problems	Coulmas: chapters 11, 12, 13
3/27 Typology of writing systems
4/3 Neurological and psychological issues
4/10 Neurological and psychological issues
4/17 Creation and reform of writing systems
4/24 Paper presentations
5/1 Paper presentations

Evaluation:

Quizzes: 20 % Midterm: 30 % Oral presentation and Final Paper (7 -10 pages): 30 %

Homework: 10 % Attendance and Class Participation: 10%

* Final paper due by noon on May 8 (Thursday).

Class Policy:

1.No make-up (or late homework) will be permitted. 2. With 3 or more absences, no grade will be given.

Reading List

Chomsky, Carol (1970) “Reading, Writing, and Phonology,” Harvard Educational

Review 40. 287-310.

Coulmas, Florian (1989) The Writing Systems of the World. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Crook, Rena, Hinton, Leanne and Nancy Stenson (1976) “Literacy and Linguistics:

The Havasupai Writing Sustem,” in James E. Redden (ed.) Proceedings of the

1976 Hokan-Yuman Languages Workshop. Carbondale, Ill: Southern Illinois

University at Carbondale. University Museum Studies no. 11.

Fromkin, Victoria and Robert Rodman (1998) An Introduction to Language.

New York: Holt.

International Phonetic Association (1949) Principle of the International Phonetic

Association. London: Department of Phonetics, University College. 1-19.

Klima, Edward (1972) “How Alphabets Might Reflect Language,” in James F.

Kavanagh & Ignatius G. Mattingly (eds.) Language by Ear and by Eye.

Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. 57-80.

Makita, Kiyoshi (1968) “The Rarity of Reading Disability in Japanese Children,”

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 38.4. 599-614.

Park, Soja and Arbuckle, Tannis (1977) “Ideograms versus Alphabets: Effects of

Scripts on Memory in ‘Biscriptual’ Korean Subjects.” Journal of

Experimental Psychology: Human Lernaing and Memory. 3. 631-42.

Poser, William (1992) “The Structural Typology of Phonological Writing.”

Paper presented at the Berkeley Linguistics Society Meeting.

Rozin, Paul, Susan Poritsky, & Raina Sotsky (1971) “American Children with

Reading Problems Can Easily Learn to Read English Represented by

Chinese Characters.” Science 171. 1264-1267.

Sasanuma, Sumiko & Osamu Fujimura (1971) “Selective Impairment of Phonetic

and Nonphonetic Transcription of Words in Japanese Aphasic Patients:

Kana vs. Kanji Recognition and Writing.” Cortex 7. 1-18.

Schmandt-Besserat, Denise (1986) “Tokens: Facts and Interpretation,” Visible

Language 20.3. 250-273.

Steinberg, Danny and Jun Yamada (1978-79) “Are Whole Word Kanji Easier to

Learn than Syllable Kana?” Reading Research Quarterly 14. 88-99.

Stokoe, William, Casaterline, D. and Croneberg, C. (1965) A Dictionary of

American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. Silver Spring, MD:

Linstok Press. pp. vii-xxi

Tzeng, Ovid, Hung, Daisy, and Wang, William S.-Y. (1977) “Speech Recoding in

Reading Chinese Characters.” Journal of Experimental Psycholog:

Human Learning and Memory 3. 621-630.

Walker, Willard (1974) “The Winnebago Syllabary and the Generative Model,”

Anthropological Linguistics 16.393-414.

References

Coulmas, Florian (1999) The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems.

Oxford: Blackwell.

DeFrancis, John (1989) Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems.

Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Daniels, Peter and William Bright (1996) The World’s Writing Systems.

New York: Oxford University Press.

Deuel, Leo (1965) Testaments of Time: The Search for Lost Manuscripts and

Records. Baltimore: Penguin.

Gelb, Ignace J. (1963) A Study of Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Jensen, Hans (1969) Sign, Symbol and Script. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Kim-Renaud, Young-Key (1997) The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure.

Honolulu: of Hawaii Press.

Ledyard, Gari (1998) The Korean Language Reform of 1446. Seoul: Singu

Munhwasa. [Dissertation, UC, Berkeley, 1966]

Literary and Writing Systems in Asia (2000) Studies in the Linguistic Sciences.

30.1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.