A History of Writing and
Literacy
This course is designed to give the history
of writing systems, and to explore the various social meanings that
writing can
have in different contexts. It discusses the emergence of script, the
development of script technologies, and the social consequences of mass
literacy. This is is a lower-division elective course aimed at
sophomores. It
aims at a broad audience and might be cross-listed with linguistics.
Paper = 30%
Final
= 40%
Research paper: the student should find a text to examine for its
social
meaning. The text can be a book, or it can be a piece of graffiti, a
letter, a
handbill. No webpages! The student should explain this text in light of
the
themes discussed in this course. Describe the choices the author made:
what writing
technology, which script and style? What
is the language of the text? Why did the author make these decisions? What is the effect of the text on the reader?
What is the meaning of the text in its social context? You may pick a
text
which you do not have personal access to (e.g. graffiti on Egyptian
pyramids),
but you must provide a picture of such text with your paper.
Week 1
M
Intro to course Writing
vs. speech History of Writing vs History of Literature
W
Origins of writing
F
Sumerian
technologies Clay tablets Rebus principle
Week 2
M
Phonecian/Semetic Omitting
vowels Later vowel markers
W
Borrowed literacy
F
Arabic
calligraphy [slide
show]
“Egyptian Hieroglyphics In
Australia”
http://www.kachina.net/~alunajoy/2002feb.html
Week
3
M
Chinese characters Radicals
as semantics A complicated syllabry?
W
Kana, Hangul syllabries
Chinese Character usage in modern
F
Asian Calligraphy [slide
show]
DeFrancis The Chinese Language
Fact and Fantasy 1-22, 77-203. Total = 49 pages.
M
The alphabet:
W
Medieval Latin who
could write? Scribe, holy text
F
The medieval book Social
role of Latin, Holy Hebrew, Arabic
Week
5
M
The spread of Literacy. The role
of school. Why learn to read?
W Social class
and literacy. Latin vs. “Vulgar”
languages.
F Gutenberg and
the Reformation. Literate
Protestants?
Week 6
M
Literacy and “progress.”
Enlightenment Reformers, Soviet language planning
W
Genres of Writing The
letter, diary. “Writing for the shelf” Women and writing
F
Midterm
David Vincent Literacy and popular
Culture, 20-52; Roger Chartier Correspondence
p. 1-22 = 54 pages
Week 7
M
The novel. Serialization
Authors as superstars
W
New audiences for
books 19th cent. Mass literacy Working class readers?
F
Literacy and
Nationalism. The “middle classes” Clerks and literacy.
E. Weber Peasants into Frenchmen
“la papier qui parle,” 452-70; Brooks When
Week 8
M
Language Planning and Language
purity
W
Script simplification
F
Advertising. Typeface
and fashion
Week 9
M
Script and Formality: Handwriting
vs. printing
W
Graffiti “tagging”, Claiming
public space
F
Rune Enthusiasts Ideological alphabets?
Sue Walker Typography &
Language; Armando Petrucci Public
Lettering, “The Signs of No”
117-126.
Week 10
M
Ideal languages: Enlightenment
dreams, Artificial languages
W
Universal symbols, Icons as reading?
F
Graphology, Writing and
Personality
http://www.kingsmen.org/ArtLang1.html#n1
http://www.interlog.com/~kms/Laadan/history.html