Alphabet Study Guide
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Key Terms and Ideas
  1. Cuneiform & its progression from Sumerian to Akkadian
  2. Linear B (=Mycenaean) - what is distinctive about this writing system?
  3. Logographic = Logophonetic = Semantophonetic scripts - definition and example(s)
  4. Logosyllabic scripts - definition and example(s)
  5. Syllabary: system of writing in which symbols/signs stand for syllables - definition and example(s)
  6. Western Semitic proto-alphabets/consonantal alphabets (Phoenician, for example): in what essential ways these differ from the Greek alphabet?
  7. abjad and abugida - be prepared to define, to give example(s), and to say why this is a contested pair of classifications for a scholar like Barry Powell
  8. Alphabet: graphic system whose signs come in a certain order and seek to represent phonemes- in what respect do the Semitic scripts not agree with this definition?
  9. Phoneme: a sound that makes a difference in meaning; “pieces of sound” that make up all possible combinations of human speech. “The smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of meaning within a given language.” Be prepared to offer examples to show what sounds are phonemic (“contrastive”) and what sounds are not (uncontrastive) within a given language (such as English)
  10. Speech as a continuous wave: why is this important for understanding the nature of writing systems? (review slides of spectograms)
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Brief Essay
  1. Be prepared to discuss the differences between the developmental model (sometimes called the evolutionary model, which Powell mostly espouses) and Olson’s functional model on how the alphabet came to be
  2. Be prepared to describe and discuss in some detail Olson’s notion that writing systems serve as “models for speech” 
  3. Be prepared to describe with examples the “development” of writing systems from emblem/pictogram to logographic/logophonetic (which differs from pictograms in that there is the addition of syntax) to logosyllabic to syllabic to proto-alphabet to alphabet, and also be prepared to offer a critique of that developmental typology
Pictured at top (close-up) and above is the so-called Cup of Nestor, one of the earliest Greek inscriptions, written on a ceramic drinking cup dated to about 750 BC. Found at Pithekoussai (modern Ischia) in one of the earliest Greek colonies in Italy. The inscription, written right to left, reads (translated):
I am Nestor’s cup, good to drink from. Whoever drinks this cup empty, straightaway Desire for beautiful-crowned Aphrodite will seize him.