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- What Can We Learn From Writing Systems? ✍️
What Can We Learn From Writing Systems? ✍️
PLUS: How to Spot a Liar, Sounds from a Black Hole, and Kuleshov Effect Explained 🎥
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Here’s a taste of what we’re serving today:
What Can We Learn From Writing Systems? ✍️
PLUS: How to Spot a Liar, Sounds from a Black Hole, and Kuleshov Effect Explained 🎥
LINGUISTICS
What Can We Learn From Writing Systems? ✍️
It is a common misconception that writing and speech emerged at more or less the same time. In reality, writing systems were MUCH later to the party. According to the American linguist John McWhorter, if the entirety of humanity’s existence could be represented as a 24-hour clock, then writing only came along at 11:07 PM.

Us to writing systems
Linguists are usually most concerned with speech. There is an assumption that speech is more authentic and representative of the processes going on in our minds when we acquire, store and produce language. On the other hand, writing is sometimes written off as - pardon the pun - a more conscious process, one that offers less insight into language and how humans process it.
Is it worth studying writing systems at all, then? In this Scoop, we’ll begin to tackle this, looking at the linguistic and sociopolitical insights that writing systems can offer.
💡 Things to consider
What kinds of writing systems are there?: If you only speak English, it is hard to imagine recording language in any other way than with an alphabet, a system where symbols represent unique, distinct sounds. But not all alphabets work like this – take abjads, such as Arabic. Abjads only explicitly represent consonants, meaning that vowels are usually deduced from context. Alternatively, Kana is a syllabic writing system used in Japanese. This is where every symbol represents an entire syllable (e.g: “sis” in “sist-er”), rather than a single distinct sound. Logographic writing systems use syllables that represent specific words or morphemes (a meaningful unit of language, such as “-ing”), and include many Chinese writing systems. Do you think there a superior writing system? Could the English language be represented by a logographic system, for example?
Is he writing or playing the piano? We can’t tell.
A Case Study – Breaking the Trend?: Historically, writing systems have been used to divide populations, where the most powerful members can learn to read and write whilst the poorest members remain illiterate. With writing comes power, and the exclusivity of who had access to acquire literacy maintained social hierarchies. But in rare instances, this is not the case. Take Hangul, a Korean writing system with alphabetic and syllabic properties. It was invented by King Sejong in in the 1400s, as a way to increase literacy levels amongst the population. It was deliberately designed to be accessible, with a strong sound-symbol correspondence (also known as having a shallow orthographic depth). Conversely, English does not have a strong sound-symbol correspondence. Take the letter “a”: it sounds different in “cat”, “cake” and “card”. This makes learning to read and write very difficult!
Trying to work out what is going on with “through” and “though”
Hangul symbols are also iconic (in Linguistics, this means that symbols represent the sounds they make in some way). Look at the symbols below: their shapes represent the shapes that the lips, mouth, tongue, and other articulators make to produce these sounds.
Taken from Nam (2015)
Hangul has been deliberately crafted to accurately mirror the Korean language it is capturing. Does the case of Hangul tell us anything about the role of language in society? How does it make us rethink how we view English?
Not that kind of iconic
It’s never just about language: In the 20th century, Turkey saw its Arabic writing script replaced by the Latin alphabet as part of larger language reforms. Whilst there are claims that Turkish vowel sounds are better represented using the Latin alphabet, we can’t ignore the other ideological factors at play: a desire to strengthen cultural and economic ties with Europe during a time of more global political instability. Do writing systems reveal more about spoken language features or political ideologies?
🔎 Find out more
Nam, K. M. (2015). Children's understandings of different writing systems and scripts: Korean written in the Hangul alphabet and English written in the Roman alphabet (Doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds).
A challenging but stimulating read on the (potential) link between Hangul and higher literacy rates, amongst other things!

🍒 The cherry on top
🗣️ How to Spot a Liar: In this fascinating BBC Word of Mouth episode, Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright speak with Professor Dawn Archer about the linguistic telltales of deception. Drawing on real-life examples of public figures who lied, they unpack the subtle cues in language that can reveal dishonesty. A gripping listen for anyone curious about Linguistics, Psychology, or Criminology.
🎵 Sounds from a Black Hole: In this stunning article, NASA unveils new sonifications of black holes, translating X-ray data from the Perseus galaxy cluster and Messier 87 into eerie, audible soundscapes. By shifting frequencies up to 288 quadrillion times higher, astronomers made real black hole-generated pressure waves hearable for the first time. Perfect for those interested in Physics.
🎥 Kuleshov Effect Explained: This deep-dive article explores the Kuleshov Effect, a foundational film theory showing how meaning and emotion emerge from the juxtaposition of shots. From Lev Kuleshov’s original experiments to Hitchcock’s mastery in “Rear Window” and “Psycho,” and modern uses in films like “Inside Out,” it unpacks how editing shapes what we feel and understand. A must-read for anyone interested in Film Studies.

👀 Keep your eyes peeled for…
Wednesday 2nd July:
Thursday 3rd July:
Monday 7th July

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That’s it for this week! We’d like to thank this week’s writer: Holly Cobb.
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