Alphabet, from the names of the first 2 letters of the Greek. alphabet - “alphas” and “betas”; a system of written signs-letters that displays and records the sound structure of the language and is the basis of writing.

The alphabet includes:

1. letters in their basic styles, arranged in a certain sequence;
2. in some alphabets - diacritics or diacritics, indicating characteristics of sound or changing the reading of letters;
3. names of letters and signs (Church Slavic “az”, “buki”, “er”), usually containing in spelling and pronunciation the designated sounds or their signs.

The number of letters of the alphabet approximately corresponds to the number of phonemes of the language (20–80), but alphabets, as a rule, only approximately reflect the phonetic system of the language, since the language changes over time, and the composition of written works expands and is enriched due to multi-dialect and foreign language texts, while the structure of the alphabet remains unchanged.

In addition to the alphabet, a developed alphabetic writing system includes:

• graphics - a set of techniques for displaying sounds in writing;
• spelling - a set of rules for writing words;
• punctuation - a set of rules for dividing written speech and formatting written text using punctuation marks.

Types of alphabet

Depending on the method of naming sounds, alphabets are divided into

• consonantal,
• vocal and
• neosyllabic.

The letters of consonantal alphabets (Phoenician, Hebrew, Arabic) indicate consonant sounds or syllables with an uncertain outcome; vowel sounds are conveyed in writing using the so-called. mothers of reading (matres lectionis) - letters denoting semivowels or aspirated sounds - or diacritics.

The letters of the vocal alphabets indicate consonant and vowel sounds (Greek a, b, g; Russian a, b, v, d), sometimes individual syllables (Russian e, yu, i), thereby obtaining a clearly distinguishable sound meaning in writing .

The letters of the neosyllabic alphabets (Ind. Devanagari, Ethiopian) denote syllables of the same composition with the outcome on a vowel, initial vowels, vowel length, vowels; neosyllabic ind. alphabets are distinguished by a special matrix structure, in which the order of sounds reflects the relationships between the distinctive features of phonemes. The letters of a number of alphabets have a numerical value.

The emergence of alphabetic writing

Alphabetic writing arose at the intersection of ancient written cultures: Egypt. hieroglyphs (beginning of the 3rd millennium BC), Sumerian-Akkadian. cuneiform writing (beginning of the 3rd millennium BC), Cretan-Mycenaean (Aegean) hieroglyphics (beginning of the 2nd millennium BC - not deciphered) and syllabic writing (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC AD), which was used approximately from the 15th century. BC for ancient Greek language (so-called linear B), Hittite cuneiform (XVIII-XIII centuries BC) and hieroglyphics (XVI century BC) during the era of migrations and migrations of peoples - the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt (–1200 BC), the destruction of Troy and the Hittite kingdom (c. 1200 BC), the invasion of Canaan and Egypt by the “peoples of the sea”, the settlement of the tribes of Israel in Palestine.

Ideographic writing contains determinative signs (denoting concepts), etc. phonetic complements with syllabic or sound meaning; in the Egyptian script there are 23 signs with a sound meaning, which can be considered as the original prototype of the alphabet. The creators of the first alphabets used the phonetic components of ideographic writing (Egyptian and Akkadian), but rejected ideographic and logographic signs associated with the religious and ideological ideas of Egypt, Mesopotamia or Crete and with specific languages. Thus, alphabetic writing became a universal tool for fixing any language and the rapid spread of writing began among the peoples of Asia, Europe and Africa.

Among the Western Semitic peoples, alphabetic writing (Canaanite-Aramic group of Semitic languages) developed in the space from the North. Lebanon to the Sinai Peninsula in the 2nd half. II millennium BC The oldest cuneiform alphabetic script of Ugarit (Mediterranean coast of Syria) dates back to the 13th century. BC ; it contains 30 (later 22) signs denoting Semitic. consonants, the order of which is reproduced in subsequent alphabets, but the style of the Ugaritic cuneiform letters does not correspond to the signs of other Semitic characters. alphabets. Monuments of the syllabary of Byblos (XV century BC), Sinai-Palestine. letters ser.- 2nd half. II millennium BC presumably associated with the tribes of the Philistines, who settled in the 13th–11th centuries. BC several regions of Canaan. The most ancient monuments of the South Semites date back to approximately the same time. letters from Arabia and Sinai. Canaanite, or Phoenician, alphabet (22 letters), the first monuments of which date back to the 12th century. BC , is considered the ancestor of Greek and Aramaic writing.

Eastern alphabets

Aram. a language used as an international language back in Assyrian. period, from the 6th century. BC became the official language of Achaemenid Persia and spread from Egypt to the North-West. India. Directly from Staroaram. The Persian-Aramic alphabet was formed. (VI century BC) and Nabataean writing (II century BC), ind. A. - Indo-Bactrian Kharosthi (mid-III century BC) and Brahmi (III century BC). These alphabets became the ancestors of families of writing systems.

Heb. square letter (merubba) from the 4th century. BC became the main alphabet of the Holy. Scriptures, but part of the books of the Old Testament (Gen. 31.47; Jer. 10; Ezra 4.8–18; 7.12–26, etc.) in Biblical-Aramic. dialect was written in the Old Canaanite script in the 8th – 7th centuries. BC Old Canaanite writing, represented by the “Monuments of the Dead Sea” (2nd century BC - century AD) in the Paleo-European. variant, gradually developed into the so-called. rabbinic (–IV centuries AD) letter of the Talmud and in the Middle Ages. euro italic, and then in modern. Hebrew letter.

The Indian Brahmi alphabet is based on Aram. letters, but obviously under the influence of ancient Greek. letters with its sequential vowel markings. The earliest Brahmi monuments date back to the 3rd century. BC (reign of Ashoka, spread of Buddhism), the Brahmi script is the oldest script of India in Indo-European. language (Prakrit dialects). Brahmi and its derivative Pali script appeared in the 1st century. BC The Buddhist canon (Tripitaka) was written down in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), which marked the beginning of the formation of written literature in India. Vedic texts were written down in the century AD. According to AD, Brahmanism developed in India and the main body of Hindu written literature (Vedas, Upanishads, epic poems) took shape. In the According to R.H., the Gupta alphabet, more perfect and adapted for classical Sanskrit, spreads. On the Gupta and the nagari that developed from it in the 7th–8th centuries. classical Indian literature is recorded. The subsequent development of Nagari is the Devanagari alphabet (“divine urban”, 13th century), on the basis of which the later writings of India were formed.

The Nabatean script was used until c. according to R.H. and represented by Christ. epigraphic monuments. It is based on Arabic. A. (–VII) centuries, which took shape in the writing of the Koran and Islam. literature. With the spread of Islam, Arab. writing replaced the writing and literature of Syria, Mesopotamia, Iran, Bactria, North. India, Egypt, Libya, Nubia. Derived from Arabic. A. The writing systems used are Urdu, Farsi (modern Persian), and Ottoman-Turk. (before) and a number of others.

From South Arabia writing, which obviously arose very early, and is represented by the monuments of Yemen until the 7th century AD, in - centuries. According to R.H., the Ethiopian developed. syllabic alphabet. B – centuries in the Kingdom of Aksum with the adoption of Christianity and the translation of the Holy Scripture into the Ge'ez language. Ethiopian Scriptures and Liturgical Literature. alphabet influenced by Greek. The letter was significantly improved and, with some modifications, was used until the present day. time for the Amharic, Tigre and Tigrinya languages.

Writing of the Syrian kingdom of Palmyra (Tadmor) II century. BC - III century according to R.H. in Aram. basis played a significant role in the history of Eastern Christianity. At the beginning of the 3rd century. According to R.H., a sire was created in Edessa. translation of the Holy Scriptures for which the Estrangelo alphabet was developed. Sire. Christ literature developed successfully until the 8th and even the 13th centuries. according to R.H. In the 1st half. V. Eastern Syria was formed. "Nestorian" writing, which spread in Asia as far as Tibet, China and India.

Alphabet based on Greek writing

Under the influence of Phoenician writing in the 8th century. BC vocal Greek developed. and consonantal aram. alphabet.In Greek writing developed the designation of vowel sounds, and the outline of the alphabet characters is represented by 2 options - east. (Hellas, M. Asia) and zap. (Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, the Mediterranean coast of modern France and Spain). K–V centuries. BC eastern variant of archaic Greek. letters transformed into classical Greek. writing that developed in - centuries. according to R.H. to Byzantium. letter. In the century AD based on the Greek. Copt was created. alphabet. In mid. V. Ep. Wulfila was created by the Goth. letter for translation of books of St. Scriptures and liturgical texts, using Greek. letters and digraphs to denote specific germs. sounds. In con. V. Ep. Mesrop Mashtots invented Armenian. the alphabet that underlies Armenian. liturgical and lit. tongue (grabar). In the beginning V. the load has piled up. alphabet.

Alphabet based on Latin writing

From Western Greek. The alphabet developed Etruscan (VII century BC), Lat. (VII century BC) writing and other Italic alphabets. Classical lat. writing developed in the 3rd century. BC Based on lat. alphabet formed the writing systems of the Western peoples. Europe: Germanic runes (–3rd century AD), Irish (Ogham - century, Latin - end) century, English (VII) century, French () century, Italian () century, Sardinian () century, Portuguese (XII) century, Polish (XVI) century. etc. Features of the formation of new writings based on Lat. alphabet lies in their transcriptional nature: lat. The alphabet retains its composition and sound meanings of letters, and is used to write texts of predominantly secular content. At the same time, lit. bilingualism: Holy Scripture, liturgical, theological, and scientific literature were preserved in Latin until the Reformation. language, and secular literature, partly homiletics and business writing - in the vernacular.

Slavic alphabets

There are examples of interpretation of the initial letters of her name: “Mater Alma Redemptoris, Incentivum Amoris”, “Maria Advocata Renatorum, Imperatrix Angelorum” (Mary, Intercessor for the reborn, Ruler of the Angels), etc. (Barndenhewer O. Der Name Marias. 1895. S. 97ff). The 1420 manuscript contains a common interpretation: “Mediatrix, Auxiliatrix, Reparatrix, Imperatrix, Amatrix” (Mediatrix, Helper, Regenerator, Sovereign, Lover).

The alphabet is one of the possible principles for organizing hymnographic material (see Acrostic). The full set of letters of the alphabet in the acrostic and their strict order symbolize the hymnographer’s desire for perfection (in the OT: Ps 9; 10; 119; 142, etc. Lamentations 1–4). From sir. and Byzantine. the composers of hymns followed the Old Testament examples of Saints Methodius of Olympus, Gregory the Theologian, Roman the Sweet Singer, and John of Damascus; from lat. hymn-makers - Hilary of Pictavius ​​(“Ante saecula”), Sedulius (“A solis ortus cardine”), Venantius Fortunatus (Hymnus de Leontio episcopo “Agnoscat”).

The mystical interpretation of letters is the basis of the “magic” alphabetic palindrome square “Sator Arepo” (“ROTAS-formula”), which was written in Lat. or Greek letters and when read from left to right, right to left, top to bottom and bottom to top, the same phrase was obtained: “Sator arepo tenet opera rotas”, “the sower Arepo holds the wheels with difficulty.”

The early use of this formula, dating back to 63, is evidenced by its discovery in Pompeii (2 graffiti) (for a list of places where the formula was found early, see: Din-kler). Among the many attempts to explain the symbolism of these letters, there is a Christological interpretation of the “Sator Arepo”, in which the square is reduced to the cross “Pater Noster” centered on the letter N and double AO (Grosser F. Ein neuer Vorschlag zur Deutung der Sator-Formel / / ARW 1926. Bd. 24. S. 165–169).

This letter square is widely used in Cyrillic transliteration in Slav. (especially Russian) handwritten tradition – 19th century. and in popular prints of the 18th – 19th centuries. called “Seals of the Wise King Solomon” or “Seals of King Leo the Wise.” Senior Russian list, dates between and. (Explanatory Psalter with additional articles, rewritten in the Vologda Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery - YIAMZ. No. 15231). The later lists are very numerous, especially from the 17th century. Senior Yuzhslav. (Serbian) list found in handwritten notes of the 17th century. for the publication of the New Testament with the Psalter (Ostrog, 1580). It is possible that there is an error in the 3rd word (“tepot” instead of “tenet”) of the most ancient Russian. the list and a number of younger ones reflects the influence of the Glagolitic original (“n” and “p”, “e” and “o” have similar styles in Glagolitic); if this assumption is true, the appearance of the “ROTAS formula” in glory. writing should be dated no later than c. (later the monument was obviously transliterated several times).

In senior Russian list (and a number of younger ones) the content of the “magic square” (“Seal of Solomon”) is interpreted as a symbolic designation of the nails driven into the hands and feet of the Savior during the crucifixion. In the lists of the 17th–19th centuries. There is a recommendation to use the text of the “ROTAS formula” as a prayer against a rabid dog bite. In the lists of the 18th–19th centuries. and contemporary popular prints, the text is “deciphered” as an acrostic verse about the creation of the world and man, the global flood, the coming of the Savior into the world and His crucifixion, known in several centuries. options. In manuscripts, the drawing of the “Seal of Solomon” is placed with the calendar-Easter texts in the following Psalms, Charters, calendars, “Circles of Peacemakers,” medical books and collections.

A famous example of religions. symbolism of letters in lat. In the West there are meditation crosses on which letters are written without any apparent meaning. Eg. in the “Cross of Zechariah,” which, according to legend, was revealed to the fathers of the Council of Trent (1545–1563) during the plague epidemic (HWDA 9.875), (ill.) the letters represent the beginnings of Lat. prayers: Z - “Zelus domus tuae liberet me” (Zealous for your house, free me); D - “Deus meus expellet pestem” (My God, may he drive away the plague). Here we can call the “Cross of Blessing” (Benediсtus), the first letters of which should have the meaning: “Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux/Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux” (Let the Holy Cross be my light, let the dragon not be my guide) (HWDA 1 .1035). The magical formula "Ananisapta" was originally, apparently, a prayer-incantation against the plague: "Antidotum Nazareni auferat necem intoxicationis, sanctificet alimenta poculaque trinitas, Amen" (Let the Nazarene's antidote take away death from poison, May the Trinity sanctify food and drink. Amen) (HWDA 1.395).

In glory medieval in writing, alphabetic cryptograms, usually dedicated to praise of the Cross, are placed on crosses (regardless of the technique of their execution) or near their images, both independent and crowning compositions of headpieces in handwritten and early printed books; hence their name - “godmother (or cross) words.” The most developed and complex cryptograms of this kind are placed in Serbian. manuscripts of the XIV–XVI centuries. (for example, in the Gospel tetras of 1372 - Vienna. National library. Slav. 52. L. 69) and Venetian editions of the 16th century. Vukovich printing house (starting with the Prayer Book of 1536 with an engraving on L. 214 vol.), as well as on Old Believer cast crosses and foldings of the 18th – 19th centuries. (in some cases, for Serbian monuments of the 14th century, Cyrillic transliteration of similar Greek cryptograms is possible). At least from the 2nd floor. V. in Russian manuscripts contain (interpretations) of the deciphering of the “words of the cross” (RGADA Type. No. 387. L. 197 volume - 198, 90s).

Judaism

Jewish teaching about the symbolic meaning of letters was influenced by the idea of ​​​​the pre-existence of the letters Heb. alphabets that God used when creating the world and creating the Torah. Each letter of the alphabet, according to these ideas, has its own secret and symbolic meaning, unraveling which one can penetrate into the secrets of creation and the Torah. This meaning is revealed in the external form of the letters, in the peculiarities of their pronunciation, combinations of letters and their numerical value. The earliest Jewish texts that reflect this view are the midrashim of the Amoraite period. Examples of symbolic interpretation of some Hebrews. letters are given in the tractate “Bereshit Rabba”, the earliest collection of midrashim to the book. Genesis (–III centuries AD). In the interpretation of Gen. 2.4 (“at their creation”; in Jewish editions of the Torah), the graphic outline of Heb. the letter (hey), open at the bottom and at the top left, is understood as an indication that evil people will be cast into hell, and for the few pious there is an opportunity to be saved (Bereshit Rabbah. 12.10). The pronunciation of the letter “hey” is here seen as a sign that God created the world without labor, since “hey” is pronounced without tension - it’s just a light exhalation (Bereshit Rabbah. 12.12). In the interpretation on Isa. 26.4 (“for the Lord God is an everlasting rock”) the combination of the letters “Hey” and “Yod” is an indication of the existence of 2 worlds - this world and the world to come - while this world was created by the letter “Hey”, and the next - with the help “yod” (Jerus. Talmud, Chagaga 2. 77c, 45; Peshikta Rabbati 21; Midrash Tehillim 114 § 3; Babylon. Talmud Menachot 29).

In the introductory part of the treatise “Bereshit Rabba” there is a question why God chose the letter “bet” (the 2nd letter of the Hebrew A., with which the first word of the Hebrew Bible begins - “Bereshit” (In the Beginning)) to begin with. Toru. The midrash on Genesis 1.1 gives several answers to this question. answers: God chose to create the world with the letter “bet”, because it symbolizes blessing, for Hebrew begins with this letter. the word “blessing” (berachah), while from the first letter (aleph) is the word “curse” (arira) (Bereishit Rabbah 1.10); in its graphic design, “bet” is open on one side, this was interpreted as an indication that one cannot ask what is above or below the earth, what happened before the creation of the world and will happen in the future (Bereshit Rabbah 1.10); The numerical value of “bet” - 2 was also interpreted, which indicated the existence of 2 worlds - this world and the world to come (Bereshit Rabba 1.10).

A more systematic presentation of the Middle Ages. Jewish speculation about the graphic design of letters and their secret symbolic meaning is contained in a collection of midrashim known as the Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva. One of its editions (A) offers midrashim collected in a free associative connection to the consonants and vowels that make up the names of individual Hebrew letters. alphabet. Eg. the name of the letter “alef” consists of the letters “alef”, “lamed” and “pe”; in accordance with this, the next series of aggadic sayings is introduced by biblical and other sayings, which in turn begin with the letters aleph, lamed and pe. Dr. the edition of Rabbi Akiva's Alphabet (B), on the contrary, contains midrashim starting with letters in reverse alphabetical order: each letter of the alphabet is, first of all, the last letter of the Hebrew. alphabet “tav” - approaches God and asks that He use her first during the creation of the world and begin, i.e., the text of the Torah with her. But God refuses all letters until the letter “bet” comes up. All arguments in this dispute between letters are based on free association with the names of Hebrews. letters In addition to the Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva, there are a number of other texts containing discussions about the allegorical and symbolic meaning of Hebrew. letters Eg. "shin" means falsehood and "tav" means truth. The fact that the letters of the word “sheker” (lie) in Hebrew. in the alphabet they are not far from each other, and the words “emet” (truth) are quite far away, it is interpreted that lies are common, but the truth, on the contrary, is rare (Babyl. Talmud, Shabbat 104a).

Significant spread in Jud. exegesis received a gematric interpretation, examples of which are already given in the code of hermeneutical rules of Eliezer ben Joseph the Galilean (c. AD). An example of numerical gematria is seen in the story of the victory of Abraham at the head of a detachment of 318 armed servants over 4 eastern. kings, while the name of Eliezer's servant is understood as an indication of the number of servants, since the numerical value of the letters that make up his name adds up to 318. An example of letter gematria is found by the interpreter in Jer. 51.1, where Babylonia is named (in the synodal translation: “My adversaries”). If the letters that make up this word are replaced by pairs, based on the rule: the first is replaced by the last, the second from the beginning by the second from the end, the third by the third from the end, etc., then you get the word (Chaldea). In midrashim, and later in Kabbalistic literature, the total numerical values ​​of the letters of a certain word were interpreted as indicating secret relationships between various words in the Torah.

A complex form of letter symbolism is proposed in Jude. the book “Sefer Yetzirah” (Book of Creation, see Tantlevsky. pp. 286–298) - a small text dating from up to the 8th centuries. In the 2nd part of Sefer Yetzirah, the letters of the alphabet are divided into 3 groups: 3 “mothers” (the letters “alef”, “mem” and “shin”), 7 doubles (“bet”, “gimel”, “dalet”, “kaf”, “pe”, “resh”, “tav”), as well as 12 simple ones - the remaining letters of the “Mother” alphabet are symbols of the 3 primary elements that underlie everything that exists - the silent letter “mem” symbolizes water, in which dumb fish live; the hissing “shin” corresponds to hissing fire and the airy “aleph” represents (spirit, air). According to the cosmogony “Sepher Yetzirah”, the first emanation of the Spirit of God was the production of fire, from which in turn water came. These 3 basic substances exist potentially and receive actual existence only through 3 “mothers”. The cosmos, which arose from these 3 basic elements, consists of 3 parts: the world, the year (or time) and man. Each of these parts contains all 3 primary elements. Water formed the earth, the sky came from fire, the spirit produced the air between heaven and earth. The 3 seasons - winter, summer and rainy season - correspond to water, fire and spirit. Man also consists of a head (corresponding to fire), a body (represented by spirit) and other parts of the body (corresponding to water). 7 double letters produced 7 planets that are in continuous motion, sometimes approaching the Earth, sometimes moving away from it, which is justified by the soft or hard pronunciation of double letters, 7 days changing in time according to their relationship to the planets, 7 holes in a person connecting him with the world, as a result of which its organs are subordinate to the planets. 12 simple letters created 12 signs of the zodiac, they belong to 12 months in time and 12 “leaders” in man (arms, legs, kidneys, bile, entrails, stomach, liver, pancreas and spleen), which are subordinate to the signs of the zodiac. Along with this schematic theory, the book points out various methods of combining and substituting letters to form new words that name new phenomena. In Kabbalistic literature there are several. methods of interpretation, with the help of which the principles of interpretation first mentioned in the Sefer Yetzirah are developed, for example. Kabbalistic authors began to rearrange the letters of the tetragram, greatly developing the idea that God revealed Himself in language. Particularly rich in speculation about the symbolic meaning of the letters of the tetragram of the Hebrew scripture. mystics of the 13th century. in South France.

Islam

Ibn al-Arabi (–), al-Buni (d.), al-Dairabi (d.), al-Ghazali (–) and others wrote about the mysticism of letters and magical manipulations with them (Dornseiff. Das Alphabet. S. 142; Geschichte der arabis-chen Literatur, 1898. Bd. 426, 497; 7 letters that were missing in the first sura of the Koran were interpreted as especially holy and correlated with 7 especially important names of God, days of the week and planets (Dornseiff. Das Alphabet. S. 142–143). The idea of ​​the symbolic meaning of the letters of the alphabet developed primarily among the Hurufis (Birge; Schimmel). According to the teachings of the Hurufis, God reveals Himself in the human face, since the name of God Allah was written on the face of a person, especially the founder of the Fadl Allah sect from Asterabad: the letter “alif” forms the nose, the wings of the nose are two “lams”, the eyes form the letter "Ha". With the help of this symbolism, hurufiyya express the special relationship between God and man. In other, especially mystical, directions of Islam, the “science of letters” (Arabic: Ilm alhuruf) was used, according to which 28 letters are Arabic. The alphabets were divided into 4 groups of 7 letters, each group was subordinated to one of the 4 elements (fire, air, water, earth). In connection with the numerical value of the letters, words, especially the names of God, could be interpreted mantically. In this case, the Arab assessment plays a significant role. language as the language of revelation of Allah and Arab. letters like the letters on which the Koran was written.

Literature

• Rovinsky D. A. Russian folk pictures. St. Petersburg, 1881. T. 3. P. 187–188; T. 4. P. 581–586;
• Monier-Williams M. Religious Thought and Life in India. L., 1885. P. 196–202;
• Sauer J. Symbolik des Kirchgeb?udes. Frieburg, 1902, 1924;
• De Groot J. J. M. Universismus. B., 1918. S. 343;
• Gematria // Jewish Encyclopedia. M., 1991. T. 6. Art. 299-302;
• Sefer Yetzirah // Jewish Encyclopedia. M., 1991. T. 14. Art. 178-186;
• Dornseiff F. Das Alphabet in Mystik und Magie. Lpz.; B., 1922, 1975 (Stoicheia; 7);
• idem. ABC // HWDA. Bd. 1. S. 14-18;
• idem. Buchstabe // Ibid. S. 1697–1699;
• Hallo R. Zus?tze zu Franz Dornseiff // ARW. 1925. Bd. 23. S. 166–174;
• Speransky M. N. Secret writing in South Slavic and Russian writing monuments. L., 1929. P. 134, 137 (ESF. Issue 4. 3);
• Winkler H. A. Siegel und Charaktere in der muhammedanischen Zauberei. B.; Lpz., 1930. 1980;
• Bertholet A. Die Macht der Schrift in Glauben und Aberglauben. Freiburg i. Br., 1949;
• Edsman C.-M. Alphabet- und Buchstabensymbolik // RGG. Bd. 1. S. 246;
• Bareau A. Die Religionen Indiens. Stuttg., 1964. S. 186;
• Birge J. K. The Bektashi Order of Dervishes. L., 1965;
• Biedermann H. Lexikon der magischen K?nste. Graz, 1968;
• Dinkler E. Sator Arepo // RGG3. Bd. 5. Sp. 1373-1374;
• Schimmel A. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Durham, 1975;
• Gruenwald I. Buchstabensymbolik II: Judentum // TRE. Bd. 6. S. 306-309;
• Holtz G. Buchstabensymbolik IV: Christliche Buchstabensymbolik // TRE. Bd. 6. S. 311-315;
• Mishina E. A. Group of early Russian engravings (2nd half of the 17th - early 18th centuries) // PKNO, 1981. L., 1983. P. 234;
• Baar T. van der. On the Sator formula // Signs of Friendship: To Honor A. C. F. van Holk: Slavist. Linguist, Semiotician. Amst., 1984. P, 307–316;
• Ryan W. F. Solomon, Sator, Acrostics and Leo, the Wise in Russia // Oxford Slavonic Papers. Oxf., 1986. N. S. Vol. 19. P. 47–61;
• Pliguzov A.I., Turilov A.A. The most ancient South Slavic letter book, 3rd quarter. XIV century // XRF. M., 1987. Issue. 3. P. 559.

Materials used

• Article from Volume II of the Orthodox Encyclopedia

In the section on the question What are the alphabets with which people communicate without words. Example: Morse code. given by the author European the best answer is Artificial means of information transmission.
There are systems (alphabet, gestures, languages) for transmitting information that are specially created by people and differ from natural language.

2. Sign language.




7.Body language.
8.Language of dance.
9.Language of flowers.

Reply from in bulk[guru]
ABC of signs for the deaf and dumb.

Reply from Lyolik[guru]
Flag semaphore, flags of the international code of signals, flags of the Navy code of signals.

Reply from Legal awareness[guru]
Prison ABC
The ancient Greek historian Polybius (201 - 120 BC) indicated a method of transmitting information using a square tablet measuring 5 x 5 cells, where the 24-letter Greek alphabet was written out in random order.
The same idea was directly embodied in the alphabet, which Russian revolutionaries have long used for tapping in prisons.
Letters are written in the table in rows.
!A! B! IN! G! D!
!E! AND! Z! AND! TO!
!L! M! N! ABOUT! P!
!R! WITH! T! Uh! F!
!X! C! Ch! Sh! I!
For example:
4-2 - C (knock-knock-knock-knock - knock-knock)
4-3 - T
4-4 - U
2-5 - K

Reply from Sagittarius[guru]
The Mora alphabet contains words and letters. 😉
A period is a short short pause.
Three dots - a pause that separates characters (letters and numbers)
Seven dots - words are separated (like spaces in regular text)
Try removing spaces from plain text. So how? Is it convenient to read?))

Reply from Edward Dresvyanin[newbie]
1.Morse code, in which letters are recoded using combinations of dots and dashes.
2. Sign language.
3.Whistling language is widespread in many countries of the world.
4. The fleet uses flag signaling.
5. Prisons use prison knocking (according to legend, it was invented in Russia by the Decembrists).
6.Braille is a system for writing letters using a combination of raised dots. This alphabet is used by the blind.
7.Body language.
8.Language of dance.
9.Language of flowers.

Letter– an additional means of communication to oral speech communication. An additional, secondary way of communication.

Types of writing

Symbolic signaling, where each thing symbolizes something (bird - fly)

Conventional signaling, when the things themselves do not express anything, but are used as conventional signs (the quipu letter - a stick with tied multi-colored laces), the Iroquois wampu letter - a belt or staff with stringed shells of different colors)

Descriptive writing.

Pictoraphy - writing with pictures

Ideography is writing with concepts, when what is denoted is not the life fact itself in its immediate givenness, but those concepts that arise in the human mind and require their expression in writing. This is a letter in which graphic signs convey not words in their grammatical and phonetic design, but the meanings that stand behind these words.

Hieroglyphic writing. The need to speed up writing and the ability to convey texts that were more complex in content and longer in size led to the systematization of drawings, to the transformation of drawings into conventional icons - hieroglyphs.

Phonography - writing conveys the language not only in its grammatical structure, but also in its phonetic appearance. Words began to be divided into parts - syllables (syllabic or syllabic phonography). The signs are not letters, but syllabems. The syllabic alphabet corresponds to the number of syllables with a given vowel, which, as a rule, does not exceed several dozen. Diacric marks - to indicate vowels between consonants expressing roots.

Consonantal type of writing. The Arabic script, for example, has 28 consonants and several “harakat” for vowels.

The Greeks improved phonography and designated vowel letters.

Thus, the Greek alphabet in its Ionian version was the first letter-sound alphabet. The letters in such alphabets conveyed not just sounds, but corresponded to basic sounds - phonemes. Therefore, such alphabets are phonemic.

Graphics- this is a branch of linguistics that establishes the composition of the styles used in writing and studies the relationship between letters and sounds.

The need for science in ideography is explained by the fact that science needs to express the concept:

A) exactly (not water in general, but a2o as a chemical concept)

B) briefly (mathematical formula)

B) make writing international

Alphabet- that is, a collection of all letters arranged in a certain generally accepted order. There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet:

A B C D E F G H H I J J K L M N O P R S T U V X C

10 letters convey vowel sounds (A, E, E, I, O, U, Y, E, Yu, Ya);

21 letters convey consonant sounds (B, V G, D, ZH, Z, Y, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, F, X, C, Ch, Sh, Shch);

the letters b and b do not convey any sounds, but they perform the function of separation and also indicate the softness of the preceding consonant, thereby often playing a semantic distinguishing function.

The Greeks were the first people to create an alphabet. They took the Phoenician alphabet as a basis and adapted it for their language. Some symbols that meant sounds that were not in Greek began to mean vowel sounds.

The Latin and Cyrillic alphabets are the most famous and widespread. They have been adapted for many languages. Most other alphabets are used for only one or a small number of languages.

Armenian, Basa, Cyrillic, Phraser, Georgian, Greek, Latin, Manchu and others.

The perfect alphabet- an alphabet consisting of as many letters as there are phonemes in a given language. But since writing developed historically and much of the writing reflected old, outdated traditions, there are no ideal alphabets, but there are more or less rational ones. Among the existing alphabets, 2 are the most common and graphically convenient: Latin and Russian.

Spelling is a set of norms or rules of practical writing, consisting of:

1) rules for using letters of the alphabet when writing words, their forms and combinations

2) rules for writing words and phrases, regardless of the letters included in their spelling.

Spelling principles:

1) phonemic. Each phoneme is expressed by the same letter, regardless of the position in which it falls

2) phonetic. The letters represent actually pronounced sounds.

3) etymological

4) traditional-historical

3, 4 are based on reflecting in writing not the current state, but the past, and the etymological pr-p actually corresponds to the language in its past. Traditional-historical – the most unprincipled, blindly preserves traditions

5) morphological (for example, the use of a soft sign at the end of feminine words after sibilants)

6) symbolic (for example, arson - arson)

5, 6 strive to convey the language not through phonetics, but morphologically. spellings reflect grammar, and symbolic spellings tend to distinguish lexical homonyms that are phonetically indistinguishable.

For Russian orthography, the leading principle is phonemic.

Type of Indian script), but can be completely different (for example, kana); in the narrow sense may not be considered an alphabet.

The use of signs for individual phonemes leads to a significant simplification of writing as a result of reducing the number of signs used. Also, the order of letters in the alphabet is the basis of alphabetical sorting.

The South Semitic alphabet, which outwardly resembled the Phoenician, apparently did not originate from it, but from a hypothetical common ancestor with the Phoenician; A descendant of the South Semitic script is the modern Ethiopic script.

The Greek alphabet and its descendants

Around the turn of the 2nd-1st millennium BC. e. (possibly a little earlier) the Phoenician alphabet of 22 letters was borrowed by the Greeks, who significantly transformed it, turning the ancient Greek alphabet into a complete system. The correspondence between letters of the alphabet and phonemes became one-to-one: all signs of the alphabet were used to write the phonemes to which they corresponded, and each phoneme corresponded to a letter of the alphabet. The Etruscan alphabet, closely related to the ancient Greek, and the Asia Minor alphabets in Asia Minor of ancient times, which have common features with it, have these same features. Chronology of the creation and development of all alphabets at the turn of the 2nd-1st millennium BC. e. remains controversial.

Aramaic alphabet and its descendants

The Aramaic alphabet, descended from the Phoenician in the 1st millennium BC. e., laid the foundation for many Eastern writings. The diversity of religions and states in the East, as well as the diversity of written materials, led to the fact that the descendants of the Aramaic alphabet were quickly modified, changing beyond recognition in a short time.

According to one version, the main descendants of the Aramaic alphabet are:

• Brahmi and the very numerous (more than 100) alphabets of India and Southeast Asia derived from it
• kharosthi (dead-end branch in the development of Indian writing)
• Syriac script and its many descendants, including Mongol script
• Nabataean script and its descendant - Arabic script

It is generally accepted among Indian scholars that the Brahmi script is of Indian origin. Some scientists refer to monuments of proto-Indian writing (III-II millennium BC), discovered during excavations of the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro (according to one hypothesis, the writing of the Indus Valley is, like Brahmi, an alphabetic syllabary ).

Letter names

In all known alphabet systems, each letter has its own name. Letter names are mainly preserved in related systems and when borrowed from one system to another (from West Semitic to Greek). The names of letters in many Semitic traditions, except Ugaritic (obviously, for ease of memorization and learning), were formed from words denoting objects that begin with the corresponding phonemes (“alef” ‘bull’, “bet” ‘house’, etc. ).

Numeric value

The signs of the oldest known alphabets, in particular Ugaritic, were not used to represent numbers. Later in the West Semitic alphabets of the 1st millennium BC. e. and in the Greek alphabet the first letter in order [for example, Greek. α (alpha)] can be the sign for the first integer of the natural series after zero (that is, “α” meant the number 1), the second for the second (“β” meant the number 2), etc. This principle has been retained in many systems , based on the Greek model, in particular, in the Old Slavonic and Old Russian. When the shape of a letter changes, its ordinal place in the alphabet and its numerical value are most often preserved, therefore, for studying the history of alphabets, methods of designating numbers are of great importance.

List of alphabets

• Greek alphabet
• Cyrillic
• Latin alphabet
• "Summary alphabet" for the languages ​​of the USSR

Authors, time of creation of alphabets

See also

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Notes

Literature

• Gamkrelidze T.V. Origin and typology of the alphabetic writing system // Questions of linguistics. 1988. No. 5-6.
• Dieringer D. Alphabet. M., 1963.
• // Yates Fr. The art of memory. St. Petersburg, 1997
• Lundin A. G. On the origin of the alphabet // Bulletin of ancient history. 1982. No. 2.
• The World's Writing Systems/Eds. Daniels P.T., Bright W.N.Y., 1996.

Links

• (in English)
• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

Consonantal letter Abugids / Indian script Abugids / Other Linear alphabets Nonlinear alphabets Ideas and pictograms Logographic letter Syllabary Transitional syllabic-alphabetic Semantography Knot systems Undeciphered Fictional and hypothetical See also

An excerpt characterizing the Alphabet

From that first evening, when Natasha, after Pierre's departure, told Princess Marya with a joyfully mocking smile that he was definitely, well, definitely from the bathhouse, and in a frock coat, and had a haircut, from that moment something hidden and unknown to her, but irresistible, awoke in Natasha's soul.
Everything: her face, her gait, her gaze, her voice - everything suddenly changed in her. Unexpected for her, the power of life and hopes for happiness surfaced and demanded satisfaction. From the first evening, Natasha seemed to have forgotten everything that had happened to her. Since then, she never once complained about her situation, did not say a single word about the past and was no longer afraid to make cheerful plans for the future. She spoke little about Pierre, but when Princess Marya mentioned him, a long-extinguished sparkle lit up in her eyes and her lips wrinkled with a strange smile.
The change that took place in Natasha at first surprised Princess Marya; but when she understood its meaning, this change upset her. “Did she really love her brother so little that she could forget him so quickly,” thought Princess Marya when she alone pondered the change that had taken place. But when she was with Natasha, she was not angry with her and did not reproach her. The awakened force of life that gripped Natasha was obviously so uncontrollable, so unexpected for her that Princess Marya, in Natasha’s presence, felt that she had no right to reproach her even in her soul.
Natasha gave herself over to the new feeling with such completeness and sincerity that she did not even try to hide the fact that she was no longer sad, but joyful and cheerful.
When, after a nightly explanation with Pierre, Princess Marya returned to her room, Natasha met her on the threshold.
- He said? Yes? He said? – she repeated. Both a joyful and at the same time pitiful expression, asking for forgiveness for her joy, settled on Natasha’s face.
– I wanted to listen at the door; but I knew what you would tell me.
No matter how understandable, no matter how touching the look with which Natasha looked at her was for Princess Marya; no matter how sorry she was to see her excitement; but Natasha’s words at first offended Princess Marya. She remembered her brother, his love.
“But what can we do? she cannot do otherwise,” thought Princess Marya; and with a sad and somewhat stern face, she told Natasha everything that Pierre had told her. Hearing that he was going to St. Petersburg, Natasha was amazed.
- To St. Petersburg? – she repeated, as if not understanding. But, looking at the sad expression on Princess Marya’s face, she guessed the reason for her sadness and suddenly began to cry. “Marie,” she said, “teach me what to do.” I'm afraid of being bad. Whatever you say, I will do; teach me...
- Do you love him?
“Yes,” Natasha whispered.
-What are you crying about? “I’m happy for you,” said Princess Marya, having completely forgiven Natasha’s joy for these tears.
– It won’t be soon, someday. Think about what happiness it will be when I become his wife and you marry Nicolas.
– Natasha, I asked you not to talk about this. We'll talk about you.
They were silent.
- But why go to St. Petersburg! - Natasha suddenly said, and she quickly answered herself: - No, no, this is how it should be... Yes, Marie? That's how it should be...

Seven years have passed since the 12th year. The troubled historical sea of ​​Europe has settled into its shores. It seemed quiet; but the mysterious forces that move humanity (mysterious because the laws determining their movement are unknown to us) continued to operate.
Despite the fact that the surface of the historical sea seemed motionless, humanity moved as continuously as the movement of time. Various groups of human connections formed and disintegrated; the reasons for the formation and disintegration of states and the movements of peoples were prepared.
The historical sea, not as before, was directed by gusts from one shore to another: it seethed in the depths. Historical figures, not as before, rushed in waves from one shore to another; now they seemed to be spinning in one place. Historical figures, who previously at the head of the troops reflected the movement of the masses with orders of wars, campaigns, battles, now reflected the seething movement with political and diplomatic considerations, laws, treatises...
Historians call this activity of historical figures reaction.
Describing the activities of these historical figures, who, in their opinion, were the cause of what they call the reaction, historians strictly condemn them. All famous people of that time, from Alexander and Napoleon to m me Stael, Photius, Schelling, Fichte, Chateaubriand, etc., are subject to their strict judgment and are acquitted or condemned, depending on whether they contributed to progress or reaction.
In Russia, according to their description, a reaction also took place during this period of time, and the main culprit of this reaction was Alexander I - the same Alexander I who, according to their descriptions, was the main culprit of the liberal initiatives of his reign and the salvation of Russia.
In real Russian literature, from a high school student to a learned historian, there is not a person who would not throw his own pebble at Alexander I for his wrong actions during this period of his reign.
“He should have done this and that. In this case he acted well, in this case he acted badly. He behaved well at the beginning of his reign and during the 12th year; but he acted badly by giving a constitution to Poland, making the Holy Alliance, giving power to Arakcheev, encouraging Golitsyn and mysticism, then encouraging Shishkov and Photius. He did something wrong by being involved in the front part of the army; he acted badly by distributing the Semyonovsky regiment, etc.”
It would be necessary to fill ten pages in order to list all the reproaches that historians make to him on the basis of the knowledge of the good of humanity that they possess.
What do these reproaches mean?
The very actions for which historians approve of Alexander I, such as: the liberal initiatives of his reign, the fight against Napoleon, the firmness he showed in the 12th year, and the campaign of the 13th year, do not stem from the same sources - the conditions of blood , education, life, which made Alexander’s personality what it was - from which flow those actions for which historians blame him, such as: the Holy Alliance, the restoration of Poland, the reaction of the 20s?
What is the essence of these reproaches?
The fact that such a historical person as Alexander I, a person who stood at the highest possible level of human power, is, as it were, in the focus of the blinding light of all the historical rays concentrated on him; a person subject to those strongest influences in the world of intrigue, deception, flattery, self-delusion, which are inseparable from power; a face that felt, every minute of its life, responsibility for everything that happened in Europe, and a face that is not fictitious, but living, like every person, with its own personal habits, passions, aspirations for goodness, beauty, truth - that this face , fifty years ago, not only was he not virtuous (historians do not blame him for this), but he did not have those views for the good of humanity that a professor now has, who has been engaged in science from a young age, that is, reading books, lectures and copying these books and lectures in one notebook.
But even if we assume that Alexander I fifty years ago was wrong in his view of what the good of peoples is, we must involuntarily assume that the historian judging Alexander, in the same way, after some time will turn out to be unjust in his view of that that is the good of humanity. This assumption is all the more natural and necessary because, following the development of history, we see that every year, with every new writer, the view of what is the good of humanity changes; so that what seemed good appears after ten years as evil; and vice versa. Moreover, at the same time we find in history completely opposite views on what was evil and what was good: some take credit for the constitution given to Poland and the Holy Alliance, others as a reproach to Alexander.
It cannot be said about the activities of Alexander and Napoleon that they were useful or harmful, because we cannot say for what they are useful and for what they are harmful. If someone does not like this activity, then he does not like it only because it does not coincide with his limited understanding of what is good. Does it seem good to me to preserve my father’s house in Moscow in 12, or the glory of the Russian troops, or the prosperity of St. Petersburg and other universities, or the freedom of Poland, or the power of Russia, or the balance of Europe, or a certain kind of European enlightenment - progress, I must admit that the activity of every historical figure had, in addition to these goals, other, more general goals that were inaccessible to me.
But let us assume that so-called science has the ability to reconcile all contradictions and has an unchanging measure of good and bad for historical persons and events.
Let's assume that Alexander could have done everything differently. Let us assume that he could, according to the instructions of those who accuse him, those who profess knowledge of the ultimate goal of the movement of mankind, order according to the program of nationality, freedom, equality and progress (there seems to be no other) that his current accusers would have given him. Let us assume that this program was possible and drawn up and that Alexander would act according to it. What would then happen to the activities of all those people who opposed the then direction of the government - with activities that, according to historians, were good and useful? This activity would not exist; there would be no life; nothing would have happened.
If we assume that human life can be controlled by reason, then the possibility of life will be destroyed.

If we assume, as historians do, that great people lead humanity to achieve certain goals, which consist either in the greatness of Russia or France, or in the balance of Europe, or in spreading the ideas of revolution, or in general progress, or whatever it may be, it is impossible to explain the phenomena of history without the concepts of chance and genius.
If the goal of the European wars at the beginning of this century was the greatness of Russia, then this goal could be achieved without all the previous wars and without an invasion. If the goal is the greatness of France, then this goal could be achieved without revolution and without empire. If the goal is the dissemination of ideas, then printing would accomplish this much better than soldiers. If the goal is the progress of civilization, then it is very easy to assume that, besides the extermination of people and their wealth, there are other more expedient ways for the spread of civilization.
Why did it happen this way and not otherwise?
Because that's how it happened. “Chance made the situation; genius took advantage of it,” says history.
But what is a case? What is a genius?
The words chance and genius do not mean anything that really exists and therefore cannot be defined. These words only denote a certain degree of understanding of phenomena. I don't know why this phenomenon happens; I don't think I can know; That’s why I don’t want to know and say: chance. I see a force producing an action disproportionate to universal human properties; I don’t understand why this happens, and I say: genius.
For a herd of rams, the ram that is driven every evening by the shepherd into a special stall to feed and becomes twice as thick as the others must seem like a genius. And the fact that every evening this very same ram ends up not in a common sheepfold, but in a special stall for oats, and that this very same ram, doused in fat, is killed for meat, should seem like an amazing combination of genius with a whole series of extraordinary accidents .
But the rams just have to stop thinking that everything that is done to them happens only to achieve their ram goals; it is worth admitting that the events happening to them may also have goals that are incomprehensible to them, and they will immediately see unity, consistency in what happens to the fattened ram. Even if they do not know for what purpose he was fattened, then at least they will know that everything that happened to the ram did not happen by accident, and they will no longer need the concept of either chance or genius.
Only by renouncing the knowledge of a close, understandable goal and recognizing that the final goal is inaccessible to us, will we see consistency and purposefulness in the lives of historical persons; the reason for the action they produce, disproportionate to universal human properties, will be revealed to us, and we will not need the words chance and genius.
One has only to admit that the purpose of the unrest of the European peoples is unknown to us, and only the facts are known, consisting of murders, first in France, then in Italy, in Africa, in Prussia, in Austria, in Spain, in Russia, and that movements from the West to the east and from east to west constitute the essence and purpose of these events, and not only will we not need to see exclusivity and genius in the characters of Napoleon and Alexander, but it will be impossible to imagine these persons otherwise than as the same people as everyone else; and not only will it not be necessary to explain by chance those small events that made these people what they were, but it will be clear that all these small events were necessary.
Having detached ourselves from knowledge of the ultimate goal, we will clearly understand that just as it is impossible for any plant to come up with other colors and seeds that are more appropriate to it than those that it produces, in the same way it is impossible to come up with two other people, with all their past, which would correspond to such an extent, to such the smallest details, to the purpose that they were to fulfill.

The main, essential meaning of European events at the beginning of this century is the militant movement of the masses of European peoples from West to East and then from East to West. The first instigator of this movement was the movement from west to east. In order for the peoples of the West to be able to make the warlike movement to Moscow that they made, it was necessary: ​​1) for them to form into a warlike group of such a size that would be able to withstand a clash with the warlike group of the East; 2) so that they renounce all established traditions and habits and 3) so that, when making their militant movement, they have at their head a person who, both for himself and for them, could justify the deceptions, robberies and murders that were accompanied this movement.

Literature

Avanesov R.I. Russian literary pronunciation. Ed. 6th, revised and expanded. – M., 1984.

Gorbachevich K.S. Changing the norms of the Russian literary language. – L., 1971. – P. 90-107.

Gorbachevich K.S. Norms of modern Russian literary language. – M., 1989. – P. 110-131.

Orthoepic dictionary of the Russian language. Pronunciation, stress, grammatical forms. – M., 1983.

Russian stage pronunciation / Answer. ed. CM. Kuzmina. – M., 1986.

Graphics

Concept of graphics

Graphics(Greek graphikē, from graphō - I write, draw, draw) - this is, firstly, a set of means of writing, a system of relationships between letters and sounds (phonemes), as well as the outline of letters and signs themselves; secondly, a branch of linguistics that studies the outline and sound meanings of written signs, primarily letters.

As mentioned earlier, in transcription, which is a special type of writing, other graphic signs are also used (sign of softness, longitude, syllabicity, etc.).

The degree of perfection of the graphic system of a language is determined by the correspondence of letters to sounds (phonemes). An ideal graphic system is a system that provides a one-to-one correspondence between a letter and a sound (phoneme).

Modern Russian graphics are divided into handwritten and printed. The handwritten graphics of the Russian language are based on the Old Russian script. The foundations of printed graphics were laid by the reform of Peter I, as a result of which a civil font with a rounded outline of letters and without superscripts was introduced.

Origin and main stages of development of writing.
The importance of writing in the history of the development of society

Letter is a symbolic speech recording system that allows you to transmit information in space and time.

The primary method of communication is oral speech, which arose approximately 500 thousand years ago. The secondary method of communication is descriptive writing, which appeared about 6 thousand years ago (ancient Egyptian writing has been known since the end of the 4th millennium BC, Cretan, Chinese - from the 2nd millennium BC, etc.) ; alphabetic writing has existed for about 3 thousand years.

Writing is the greatest invention of mankind, consolidating the achievements of science, technology, culture, and turning out to be the basis of civilization.

Subject writing as background
descriptive writing

Two stages in the development of writing can be distinguished: 1) writing not related to language, with its vocabulary, grammar and phonetics - subject writing, symbolic or conditional signaling; 2) writing related to language - descriptive writing.

Initially, subject writing arose, in which objects, animals, birds, etc. were the means of communication.

Writing not related to language, object writing, is divided into symbolic and conditional signaling.

With symbolic signaling, the object turns out to be a symbol. An example of symbolic signaling is the message of the Scythians to the Persians, mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC. The Scythians sent a frog, a mouse, a bird and five arrows; this message warned the Persians against the possibility of being showered with arrows when entering the land of the Scythians, if the Persians did not learn to jump through the swamps like frogs, hide in holes like mice, and fly like birds.

With conditional signaling, objects themselves are not symbols, but conventional signs, the meaning of which is agreed upon in advance. Examples of conditional signaling include the Peruvian letter quipu, which consists of a stick to which laces of different colors and sizes with knots are tied; North American Indian writing; Iroquois wampum script, which used a belt or staff with shells of different colors and sizes.

The meaning of lace knots and shell combinations was usually known to the priests. In this way, schematic, predetermined information was transmitted, for example, a disaster warning.

Methods of transmitting messages using objects that have conditional meaning:
a – wampum; b – kippa; c – tags (whole and split).

Elements of writing can be considered arrows showing the direction of the path, semaphores, traffic lights, sea and river signals with flags, lanterns; offering bread and salt as a sign of hospitality among the Slavs, throwing a glove as a challenge to a duel, pumpkin as a refusal of marriage in Ukraine; the use of the color of objects: white as a symbol of purity, red as a symbol of love, black as a symbol of mourning and sadness; using the number of objects: an even number of flowers - for the deceased, seven - a symbol of a good family.

Descriptive writing, i.e. writing itself is associated with the use of special graphic characters and has greater opportunities for communication and communication of information than subject writing.

Stages of development of descriptive writing

The first stage of descriptive writing is pictography, i.e. writing with drawings (from Latin pictus - picturesque and Greek graphō - writing). Archaeologists and ethnographers have discovered examples of pictographic writing on the walls of caves, on rocks, and stones.

R SIOUX INDIAN INVESTIGATORY LETTER

This inscription with drawings apparently reads: four men caught a buffalo. One stopped him by throwing a lasso around his neck. Another exclaimed: “I threw a lasso over his front legs.” The third shouted: “I will cut off his head with an axe.” The fourth shot four arrows at the buffalo. At this time, the woman says to her husband: “Here is your bow and arrows, help them kill the buffalo.”

A pictogram is a schematic drawing of a certain life situation (hunting, battle, trip, etc.), conveying a whole message that is not divided into words. In a pictogram, artistic expressiveness is not important, but what is important is the extent to which the drawing reflects the meaning of the message.

For example, such pictograms are known as the “diary” of an Eskimo hunter; it tells about a man’s hunt for two animals, about a meeting with another hunter, with whom he moved to a dwelling on a boat; in the “petition” pictogram the Indians conveyed an appeal to the president of seven tribes (crane, three martens, bear, sea man and sea cat) regarding the right to fish in some lakes (see figure on p. ____).

Rock paintings of military campaigns, peaceful labor, and warnings about danger in the mountains made by the Indians were also discovered. Paintings in churches telling about the creation of the world, the birth, life and death of Christ are also a kind of pictograms. Pictograms help to understand the reasons for the emergence of fine art as a way of reflecting reality and transmitting information to contemporaries and descendants.

In pictography everything concrete is well reflected; it is much more difficult to reflect the abstract. The transition from pictography to ideography was caused primarily by the need to convey abstract concepts in writing - love, friendship, fatherland, etc.

Petition sent by seven Indian tribes to the United States Congress regarding fishing rights in certain lakes. The lines connecting the eyes and hearts of the animals show that all seven tribes are unanimous with the main tribe of Oshkabavi, which is represented in the form of a crane; the line connecting the crane's eye to the lakes in question (below, left) and the line going forward towards Congress indicate the request the tribes are making.

Currently, pictography is used as a means of clarity (this is of particular importance for an illiterate or semi-literate person, for a foreigner). Pictograms are pictures on signs - a bagel, candy, a boot; some road signs, for example, with the image of a knife and fork, a bicycle; pictures in ABC books that children become familiar with before they begin to read; image of a waiter, cleaning lady, etc. at call buttons in hotels.

With the development of abstract thinking, a concept arises to express a concept. ideography, i.e. writing with concepts (from the Greek idea - idea and graphō – I am writing).

An ideogram, like a pictogram, at the beginning of the development of ideography remains the same drawing, so often the same writing samples are regarded as either pictograms or ideograms. But an ideogram, unlike a pictogram, does not designate an object, a fact of life, but a concept, that is, a drawing (graphic sign) becomes a symbol, a sign of a concept. So, for example, the image of a snake as an emblem of medicine is associated not with the animal itself, but with the healing function belonging to snake venom; the drawing appears as if in a figurative meaning. The sign begins to correlate with the word, therefore the ideogram is also called a logogram (from the Greek logos - word).

An increase in the size of the text led to the need to speed up writing, and consequently to the schematization of drawings, which turned into hieroglyphs (from the Greek hieroglyphoi - sacred writing, carving of priests). As a result, the sign lost its specificity and became conventional.

With the development of writing, changes occur both in the material used for writing and in the writing instruments. If at first inscriptions were made on rocks, stones, and tree bark, then later papyrus, Nile reed, and parchment (specially treated leather) began to be used; paper was subsequently invented in China. The tools used to make scratches on tree bark were replaced by writing instruments - a brush, a pen. The simplification of the writing method led to further simplification and schematization of hieroglyphs.

Hieroglyphic writing was widespread in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China.

Ideography is more convenient than pictography, since hieroglyphs convey concepts. Ideographic writing is not associated with the transmission of words in their grammatical and phonetic form, understandable to speakers of different dialects of the same language.

But when writing ideographically, it is necessary to remember a large number of characters, since each concept has its own designation. So, for example, in the modern Chinese language there are about 40 thousand characters, however, from 2 to 6 thousand are actually used.

Elements of ideography are currently used in road signs: exclamation point - caution, rectangle - no passage, cross - intersection, etc.; in cartography and topography: designation of settlements, minerals, railways, etc. Hieroglyphs are numbers, scientific symbols: mathematical - +,,,:,<, >, , chemical - Na, Cu, O, H, H 2 O, HCl, chess - Fv3-d5, etc.

The use of ideography in scientific terminology is explained by the need to express a scientific concept accurately and briefly.

With the development of trade and the establishment of statehood, the need arose to make writing simpler and accessible to an increasing number of people.

One direction in simplifying writing was related to vocabulary and arose in Chinese writing. To designate a concept they began to combine signs; for example, the concept “bark” was denoted by combining the signs “dog” and “mouth”. This way of reducing the number of ideograms was unproductive, since combinations of signs were difficult to understand and required additional memorization.

Another direction was related to grammar, but it could only be used in languages ​​with morphemic division of words. In this case, roots were indicated by existing hieroglyphs, and affixes – by new ones. But this method also did not reduce the number of ideograms, since the number of roots is infinite, and affixes require the introduction of more and more new hieroglyphs.

The third stage in the development of writing was phonography, in which graphic signs began to reflect the sound side of the language.

Phonography originated with the Egyptians and Assyro-Babylonians.

The initial stage in the development of phonography was syllabic, or syllabic, writing, common among the Assyro-Babylonians and Indians. In it, the hieroglyph indicated a syllable. The graphic sign here was not a letter conveying a sound (phoneme), but a syllabeme corresponding to a syllable. Such a letter significantly shortens the alphabet, since the number of syllables is determined by tens or hundreds (100-300 characters). The use of writing does not require grammatical knowledge. Elements of syllabic writing in Russian graphics are used when vowel letters indicate the hardness-softness of preceding consonants and in the use of iotated letters.

The next stage of phonography was sound writing, common among the ancient Jews and Phoenicians. It was consonantal in nature: letters denoted consonants, and vowels were denoted by diacritics, that is, various superscript and subscript marks. Essentially, this type of writing was a transitional stage from syllabic writing to letter-sound writing. Initially it had the character of a consonantal syllabic letter. The alphabet becomes even more economical: for example, the Arabic script had 28 letters for consonants and several superscripts for vowels.

Consonantal writing thus arose from syllabic writing. There were variations in the syllabic writing: combinations of various consonants with vowels could be transmitted, as in the Japanese kana script; combinations of various consonants with certain vowels could be transmitted, and superscripts were used to indicate the combination of consonants with other vowels or without vowels, as in the modern Indian Devanagari script.

The last, most advanced stage in the development of phonography is alphabetic writing, in which both consonants and vowels began to be expressed in letters. This type of writing was first used by the Greeks at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Graphic signs denoting consonants were taken from the Phoenicians, and to denote vowels, signs of Phoenician consonants, which were absent in the Greek language, were used (Phoenician consonants aleph, heh, vav, ayn correspond to Greek vowels alpha, epsilon, upsilon, omicron); special letters were invented for Greek aspirated consonants (tata, fi, hee).

The Greek alphabet served as the basis for Latin, Slavic and other alphabets.

Modern Russian graphics

The graphics of the modern Russian language, to one degree or another, reflect all stages of the history of writing.

Pictography is used as an auxiliary means of communication, for example, in road signaling (image of children, meaning “Caution, children!”; drawing of a hand with an outstretched index finger as a direction sign, etc.), in signs at exhibitions, at international competitions and etc. Pictography plays an important role in conditions of multilingual or illiterate populations, as well as as an artistic medium (children's and humorous stories in pictures).

Ideography is used as part of auxiliary writing subsystems: numbers, signs of four arithmetic operations (+, , , :), algebraic and chemical formula signs, some road signs (a rectangle - a “brick”, indicating that travel is prohibited; a zigzag as a sign of a steep turn; cross as a sign of intersection of roads, etc.).

Syllabic writing is used when denoting the hardness and softness of consonants with vowel letters and when representing a syllable with iotated letters.

Letter-sound (consonantal) writing is reflected in spellings such as SPb (St. Petersburg).

The main type of graphics in the modern Russian language is phonography.

Types of alphabets

I. Alphabet(alphabet) is a collection of letters arranged in a certain order. The word "alphabet" is formed from the names of the first two Greek letters: alpha (α) And beta, in modern Greek vita(β). The word "alphabet" is formed from the names of the first two Slavic letters: az(a) and beeches(b).

II. Letters- written signs that convey the sound appearance of the words of a language, its individual sound elements.

Depending from There are three types of alphabets for designating vowels: 1) vowels are designated by special letters - Greek, Latin, alphabets of Slavic, Romance languages, alphabets of most languages ​​of the world; 2) vowels are indicated by separate diacritics (superscript or subscript) - Arabic, Hebrew and other alphabets; 3) vowels are indicated by diacritics attached to the letters denoting consonants - Indian, Ethiopian and other alphabets.

All modern alphabets go back to the Phoenician (ancient Semitic) alphabetic consonantal letter.

Initially, each of the 22 characters of the Phoenician script was perceived as corresponding to the combination of a certain consonant with any vowel, and subsequently - as corresponding only to a certain consonant. Purely consonantal writing made it difficult to understand the texts, and therefore already in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. e. began to resort to the use of signs corresponding to consonants close in place of formation to vowels.

The Phoenician letter was borrowed by the peoples surrounding the Phoenicians: the Hebrew and Arabic letters, the writings of Central Asia and India go back to it; it was adopted and improved by the Greeks, and from the latter it was borrowed by the Romans.

Before the advent of alphabetic writing, the Greeks used syllabic writing.

The Greek alphabetic writing supposedly arose in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. In the Greek letter, in contrast to the Phoenician letter, in addition to letters denoting consonants, letters appeared to convey vowel sounds, which was a new stage in the development of writing and played an important general cultural role. Alphabetical Greek writing was divided into two branches: Eastern Greek writing and Western Greek. Eastern Greek writing developed into classical ancient Greek and Byzantine writing; it formed the basis of the Slavic Cyrillic, as well as Armenian, and partly Georgian writing. Western Greek writing became the source for Latin writing.

The classical pan-Greek alphabet had 27 letters; The modern Greek alphabet has 24 letters. Initially, the Greeks, like the Phoenicians, wrote from right to left, then alternately, and only then from left to right.

Latin script is an alphabetic script used by the ancient Romans and which formed the basis for the writing of most peoples of Western Europe. The name comes from the name of the ancient tribe of Latins who inhabited the region of Latium, the center of which was Rome. The oldest Latin inscriptions date back to the 7th century. BC e. The art of writing was brought to Latium by the Greeks from the Peloponnese; they settled on the Palatine Hill in the center of the future Rome in the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In Greece, syllabic writing was still used at that time. The Greek alphabetic writing developed slowly in Italy; The Latin alphabet itself developed in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC

In the oldest Latin inscriptions, the writing direction is both right to left and left to right; the “boustrophedon” method was also used: the first line from right to left, the second from left to right, etc.; from 4th century BC The direction of writing from left to right was firmly established. There were no punctuation marks in ancient writing. There was no division into uppercase and lowercase letters. Words were usually separated from each other by word-separating signs, which were placed at the level of the middle of the letters. In Latin writing, most of the Trans-Greek letters retained their original meaning. But not all Greek letters were included in the Latin alphabet; some letters changed their meaning and style; new letters appeared. So, in the 2nd century. the type W appeared; in the 16th century the letters J and U were introduced.

In post-antique times, a division of letters into uppercase and lowercase arose, and punctuation marks appeared.

Even during the era of the Roman Empire, Latin writing acquired an international character. In the Middle Ages, Latin became the liturgical language in all Western European countries and the language of science. On the basis of the Latin script, the modern writing systems of the peoples of Western Europe (German, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, etc.), the writing systems of America, Australia, most of the alphabets of Africa, and some alphabets of the peoples of Asia were formed.

In national writing systems that were based on the Latin script, its adaptation to the corresponding phonetic systems was carried out mainly through the introduction of diacritics, for example: ö, ä, ü in German, Polish and Lithuanian, ñ in Spanish. Individual sounds (phonemes) began to be transmitted by combinations of letters, for example: ch, sh, th, ph, ea, ou in English; ch, sch, tsch - in German.

The modern Latin alphabet has two typographical types: Latin (or serif) and Gothic (or Fraktur); the first type, close to the ancient one, is dominant.

Latin alphabet

Uppercase	Lowercase	Titles	Pronunciation