Portal:Writing

Welcome to the writing portal

Introduction

Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a script, as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language arises from a corresponding spoken language; while the use of language is universal across human societies, most spoken languages are not written.

Writing is a cognitive and social activity involving neuropsychological and physical processes. The outcome of this activity, also called writing (or a text) is a series of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Reading is the corresponding process of interpreting a written text, with the interpreter referred to as a reader.

In general, writing systems do not constitute languages in and of themselves, but rather a means of encoding language such that it can be read by others across time and space. While not all languages use a writing system, those that do can complement and extend the capacities of spoken language by creating durable forms of language that can be transmitted across space (e.g. written correspondence) and stored over time (e.g. libraries). Writing can also impact what knowledge people acquire, since it allows humans to externalize their thinking in forms that are easier to reflect on, elaborate on, reconsider, and revise. (Full article...)

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Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system or system of rules for such practice.

From a linguistic point of view, transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word. Transliteration attempts to be exact, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. To achieve this objective transliteration may define complex conventions for dealing with letters in a source script which do not correspond with letters in a goal script.

Transliteration is opposed to transcription, which specifically maps the sounds of one language to the best matching script of another language. Still, most systems of transliteration map the letters of the source script to letters pronounced similarly in the goal script, for some specific pair of source and goal language. (Full article...)

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Writing Systems

Writing Systems of the world

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Rudolf Koch (November 20, 1876 - April 9, 1934) was a leading German calligrapher, typographic artist and teacher, born in Nuremberg. He was primarily a calligrapher with the Gebr. Klingspor foundry. He created several fonts, both in fraktur and normal formats. Fritz Kredel studied under Koch.

Koch wrote a book of 493 old-world symbols, monograms and runes entitled The Book of Signs which was published in 1955 by Dover Publications, INC. and which belongs to the Dover Pictorial Archive Series.

Some of Koch's work can be seen today at the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach.

Some typefaces developed by Koch include:

Neuland (1923)
Kabel (1927)
Zeppelin (1929)
Prisma (1931)
Holla (1932)
Marathon (1938) (Full article...)

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Did you know...

... that the Korean alphabet Hangul was promulgated by the Korean king Sejong the Great after being developed under his guidance by a team of researchers? It is the rare example of a writing system that is thoroughly planned after scientific points of view.

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Major topics

• Calligraphy •
Western calligraphy • Islamic calligraphy • Indian calligraphy • Chinese calligraphy • Korean calligraphy • Japanese calligraphy • Persian calligraphy • Manuscript
• Writing instruments •
Pen • Ink brushes • Inks • Ink stone • Qalam • Quill • Dip pen • Nib • Paper • Writing slate • Pencil • Typewriter • Word processor • Dry erase marker • Touchscreen

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