Anthropology 153 Lecture 1 on Writing

Anthropology 153 Lecture 1 on Writing What must always go with WRITING ? READING. So the origin , history ,structure , function , etc. of writing is inherently the origin, etc. of reading , obviously. Writers write to be read. Human LANGUAGE is a communication system unique to the Genus Homo species ( Chapters 14, 15, and 16 of the text). Language Consists of the sending and receiving of symbolic signs ; writing and reading; corresponding to talking and listening. No reason to talk unless someone is listening; no reason to write unless someone is reading what you write. Writing is an indexical sign or Reading; and vice versa. Read implies Writing. They are complementary opposites. Communication cannot occur without both complementary opposites. Recall that the _language_ communication system was critical in raising Genus Homo species’s Darwinian fitness higher than that of other primate, mammal, vertebrate, chordate, and animal species by giving the species a way to “remember” and accumulate knowledge from many dead generations, ancestors. Language is a MNEMONIC DEVICE of the human species. Writing-Reading has the ability to record in species memory more information than talking-listening memorizing; more information about ancestral lives and experiences. This is its function in the Darwinian natural selection, evolutionary context. It functions to raise Human species natural selection fitness. Another fundamental academic aspect of Writing/Reading (W/R) is that W/R originates with so-called Civilization about 6,000 years ago, evolving out of the Stone Age. And in School or Academic classes , History originates with Civilization and W/R. The Stone Age ( (that we just studied intensely ) is so-called PREHISTORY because it doesn’t have WRITING AND READING (W/R). Vocabulary for Test 4 Please define the following: Reading Writing Arithmetic Language Speech Civilization History Mnemonic Device Mark mark Noun a visible impression or trace on something, such as a line, cut, dent, stain, or bruise: verb (used with object) .to trace or form by or as if by marks (often followed by out):to indicate or designate by or as if by marks: to record, as a score. Record verb (used with object) to set down in writing or the like, as for the purpose of preserving evidence. to cause to be set down or registered: to record one's vote. verb (used without object) to record something; make a record. noun rec·ord [rek-erd] an act of recording. the state of being recorded, as in writing. an account in writing or the like preserving the memory or knowledge of facts or events. Species (singular and plural are spelled the same way ! ) Here repeated from the handout from Wikipedia on the History of Writing – introduction: “The history of writing traces the development of expressing language by systems of MARKINGS[1] and how these MARKINGS were used for various purposes in different societies, thereby transforming social organization. Writing systems are the foundation of literacy and literacy learning, with all the social and psychological consequences associated with literacy activities. In the history of how writing systems have evolved in human civilizations, more complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing, systems of ideographic or early mnemonic symbols (symbols or letters that make remembering them easier). True writing, in which the content of a linguistic utterance is encoded so that another reader can reconstruct, with a fair degree of accuracy, the exact utterance written down, is a later development. It is distinguished from proto-writing, which typically avoids encoding grammatical words and affixes, making it more difficult or even impossible to reconstruct the exact meaning intended by the writer unless a great deal of context is already known in advance. The earliest uses of writing in ancient Sumeria were to document agricultural produce and create contracts, but soon writing became used for purposes of finances, religion, government, and law. These uses supported the spread of these social activities, their associated knowledge, and the extension of centralized power.[2] Writing then became the basis of knowledge institutions such as libraries, schools, universities and scientific and disciplinary research. These uses were accompanied by the proliferation of genres, which typically initially contained markers or reminders of the social situations and uses, but the social meaning and implications of genres often became more implicit as the social functions of these genres became more recognizable in themselves, as in the examples of money, currency, financial instruments, and now digital currency.”