COMMUNICATING IDEAS
COMMUNICATING
IDEAS A C O M P E N D I U M F O R G R A P H I C D E S I G N L I T E R AT E S
Edited by Haley Renken Published in 2015
Copyright Š 2015 by Haley Renken All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. First Printing: 2015
Haley Renken Rhode Island School of Design 2 College Street #1330 Providence, RI 02903
Intro March 2015 This booklet was provided for a Typography III graphic design class at the Rhode Island School of Design. Students were allowed to typeset this book however they wanted. This document demonstrates that “Typography” has an important place in the history of human kind. Actually “it” deserves a better place in the art history books of America. Ultimately the essence of any Writing System has its roots in sharing knowledge, expressing emotions and recording history. A system of human intercommunication by means of conceptional visible marks. Anthropologist have been credited with saying: “As language distinguishes man from animal, so writing distinguishes civilized man from barbarian.” Unfortunately, we do not know many of the geniuses who were responsible for the most important reforms in the history of writing. Their names like those of together great men who were responsible for the crucial improvements in the practical use of the wheel, or the bow and arrow, or the sail are lost to us forever in the dimness of antiquity.
Sincerely, Franz J. Werner Instructor
Contents CUN E IFORM FAMILY
Sumerian; Akkadian
3
Cylindric Seal
5
HIE ROGLYP HIC FAMILY Aztec
9
Egyptian
11
Hieratic
13
EASTE RN FAMILY Chinese
19
Korean
21
Japanese
23
Thai
25
ARABIC FAMILY Arabic
29
Hebrew
31
IN DIAN FAMILY Hindi
41
Marathi
43
Tamil
45
Tibet
47
AME RICAN IN DIAN FAMILY Navajo
51
Eskimo
53
Narragansett
55
NORDIC FAMILY Swedish
59
Celtic
61
ROMAN FAMILY Phoenician
67
Greek
69
Etruscan
71
Russian
73
German
75
Latin
77
MIS CE LLAN EOUS Armenian
83
Hobo Signs
85
Cave Paintings
87
TITLE
CU
UNEIFORM FAMILY
SUMERIAN; AKKADIAN
|
CYLINDRIC SEAL
Sumerian About 3000 B.C. the Sumerians invented a system of writing called Cuneiform. Cuneiform (from the Latin word meaning “wedged-shaped�) was developed from pictographs which later developed into ideographs that conveyed abstracted ideas. The Sumerians wrote for left to right and from top to bottom. Cuneiform contains 560 characters which made up the general and only script used in the region.
1
2
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 3 Muller-Brockmann, Josef. A History of Visual Communication, Hasting House Publishers. New York. 1971. Jastrow, Morrisk, Jr. Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria. J.B. Lippencott Co. Chiera, Edward. They Wrote in Clay. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago. 1938
.
1.
Inscription on stele of UrNammu of Ur
2.
The origin and development of a few cuneiform characters
3.
3
Page from an “account book” c. 1800 B.C.
Cylinder Seals Cylinder seals were small (2 to 6cm big) cylinder-shaped stones carved with decorative designs. They were used as a way for individuals to “sign� their names. The cylinder would simply be rolled over the clay, leaving a raised image behind. The seals were mainly used by royalty and officials as a way to sign documents, such as letter, deeds and records. They were also used on ceramics and bricks as a way for the makers to distinguish their work from others. The seals were first used in Mesopotamia in the late 4th century B.C. and spread to Babylonia, Egypt, and western Asia. The seals originally used pictographs, but eventually incorporated letter forms. The original seals were made of shell or lapis lazuli and later Hematite. What was carved into the seals also changed over time. The first were covered with images of how the society was developing (for example, chariots were used). Later on, the images changed to myths and deities and prayers.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 5 Fortes, Elizabeth. Ancient Near Eastern Seals. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1976 Rova, Elena. Journal of the American Oriental Society. New Haven: JulSept 1999
6
Yuhong, Wu. Journal of the American Oriental Society. New haven: OctDec 1998
4. A Hellenistic cylinder design, made of carnelian, 30mm. high
7
5. Egyptian, made of carnelian, 26 x 10 mm. high 6. Assyrian, made of lapis lazuli, 40 x 15 mm. high 7. Late Minoan I, made of satiate, 20 x 11 mm. high 8. Early Dynastic III made of marble, 45 x 31 mm. high
8
TITLE
HIERO
OGLYPHIC FAMILY AZTEC
|
E GY PT I A N
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H I E R AT I C
Aztec The “Aztec” writing system is the most highly pictographic of all “transitional” scripts. Practically all the symbols are crude pictures. There are numerous instances of pure ideographic writing. As a result, the script is more in the nature of mnemonic aid that is to be supplemented by an oral description rather than of true writing. In some respects, the writing might already be considered as “traditional”. Abstract ideas are represented by signs borrowed from homonyms. The Aztec writing system was used in the valley of Mexico and Cotzumalhuada on the Pacific slope of Guatemala. It is a writing system that comes from the hieroglyphic family.
9
10
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 9 Diringer, D. The Alphabet - A Key to the History of Mankind. Fleet Street Press. Great Britain. 1948. Griswald, Morley, S. An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs. General Publishing Company. Canada. 1975.
9.
Ten Commandments in postconquest manuscripts
10. 20 Mayan Day signs, in Landa, the Madrid Codex, and the inscriptions 11. A rebus. Aztec and probably Mayan personal and place names were written in a corresponding manner
11
Artifact 12
Hieroglyphs, characters in any system of writing in which symbols represent object (such as told, animals, or boats) and ideas (such as motion, time, and jot). The ancient Greeks first used the term Hieroglyph (meaning “sacred Carving�) to describe decorative characters carved on Egyptian monuments. The therm is mainly used to refer to the system of writing used by the ancient Egyptians.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 11 The name of Rosetta refers to the crucial breakthrough in the research regarding Egyptian hieroglyphs. It represents the translation of “silent” symbols into a living a language. It is necessary in order to make the whole content of information of these symbols accessible.
13
The name Rosetta is attached to the stone of Rosetta. This is a compact basalt slab (114 x 72 x 28cm) that was found in the small Egyptian village Rosette (Raschid), which is located in the western delta of the Nile. Today the stone is kept at the British Museum in London. It contains three Inscriptions that represent a single text in three different variants of script, a decree of the priests of Memphis on honor of Ptolemaios V. (196 B.C.). The text appears in form of hieroglyphs (script of the official and religious texts), of Demotic (everyday Egyptian script), and in Greek. The representation of a single text of the three mentioned script variants enabled the French scholar Jean Francois Champollion in 1822 to basically decipher the hieroglyphs. With the aid of the Coptic Language (language of the Christians descendants of the ancient Egyptians), he succeeded to realize the phonetic value of the hieroglyphs proved the fact that hieroglyphs do not have only symbolic meaning, but that they also served as a ”spoken language.”
12. Tomb of Queen Amonherhepsef (3000BC2200BC) 13. Rosseta Stone Rosette, Egypt 197 B.C.
Hieratic PA P Y R U S
14
Papyrus was the most important writing material in the ancient world. Our word “paper” derives form the word papyrus, an Egyptian word that originally meant “that which belongs to the house” (the bureaucracy of ancient Egypt). Papyrus is a triangular reed that grew along the banks of the Nile, and at an early stage of their history the Egyptians developed a kind of writing material made out of the pith within the stem of the papyrus plant. At the same time they developed a script that ultimately provided the model for the two most common alphabets in the world, the Roman and Arabic.
16
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 13 14. Literary papyri –Egypt 30 B.C. –640 A.D. 15. Literary papyri –Egypt 30 B.C. –640 A.D.
15
16. Literary papyri –Egypt 30 B.C. –640 A.D.
Phonetic Hieroglyphic is the term used to describe the sacred characters of the ancient Egyptian language in its classical phase. There are also similar pictographic styles to Egyptian in Crete, Asian Minor, Central America, and Mexico. Hieroglyphics are conventionalized images used mainly to represent arbitrary and seldom obvious meanings. There are 604 basic symbols in Egyptian hieroglyphic, that are read in several directions, including top to bottom, but usually right to left with the pictures facing the beginning of the line. The three possible uses for Hieroglyphics are as ideograms, phonograms, and as determinatives or unpronounced symbols after a picture to classifying meaning. As Hieroglyphics progressed, most words required determinatives. Egyptian hieroglyphic appeared in several stages, starting with the 1st Dynasty, (3110– 2824 B.C.) when it was perfected. Hen the Old Kingdom when it started to go out of use and to the New Empire where the hieroglyphics (from 500 B.C. on) were only understood by scholars.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 15 Pro, Marla Carmela. Hieroglyphics: The Writing of Ancient Egypt. Abbeville Press. New York, 1995. Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. II. Harold K. Faye, 1829. Zauzich, Karl-Theodor. Hieroglyphics Without Mystery. University of Kansas Press. Austin, 1992.
18 18. Following the discovery of the “Rosetta Stone,� it was concluded that the system of writing was a hybrid, combining ideograms, which are images that convey concepts instead of sounds and phonetics, which are pictures that convey a specific sound.
TITLE
EASTERN FAMILY
CHINESE
|
KOREAN
|
J A PA N E S E
|
THAI
Chinese Written Chinese has no alphabet. Instead, it consists of about 50,000 characters. A person who knows about 4,000 of the most frequently used characters can read a Chinese newspaper of modern novel. Scholars who read ancient Chinese literature and documents must learn many more characters.
19
The earliest known examples of Chinese are inscriptions carved in bones and shells during the Shang Dynasty. These early forms of Chinese were pictograms. The characters, also called graphs were pictograms. The characters, also called graphs were drawing or pictures of the objects they represented. As Chinese script developed, characters became more simplified and less pictographic. Some characters are not pictures but represent abstract words. Examples include the characters for up and down. Such characters, called simple graphs, are few in number. Compound graphs, however, are more numerous. Compound graphs are formed by two or more characters. For example, the character meaning to bark is a compound graph formed by the characters for mouth and dog.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 19 Coulmas, Florian. The Writing Systems of the World. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 19889
The Chinese also developed a technique called character borrowing. It involves “borrowing” the character of one word to represent another word that has a similar pronunciation. For example, one character means burn, but it is also used to represent yes. The character is pronounced rahn for both meanings.
Ecke, Tseng Yu-ho. Chinese Calligraphy. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1971
19. The eight basic strokes of Chinese Characters
The meaning of a character that stands for more than one word may be difficult to determine. To make the meaning of such a character clear, the Chinese developed phonetic compounds. A phonetic compound is a character that has an additional character or an additional marking to help the reader determine the word it represents. The Chinese written characters had a crucial influence of the development of thought and art in China. Master of calligraphy was the last and greatest test of the scholar. To know all of the written characters and be able to write them with absolute accuracy represents the highest level of scholarship.
20. Shang-Yin Dynasty “Oracle Bone” engraved tortoise plastron, length 7.25” c. 1339–1281 B.C. 21. Transcription of characters into modern script
20
Korean Koreans learned to write from the Chinese and used wenyan as the written language for many centuries before they began writing their own language. Korean, however, differs drastically from Chinese, and therefore the adaptation of Chinese characters was difficult. In 1446 King Sejong declared that the Chinese writing system was ill suited for the Korean language. He is credited with providing the most remarkable writing system ever invented. This system is a unique alphabet called Hangul. The system consists of twentyeight basic signs, twenty-four of which are in use today. Each of these twenty-four letters represents a single consonant or vowel. Korean differs from most other languages in that the letters of each syllable are grouped together into clusters. Korean can be written from left to right or top to bottom.
22
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 21 Coulmas, Florian. The Writing Systems of the World. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1989 Katzner, Kenneth. The Languages of the World. New York; Funk and Wagnalls, 1975
22. Kim Chong-hui Choson Dynasty, 19th century Pair of Hanging scrolls Ink on paper.
The verse reads: “The Five Mountains are steep and angled and the Yellow River flows with mighty force. Yet history waves at the bases of the Six Classics�. It is interpreted as signifying that the calligrapher cannot obtain a mature style by merely learning technique, but must also master the Six Classics.
Even with the invention of Hangul, Koreans continue to use Chinese both in the form of the written language wenyan and in their new script. In Hangul texts Chinese loan words are written with Chinese characters to be read in Sino-Korean. Since Chinese loan words from a substantial part of the Korean vocabulary, Korean texts are often interspersed with Chinese characters. Still, Native Korean words are usually written with Hangul. North Korea abolished the use of Chinese characters after the division of the country, but they continue to be used in South Korea.
Japanese The Japanese borrowed the Chinese system of writing as well as many Chinese words. In order to express the complex Japanese grammatical endings, some Chinese characters were used as phonetic symbols without any meaning attached. These were later simplified into two systems of phonetic symbols called kana, which represent the sounds of the Japanese syllables. Today, the two kana systems, called syllabaries, and about two-thousand Chinese characters are used in writing Japanese. The hiragana syllabary is used most often. It is a set of rounded characters derived from cursive Chinese characters. The more angular katakana syllabary is derived from parts of Chinese characters. Katakana is used to write words and other language elements in the equivalent elements of another alphabet. Katakana is also used to make a word stand out in text, much like italics are used in English. There are forty-seven different kana script signs. Theoretically, Japanese could be written entirely in kana syllables. However, Chinese is considered to be too prestigious a form of communication to eliminate it entirely. By the end of the Heian period a mixed Chinese/Japanese script known as kana-majiri developed, which uses both Japanese kana and Chinese characters. This is still in use today.
23
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 23 Coulmas, Florian. The Writing Systems of the World. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1989 Katzner, Kenneth. The Languages of the World. New York: Funk and Wagnalis, 1975 Nakata, Yujiro. The Art of Japanese Calligraphy. New York: Weatherhill, 1973
23. Katakana table 24. Hiragana table
24
Thai Historically written Thai can be traced back to Southern Indian writing systems of the Grantha type, but the proximate source was a form of old Khmer script. According to the traditional account, in 1823 King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai, in what was now north central Thailand, adapted this script to a language of the Thai type. He is credited with the innovation of tone marksarguably the first time that phonetic tone was regularly indicated in a writing system intended for common use. The Sukhothai writing system underwent shifting and proliferation. In addition, according to most authorities, a set of important sound changes occurred in the spoken precursors of modern Thai over the next few centuries. The modern Thai alphabet has forty-four consonants, thirty-two vowels, and four tone marks. The writing system is phonetic, and is written from left to right There is no regular word spacing, instead spaces are used to indicate sentences or phrasal units. European style paragraphing is used along with quotation marks, parenthesis, and occasionally other punctuation marks.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 25 Coulmas, Florian. The Writing Systems of the World. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd,. 1989
Spoken Thai is grammatically simple in comparison with European languages. Each word is complete in itself There are no prefixes or suffixes, no gender for nouns, no articles, no plurals and no verb conjugations of any kind. There are also no set rules making Thai words belong to a particular part of speech. Instead, a word can be used as a noun, verb adjective, or adverb, depending upon its position in the sentence.
Devoss, David. Insight Guides, Thailand. Hong Kong: Apa Productions Ltd,. 1982 Katzner Kenneth. The languages of the World. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1975
25. An example of the Thai alphabet in 1283 26. An example of the modern Thai alphabet
25
ARABIC FAMILY ARABIC
|
HEBREW |
ISLAMIC ART
Arabic ARABIC SCRIPT Like Hebrew, Arabic was derived from the Phoenician alphabet. The connection between the Arabs and the Phoenicians to this day remains a mystery. Around the time of Christ, the people from Northern Arabia, the Nabateans, were using a nonArabic non-Phoenician script. The first Arabic inscriptions are dated at 512-3 A.D. In 622 A.D. Mohommed the prophet of Islam fled to from Mecca, taking refuge in Medina. This date marks the beginning of the Muslim Era. The first scripts of the Muslim Holy book, the Koran, were dictated to Mohammed by Allah and then transcribed to Arabic in 650 A.D. The language spread as Islam expanded across the world. The script became more known than the spoken language, spreading to North Africa and parts of Asia. Arabic is written from right to left and vowels are not necessarily transcribed. Consisting of eighteen letters and when including various marks and accents, it has twenty-nine total, the letters are combined in cursive. A major quality of Arabic is the ability to make various forms, making calligraphy a decorative element in mosques and on other monuments.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 29 Jean Georges. Writing: The Story of Alphabets and Scripts. 2nd edition. New York, NY. Harry Abrams, 1962 27. Detail from the Dome of the Rock An example of Arabic Calligraphy
Arabic HEBREW WRITING SYSTEM High Hebrew is a phonic writing system dating back to as early as the ninth century B.C. Around the fourth century B.C. it was changed to the “square� characters which was used in biblical manuscripts, important texts, and most printed books.
28
Closely related to the Phoenician, Moabit, and Edomite dialects, Hebrew is a Semitic language which was prevalent in lands extending from northern Syria to the Arabian Desert. Like other Semitic languages, High Hebrew has no vowel signs. The alphabet contains twenty-two letters and is read from left to right.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 31 Encyclopedia Britannica Volume II William Benton, Publisher Chicago, 1966 p 259-281.
28. Section of illuminated manuscript 29. High Hebrew is read from right to left. Left: fragment of the 16th century Passover Haggadah
29
Arabic MODERN AMHARIC The contemporary alphabet of Ethiopia is called Amharic. This alphabet came into being when a family named Amhara took the throne in 1300 A.D. Amharic is a phonetic alphabet that consists over two hundred syllabic characters. There are twenty-six continental symbols and a vowel is made by creating small lines, curves, or circles on the character, which adds a great number of variations to the alphabet. It was read from right to left before Christianity, but switched during the third and fourth centuries.
30
The languages of Ethiopia were derived from the people of Yemen, who migrated through the country. Amharic is related to other Semitic alphabets, such as Israelite and South Arabian script, though Amharic is south sematic.
31
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 33 The World Living Languages. Seigerfried H. Muller Fredrick Ungar Publishing Co. Inc New York: 1967 The Alphabet. Isaac Taylor, MA, LL.D. Kegan paul, Trench & Co. London: 1983
30. Ethiopic Alphabet 31. Ethiopic Alphabet
Arabic NEW HEBREW Hebrew is a language which dates back to the 12th century B.C. and it is still used today. It belongs to the Arabic family of languages, which was once prevalent from northern Syria to the Arabian Desert. Today, it is employed by the nation of Israel and is the language of the sacred writings of the Jewish. Belonging to the phonetic category of language systems, Hebrew’s linguistic development can be divided into two phases, early or classical Hebrew and new or post biblical Hebrew. New Hebrew emerged in the third century B.C. and is distinguished by its square alphabet, the parent of modern Hebrew script, The essential characteristics of the Hebrew language remain the same as in biblical times.
32 Phe sophit (phe=f) Mem (m) Shin (s) Lamedh (l) Samkeh (H) Aleph (silent) Styles of Arabic print. Print, literary hand, and cursive.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 35 Ben-Yehuda, E, ed. English-Hebrew/ Hebrew-English Dictionary. Washington Square Press, New York, 1968. Diringer, D. The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind. Fleet Street Press. Great Britain, 1948. Dringer, D. The Story of the Aleph Beth. Lincolns-Prager, Itd, London, 1958.
33
32.
Styles of Arabic print. Print, literary hand, and cursive
33.
Square Hebrew Alphabet
Islamic Islam spread rapidly after its founding, encompassing mush of Africa, Europe, and Asia. The art of this vast region draws its distinctive character both from Islam itself and from the diverse cultural traditions of the world’s Muslims. Because Islam discouraged the use of figurative images, particularly in religious contexts - unlike Christians art of the same period - Islamic artists developed a rich vocabulary of aniconic, or no figural, ornament that is a hallmark of Islamic work. This vocabulary includes complex geometric patterns and the scrolling vines known outside the Islamic world as arabesques. Much of Islamic art can be seen as interplay between pure abstraction and organic form. For Muslims, abstraction helps free the mind from the contemplation of material form, opening it to the enormity of the divine presence. Islamic artists excelled in surface decoration, using repeated and expanding patterns to suggest timelessness and infinite extension. Shimming surfaces created by dense, highly controlled patterning are characteristic of much later Islamic art, including architecture, carpet making , calligraphy, and book illustration.
34
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 37 The Arabic language and script have held a unique position in Islamic society and art from the beginning. As the language of the Koran and Muslims liturgy, Arabic has been a powerful unifying force within Islam. Reverence for the Koran as the word of God extended by association to the act of writing, and generations of extraordinary scribes made Arabic calligraphy one of the glories of Islam. Arabic script is written from right to left, and each of its letters takes one of three forms depending on its position in a word. With its rhythmic interplay between verticals and horizontals, this system lends itself to myriad variations. Writing pervaded Islamic art. In addition to manuscripts, it featured prominently in architecture and on smaller-scale objects made of metal, glass, cloth, ceramic, and wood. The earliest scripts, called the kufic were angular and evolved from inscriptions on stone monuments. Kufic scripts were especially suitable for carved or woven inscriptions, as well as those on coins and other metal ware; they are still used for Koran chapter headings.
Marilyn Stokstad Art History, vol one Prentice Hall and Abrams Inc. 1995 Robert Irwin Islamic Art in context Perspectives: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,Publishers 1997 34. Textile with elephants and camels, Persia(Iran).c.960
INDIAN FAMILY HINDI
|
M A R AT H I
|
TA M I L
|
TIBET
India HINDI Ideographic and phonetic 1200’s to present day Northern India Written from left or right 49 characters in the alphabet Hindi is the principal regional language of northern India and one of India’s official languages. Its literature was developed in consisted chiefly of poetry. Hindi is the language spoken by more than two out of every five people in India. Over 165 million people claim Hindi as their native language. It is widely spoken, especially in the Haryana state where it began and spread to the rest of northern India. Formal Hindi is written in the Devanagari (Sanskrit) script and tends to use Sanskrit derived words to express learned, literary, or technical concepts.
35
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 41 “Spoken and Written Hindi”, by Gordon H. Fairbanks and Bal Govind Misra, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York 1966 “Encyclopedia Americana”, Volume 14 American Corporation 1980 “World Book Encyclopedia”, Volumes 10 and 14, World Book 1975
35. The Hindi alphabet consists of consonants and vowels which are shown here 36. Words written in Hindi
36
India M A R AT H I Marathi is one of the modern IndoAryan dialects derived from the ancient classical language, Sanskrit. The earliest documented evidence of the use of Marathi is a poem written in 1290. The language uses a phonetic linguistic system. Symbols for the 36 consonants and 12 vowels are placed in various combinations to vary the sound each symbol represents. The symbol would be pronounced differently if it were placed at the beginning of a word than if it were placed at the end. The people of the central western region of India use this Middle Indian dialect today.
37
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 43 Marathi Language texts, Sukasaptati Transformation of the Marathi Language, Jules Bloch
37. Early document from Marathi text 38. Early document from Marathi text
India TA M I L The Tamil communication system is one of the oldest of India, with literature dating back to the early centuries A.D. It is employed primarily in southern India, ranging from Cape Camorin to Madras. Tamil is a phonetic language based on a complex system of euphonic combinations. The alphabet consists of twenty eight characters of ten vowels and eighteen consonants. However, due to a lack of enough characters, several letters have the same pronounciation. In order to distinguish the various ways of pronouncing the letters, four kinds of dots, lines, or other signs are used to represent palatal, guttural, or other sounds. For example, a dot appearing under a letter represents a nasal sound before a consonant.
39
Tamil is not an inflected language. Instead relations of one word to another, and the number of persons and tense of verbs are shown by suffixes, which may be piled upon each other indefinitely. Although these suffixes are piled, Tamil is still read from left to right.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 45 La Langue Tamoule, Vinson, Julien, Paris, Imprimierie Nationale The wonder that was India, Basham, A., Grove Press INC., New York 1954 Tamil Portuguese Dictionary, Nayagam, X, Dept. of Indian Studies 1966
39. Close Up 40. The form and translated pronunciation of the Tamil characters
41. An example of Tamil script used for documentation. A slightly varying script is used for literary purposes
41
India T I B E TA N S C R I P T According to Tibetan tradition, a minister named Thon-mi Sambhota was sent,c. AD 640, to study Sanskrit in Kashmir. On returning, he devised a syllabary that is the Tibetan language of today.
42
Throughout the centuries, Tibetan writing has virtually remained unchanged. This may be attributed to the influence of Buddhism on Tibetan culture, for once Buddhism achieved religious supremacy, the written language, as a medium of transmission for the Buddhist teachings, acquired a sacral character; consequently its form and orthography were left unchanged out of reverence. Since the spoken language continued to evolve phonologically, there developed a great disparity between Tibetan orthography and pronunciation. This highly stylized writing is composed of thirty consonants and four vowel signs, with additional sets of honorary words for superiors and ordinary words for inferiors of reference to self. Tibetan is a member of the Indian family, used mostly in Tibet and parts of India and China, but is read left to right like Sanskrit and English.
43.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 47 Grundlagan Der Phonelik Des Lhasa-Dialektes, Eberhardt, Richter, Akademie-Verlag-Berlin 1964 A Manual of Spoken Tibetan, Chang and Sherfts, University Press 1964
42. Tibetan script is written left to right 43. Tibetan writing 44. Tibetan alphabet
44
TITLE
AMERICA
AN INDIAN FAMILY NAVAJO
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ESKIMO
|
INDIANS
Navajo S A N D PA I N T I N G
46
Sandpainting developed in the Northwestern New Mexico and Northeastern Arizona. Navajos adopted the pictographic art of sandpainting from Hopis and Pueblo people. The materials that were used were generally all sorts of vegetables such as colored corn meal, plant pollens, grinned flower petals and charcoal which were worked upon a sheet of white cloth or buckskin. The symbols used came mostly from myths of supernatural beings in the form of human. After the sandpainting were used, a lot of them were destroyed. Therefore it is unknown to us how many symbols and designs the Navajos used in their sandpaintings.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 51 Navajo Indian Painting: Symbolism, Artistry, and Psychology. Wyman, Lel and C. Copyright 1959 by Trustees of Boston University Navaho Creation Myth. Klah, Hasteen, Copyright 1942 Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Arts
46. Sandpaper writing diagram 47. At the top, the blue bird Dohleh, symbolizes happiness. The insect figures stand for the messenger between God and men, Dontso.
Eskimo Ivory plays an important part in the life and language of Eskimos. Art forms were carved out from them and pictographs were inscribed upon them.
48
Unlike a typical carver who would carve their desired shape from ivory, Eskimos pretend they are the block of ivory and carves away the excess to release the soul. They believe that the piece of art was always there, just hidden inside the block and can not be forced into another shape by the carver. In the Eskimo language, the words “create” or “make” do not exist. The closest phrase that resembles it is “to work on”. This relates back to the belief that no art can be forced. All materials have its own spirit and acts on its own. Engravings on ivory that illustrates life of Eskimos developed 200 years ago near the Bering Strait. Before the 19th century, the Eskimo recorded everything by pictographs. They have a tendency to carve in a line on flat surfaces. It wasn’t until 1834 when Timothy Evens developed a syllabic writing system consisting of forty-eight characters for the Cree Indian language. The Eskimos obtained the system from Anglican Missionaries. Nowadays, it is used only in Eastern and Central Arctic and few people other than Eskimos understand this writing system.
49
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 53 Carpenter, Collins, De Laguna, Stone. The Far North Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1973. Carpenter, Edmund. Eskimo Realities. Canada: Rinehart and WInston 1973.
48. Pictographs have geometric forms that resembles life forms 49. Inscribed on this print are Eskimo syllabics that are read from left to right
51
50. Eskimos are not concerned with vertical structures in their art due to their lack of literacy. The antler knife handle will carry a totally different meaning if it was turned ninety degrees. The etched caribou would be standing up watching over everything instead of grazing. 51. A walrus tooth that the artist had no intention on carving a structure out of. The ptarmigan was freed from each chipping away of the tooth. The artist was not passive, he simply paid respect to the material given.
Indians Narragansett Indians living in Providence, Rhode Island, Kent and Washington Counties during the 17th through 19th centuries spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their language was extensively studied by Roger Williams and presented in his book, A Key Into The Language of America. The Narragansett community’s dialect has been extinct since the early 19th century. In North America, a truly written language developed only in Mexico. However, many Indian groups were able to communicate a rich unwritten traditions of poetry, oratory and drama. Even those Indians who did not produce a written traditions of poetry, oratory and drama. Even those Indians who did not produce a written literature, as did the Aztec and Maya of Mexico, used several kinds of notation and memory devices such as pictographic designs. The Narragansett Indians had neither clothes, books, nor letters. They did not have any historical inscriptions or memorials. Their nearest approach to American art or alphabets were in the paintings on deer skin, or on their faces. The paintings were diverse emblems and with significant colors, in which their vanity found gratification.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 55 Handook of North American Indians - Northeast. Volume 15, Bruce G. Trigger, Ed., Washington, Smithsonian Institution, 1978 Man’s Rise to Civilizations Shown By The Indians of North America, Peter Farb, E.P. Dutton and Co., 1968
52. Cheyenne Indian letter
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TITLE
NORDIC FAMILY SWEDISH
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C E LT I C
Nordic The Runic alphabet had its beginnings in Denmark and Norway c. 200 AD. There is a good reason to believe futhark (called futhark from the first six characters of the 24 symbol series) arose in Danish territory and then moved north into Norway and Sweden, south and east into Germany, and eventually across the waters into England. There it lost out to the Latin alphabet. In Scandinavia it was simplified and remained with those peoples through early times. The current theory is that the oldest runic alphabet stems from a North Italic alphabet, introduced to the Germanic areas as early as 1 or 2 BC through Macromanni tribes. Others suggest strong Greek and Latin Influences. Inscriptions preserved from early periods are carved or scratched into strong materials–bone, metal and stone, but the original and most common use was for carving wood. Straight strokes and sharp angles of the characters demonstrate the avoidance of horizontal and curved lines, and suggests adaptation to wood grain. Letters had meaningful acronymic names (e.g. ‘fehu’ = cattle for f) and were also used ideographically to represent the words they began, often in service of magic. The inscriptions were usually read from right to left.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 59 Haugan, Einar. The Scandanavian Languages, An Introduction To Their History. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. Jansson, Sven B.F. The Runes of Sweden. P.A. Norstedt & Sรถners Fรถrlag, Stockholm, 1962 53. A new, greatly simplified 16 symbol emerged during the Viking age but was replaced with this 24 symbol series
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Nordic C E LT I C W R I T I N G S Y S T E M The Celtic writing system was in Ireland between the sixth and ninth centuries. It arose from the artists desire to integrate decoration into illuminated manuscripts. The beauty derives from the colors and intricacy in each design. The Phonetic system, read left to right, incorporates large decorative initials that contrast the other characters which are similar. There are twenty-six characters in this system.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 61 55 Celtic Illumintative Art, Rev. Robinson Standford Hodges, Figgis and Co, Dublin, 1908 The book of Kells, Sir Sullivan, Edward, “the Studio,” Ltd, London.
54. The Book of Kells 55. The Book of Kells
Nordic Ogham is a Celtic alphabet of phonetic characters consisting of fifteen consonants, five vowels and several diphthongs and double letter symbols. The letters are made with single parallel strokes in sets of one to five, in positions above, across, or below center guide line. Ogham is read left to right, but can be written horizontally, upward, downwards, or in a circle. The system of straight marks was probably used as a finger language as well. The term Ogham is thought to have come either from the Greek work ogme, meaning groove, or from the Celtic god Ogmios. Their examples in papers and manuscripts, but Ogham is found almost exclusively inscribed on rock markers and megaliths.
56
Ogham is the alphabet of the Goidels or Q-Celts that first settled in England and Wales. The other general division of the Celtic Tribe, the P-Celts, wrote in Greek and Latin. The Q-Celt Ogham inscriptions remained after the P-Celts, or Guals, invaded from France to become the modern Welsh and Cornish races. The Ogham alphabet was used by the Q-Celts in Britain from around the first century A.D. to the fifth. Ogham, however has only recently been deciphered, and with its decipherment has come a means of linking together many archaeological loose ends in other parts of the world.
57
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 63 Based upon Goidelic legend and similarities in word forms, it is possible that the Goidels came originally from the Iberian Peninsula, meaning Portugal and Spain. Once Ogham was discovered, it was found that there were, in fact, examples of the alphabet on the Iberian Peninsula. Vowels are omitted and the language is Phoenician rather than Goidelic, but this pushes the date of the first use of Ogham back to around eight-hundred B.C., toward the end of the Iberian Bronze age. This also means that through the discovery of Ogham the presumed history of the Celtic tribes has been altered. There is also extensive evidence which links Ogham and the megalithic architecture of Goidels to North America, Hundreds if narjung on this continent, which were once unexplained, can now be read as Ogham. This, along with the presence of temple structure and megaliths of the same design as the Celtic ones found in Europe, makes a strong case for the existence of preColumbian Goedlic settlements in North America implied here is the possibility of a well developed, and intercontinental system of trade and communication among the Celts and the Phoenicians.
Fell, Barry. America B.C. Quadrangle/ The New York Times Book., Co New York, 1976. Lockwood, W.B. Panorama of IndoEuropean Languages. Hutchinson University Library, London, 1972. The Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications. Vol. 9, part 1. Epigraphic Society, San Diego, 1981
56. The basic Ogham Alphabet which can be varied in several ways. Vowels can be dots or they can be full vertical intercepts, in which case consonantal intercepts are sloped. 57. A possible form of the Olgham finger language.
ROMAN FAMILY P H O E N I C I A N | G R E E K | E T R U S C A N | R U S S I A N | G E R M A N | L AT I N
Phoenicia MARITIME TRADING PEOPLE The oldest known text in West Semitic writing is the ‘Ahiram epitaph’, an inscription on the sarcophagus of King Ahiram. The language of this document is Phoenician. The Phoenician scripts is of great significance because it is the parent script of all Western alphabets.
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The Phoenician alphabet is a consonantal alphabet which served as a basis for all western Semitic languages. The symbols in the alphabet are simplifications of the Egyptian hieroglyphs Babylonian cuneiform writing. When the ancient town of Ugarit was excavated, the first alphabet in the world was found on a clay tablet. It dates from 1400 BC and consists of 22 letters, or, to be more specific, consonants. It is probable that the vowels were known, however the consonants are consequently syllables from which the vowels have been omitted.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 67 The Writing Systems of the World. 1989.
58. Old Phoenician Writings 59. Letters of the Greek alphabet from an early book 60. 3 different alphabets of the Greeks
60
Greek Around the year 1000 BC, the Greeks began to adopt the Phoenician alphabet as a form to preserve knowledge and history. The Greeks took Phoenician names and changed them into the Greek alphabet. For example: Aleph --- alpha Beth --- beta The Phoenician alphabet itself had no vowels, only consonants. But when the Greeks adopted their alphabet, they added 5 vowels, completing their alphabet. In the year 403 BC, the revised alphabet was officially adopted by Athens as the Greek alphabet. Early Greek had 10 alphabets, all slightly varying, but the letters themselves kept the same order. When writing the Greek alphabet as in a paragraph, they used a system called boustrophedon, or ox like turn. This meant that the reader would read the text from right to left, then left to right, then right to left, etc, just like how an ox turns in fields. As a result of this turn, the letters had to be reversed for easier reading.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 69 Craig, James Designing With TypedA Basic Course in Typography. New York: Watson- Guptill Publications, 1971 Rogers, Frances The Story of Writing and Printing. New York: J.B. Lippencourt Company, 1960
61. Direction of how Greek is read
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Etruscan The Etruscan Civilization dominated Northern and Central Italy during the sixth and seventh centuries BCE. Descendants of the Villanovans; the people of the Bronze Age, the Etruscans were known for their metalwork and trade. The Etruscans primarily traded with the Greek and the Phoenicians. Such trade allowed for an exchange of culture as well. There is notable Greek influence in the Etruscan Alphabet. By the end of the first millennium B.C. the Romans had curtailed the existence of the Etruscan society through the unification of Italy. However, the Etruscan alphabet did not cease to exist. The Romans decided to develop the alphabet further. The Romans took the Etruscan alphabet and gave it a more classic form which was suited to be engraved in stone and was later adopted all over the world. Just as the Etruscans used their alphabet for engraving so did the Romans. The alphabet retained its character when engraved in stone. Such legibility made epigraphic writing used primarily for decrees, laws, dedications and governmental information. The monumental character of Roman epigraphic writing was known as “capitalis monumentalis.�
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 71 62. Etruscan Bucchero vase sixth century BCE. Inscribed with the Etruscan alphabet.
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63. Detail of an inscription on a tomb along the Appian Way, Rome.
The Roman epigraphic writings if painted onto a wall with a brush lost their static character and became more elegant, dynamic, and malleable. During the first centuries of the Christian era the more rapid type of writing used by merchants, officials and educated Romans along with a free interpretation of existing styles led to new patterns of writing. Roman majuscule writing was transformed into the first Roman cursive.
Russian In the Modern Russian alphabet, there is a remodeling and simplification of the Cyrillic script, which originated in the late ninth century in Bulgaria. This alphabet is still the prevailing one today. However, there have been a series of revisions that began in the late seventeenth century during the reign of Peter the Great. The system is phonetic and is used in the countries that inhabit the former Soviet Republic.
64
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 73 Williams, Arthur. Russian Linguistics. Bayview Press. New York, 1995.
64. Here is an example of the Russian alphabet which includes symbols translated to the contemporary Russian alphabet. 65. The text on the right depicts a Russian poem. This form of writing is used to this day.
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66. This is the cross of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was first used by Byzantine artists. When the Roman Empire was divided a few hundred years after the birth of Christ, the eastern empire was named Byzantium.
Gutenberg 67
The printing press was invented in 1440 by Johann Gutenberg. The printing press combined two inventions that had been around for some time-movable type and the screw press. The Chinese had been using movable type since the 11th century AD. But these prints were made by placing a sheet on the block and rubbing. By combining movable type and the screw press (which up to this time had been only used for pressing grapes, ‘surfacing’ paper and impressing patterns on textiles) Gutenberg managed to mechanize printing. At the time, Gutenberg had no idea of the impact his invention would make. It was simply seen as an alternative to handwriting. But printing brought ideas and stories to people all over the world and ensured that they would be handed down for centuries. It also gave us a whole new way of communicating. More people could be educated because of the greater accessibility of knowledge. Despite all this, printing did not immediately take the place of writing. It wasn’t until the introduction of paper in the 13th century and the development of a new method of casting letters (by a friend of Gutenberg’s, Peter Schoeffer) that the press became more in use.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 75 Hollis, Richard. Graphic Design, A Concise History. Thames & Hudson, 1994 Jean, Georges. Writing The Story of Alphabets and Scripts. Discoveries: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997
67. Johann Gutenberg 68. The Gutenberg Press
Gutenberg never really received credit for his invention during his time. He had borrowed money from a banker, which he was unable to pay back. The banker confiscated all his materials and rented back to him. As a result, it was the baker’s name (Johann Fust) not Gutenberg’s that appeared on the first printed works. Gutenberg died in 1468 a ruined man. ---
69. The Thirty-Six Line Bible, 1450
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Middle Ages EUROPE Technology: Printing, woodcut, paper manufacture, brass ware industry, brass founding, gunpowder, silver mining, tapestry, embroidery, leather work and gold work, die-cutting, minting, copper mining, amber winning, iron industry, glass manufacture, beer brewing, salt production, cloth industry, cotton processing, silk and fancy weaving, peat cutting, bridge and canal construction, stone castles, cathedrals. Education: When the West became Christianized, the church took over education, mainly in it’s monastery schools, which became centers of cultural and intellectual activity. It was there that kings and princes went to find their chancellors, clerks and notaries. The people, however, remained illiterate. 600 AD Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge. In 814 the Arabs adopted Indian numerals (including the zero and the place value system) which in the 12th century became known as Arabic numerals. Education received a great impetus from Charlemagne (742-812). At his court and in each episcopal see he founded academies and school where tuition was given by scholars from Ireland, England, Italy, and Spain. Works of the Ancient World and Early Christianity were copied, and the Carolingian copyists modified the style of existing scripts to produce Carolingian minuscule, a clear and legible form. This firmly establish the use of Latin small letters.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 77 (Pages 76-79) passage from: A
735 AD
868
The Venerable Bede instituted the system of numbering years from the birth of Christ. In China, one of the oldest printed books in scroll form was produced.
In the 11th century, chancelleries began to use formularies containing modules of prescribed deeds and letters. Rhymed bibles, bible stories in rhyme, were in widespread use; troubadours in France took the legends that handed down by the monasteries and rewrote them as heroic epics; the “archetype� of the picture book came into being. C.1000 the school of Reichenau was widely renowned for the high art of its book illumination, which was remarkable for its vivid depictions in flat areas of strong color. Arts and crafts flourished in Abbey of St. Emmeram in Regensburg.
history of visual Communication, Josef Muller-Brockmann)
Middle Ages 1250
Gothic script, the basis of modern black letter gained acceptance.
1403
Printing with movable type in Korea.
1426
One of the earliest travel guides by Joh. Bassenheimer was published.
1461
The oldest typeset book in German language came on the book market.
1460
Use of Roman type in Italy.
1454
Gutenberg letters of indulgence.
1455
Publication of the 42-line Gutenberg Bible.
1469
Venice became the most important center of printing and the book trade.
1211
A Florence brought out the first commercial register.
1250
Trade and craft industry entered its prime in Northern Italy and large-scale trading operations developed.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 79 During the 15th century, trade and commerce improved, new centers grew up, and large companies were incorporated. Monograms, craft and guild signs, emblems and coats of arms made their appearance and were the force runners of firm insignia. Well-known artists often designed the signboard for shops and inns. Craft workers had to work by the open window in full view of fellow citizens and competitors. This placed a premium on quality and left the craftsman no alternative but to conduct his business on sound lines. At the time, it was good publicity: in such direct contact with customers the owner tried to show his goods in the best light. Display figured as importantly in medieval advertising as it does today. Its purpose had always been to diminish the distance between vendor and purchaser by the visual effect of the goods. Displays, like the shop window, were a development of the movable market stall. In the age of Gothic architecture, when the “Bauhutte” or guild of building workers flourished, stone maison’s marks were in common use. No one was allowed to use any sign other than that assigned to him by “Bauhutte”. The first maison’s sign is said to date from 1089; after 1150 they were widely used. They went out of use again in the early 18th century when the “Bauhutten” were dissolved.
Middle Ages S U B S T R AT E S Paper, papyrus, parchment, stone, glass, fabric. Papal chancelleries were using papyrus until the 11th century. In the 17th century, paper reached the Near East as an article of commerce; in the 8th century, the Arbs took it to Spain, where local production began as early as 200 years later; Germany, France, England, Holland, Sweden and Russia soon followed suit; and Italy in the 13th century. Paper, which was considerable cheaper than parchment and papyrus, gave added impetus to the whole printing trade. The Italians invented watermark. Only a few copies were made of handwritten and hand-illuminated medieval books; they were often so expensive that only kings and princes could afford such rarities. The book of codex: sewn and folded sheets at first gained acceptance only in the early Christian communities. To read the codex, one did not unroll it like the papyrus scroll, but turn the pages: it was the forerunner of our books today. Marks origin and firm signs are a heritage from Roman times, as are picture signboards and badges. Also Roman in origin is the poster, the message painted on panel which would be re-used, and the placard, which was painted by professional letterers.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 81
The copying of manuscripts became a new trade, catalogues of goods were published, and books were sold by traveling salesmen. Papyrus and parchment remained the main writing materials until the 13th century . The signature on letters took the form of a seal; besides personally canvassing their customers merchants also made use of “direct mail�
Muller-Brockmann, Josef. A History of Visual Communication, Hasting House Publishers. New York. 1971. Jastrow, Morrisk, Jr. Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria. J.B. Lippencott Co.
Chiera, Edward. They Wrote in Clay. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago. 1938
TITLE
MISCEL
LLANEOUS ARMENIAN
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HOBO SIGNS
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C AV E PA I N T I N G S
Armenian The Armenian language is the only survivor of the Thracian branch of Indo European languages. Turkish Armenians and the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic are two groups that still use this language today. The Armenian language was developed well before the 6th century BC; but some of the writings that were found with this alphabet have been dated to the 5th century AD. The Armenian alphabet is still very much the same alphabet since its birth. It has had hardly any changes over the years. When the alphabet was first being used, it consisted of 36 letters, and now has about 38 letter forms. Many would say that the Armenian alphabet is a stem off of the Greek alphabet, where they seem to have been influenced. Similarities to both: the way the text is read, from left right and the vowel sounds are similar too.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 85 70 “Armenian”, The Encyclopedia Americana vol.2, New York: Americana Corporation, 1973 70. Armenian text 71. The letter forms of the Alphabet
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Hobo Signs Hobo signs were developed in the 1800s as a simple way to communicate. These images creating these signs were taken from Hobo people’s everyday life and culture. It became a form of pictographic writing because many Hobo people were illiterate and therefore signs would be easier to recognize. Each of the individual signs holds a different meaning and symbolizes a different aspect of the Hobo’s life styles. A group of signs together are read from left to right and can speak for a whole community.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 87 Design. 66: 36-9 march 1965. Hobo signs. Designs by students at the Heron School of Art American Heritage. 27: 27-93. August, 1976. Hobo signs.
72. Symbols 73. This symbol from the British hobo signs system means “here lives a kind lady” 74. This symbol from the US hobo signs system means “here it is dangerous”
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Prehistoric In the early paleolithic 35,000 B.C. to Neolithic c.4000 B.C., the Cro-Magnon man was a hunter. Cave paintings, such as the ones shown here, are almost exclusively of animals and were power over the animal itself and would be successful in the chase. Art, then was dictated by the practical life. Cave paintings in Southern France (e.g. Lascaux, Pech Merle) and Northern Spain (Altamira, Castillo) date 20,000 to 10,000 B.C. but have influenced many modern artist such as Pablo Picasso (e.g. Picasso’s drawing Le Taureau, 1945-46).
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS | 89 Clark Grahamme. The Stone Age
77 Painted ceiling at Altamira, Spain
Hunters. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 1967 Janson, H.W. History of Art, 2nd ed. New York, NY: Harry Abrams, 1962
75. Painted ceiling at Altamira, Spain 76. Animals of the Chase. 15,00010,000 B.C. Cave Painting Lascaux, France 77. Divericule Axial Lascaux (Dordogne), France
COLOPHON This book was made for Franz Werner’s Type III class. It is typeset in Avenir Next, and Tungsten. All text was provided. Haley Renken Rhode Island School of Design Type III | Spring 2015