The Invention of Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

The Invention of Writing - Essay Example The intent of the article is to paint a realistic picture of how different ancient cultures and people groups contributed to the development of writing as it is done in the modern day. For instance, the writer explains that the Cuneiform writing of the Sumerians was not used to represent their linguistic sounds but to help remember economic data recorded (pandora.cii.wwu.edu part 4). There is a relationship between writing and anthropology, this falls under a branch of anthropology known as linguistic anthropology. This helps examine the relationship between language and aspects of culture that is not related to culture. This is majorly focused on processes that are social and cognitive and how human behaviour affects and is affected by language (Wayne State University Par 1). Language serves as a means through which culture can be understood; through it, ethnographers get knowledge in regards to culture. The significance of writing is major of understanding the past. This as part of linguistic anthropology is of high significance to archaeologists. On a different note, the evolution of language and the relationship between language and the function of the brain play important roles in biological anthropology (Wayne State University Par 1). The writer gives an in-depth explanation of how writing evolved from simple pictorials to what the modern world has and uses. The writer takes the audience through different forms of ancient writings in ancient Mesopotamia, Asia, and Mexico, - writings that later evolved to represent syllables in an irregular way (pandora.cii.wwu.edu Par 1-14). This in-depth information makes the essay rich to be used as a reference. The essay raises the issue of how most people assume that since most of the ancient writings used symbols that were a representative of pictures that they are primitive forms of writing. The writer refutes this as he/she believes that just as these ancient writings used pictorials to represent syllables irregularly so do modern languages such as the English language.  Ã‚