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<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en">Writing system</h1>
<div id="bodyContent" class="mw-body-content">
<div id="siteSub">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div>
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Jump to: <a href="#mw-head">navigation</a>, <a href="#p-search">search</a>
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<td class="mbox-image">
<div style="width:52px"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" width="50" height="39" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="262" data-file-height="204" /></a></div>
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<td class="mbox-text"><span class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>. <span class="hide-when-compact">Please help <a class="external text" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction_to_referencing_with_Wiki_Markup/1" title="Help:Introduction to referencing with Wiki Markup/1">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.</span> <small><i>(June 2015)</i></small></span></td>
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<table class="vertical-navbox nowraplinks" style="float:right;clear:right;width:22.0em;margin:0 0 1.0em 1.0em;background:#f9f9f9;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.2em;border-spacing:0.4em 0;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%">
<tr>
<th style="padding:0.2em 0.4em 0.2em;font-size:145%;line-height:1.2em">Predominant national and selected regional or minority scripts</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0.2em 0 0.4em"><a href="/wiki/File:Writing_systems_worldwide.png" class="image"><img alt="Writing systems worldwide.png" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Writing_systems_worldwide.png/220px-Writing_systems_worldwide.png" width="220" height="102" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Writing_systems_worldwide.png/330px-Writing_systems_worldwide.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Writing_systems_worldwide.png/440px-Writing_systems_worldwide.png 2x" data-file-width="1357" data-file-height="629" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="padding:0.1em"><a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">Alphabetical</a></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em;text-align: left">
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #aaa; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Latin_script" title="Latin script">Latin</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #008080; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Cyrillic_script" title="Cyrillic script">Cyrillic</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color:blue; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #1E90FF; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Armenian_alphabet" title="Armenian alphabet">Armenian</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #00FFFF; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Georgian_scripts" title="Georgian scripts">Georgian</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #008080; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Hangul" title="Hangul">Hangul</a> <sup>a</sup></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="padding:0.1em">
<div style="padding:0.1em 0;line-height:1.2em;"><a href="/wiki/Logogram" title="Logogram">Logographic</a><br />
and <a href="/wiki/Syllabary" title="Syllabary">Syllabic</a></div>
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em;text-align: left">
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #8B0000; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Chinese_characters" title="Chinese characters">Hanzi</a> <span style="font-size:90%;">[L]</span></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #FF0000; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Kana" title="Kana">Kana</a> <span style="font-size:90%;">[S]</span> / <a href="/wiki/Kanji" title="Kanji">Kanji</a> <span style="font-size:90%;">[L]</span><span class="nowrap">  </span></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #FF00FF; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Hanja" title="Hanja">Hanja</a><sup>b</sup> <span style="font-size:90%;">[L]</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="padding:0.1em"><a href="/wiki/Abjad" title="Abjad">Abjad</a></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em;text-align: left">
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color:green; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Arabic_script" title="Arabic script">Arabic</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #7CFC00; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Hebrew_alphabet" title="Hebrew alphabet">Hebrew</a></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="padding:0.1em"><a href="/wiki/Abugida" title="Abugida">Abugida</a></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em;text-align: left">
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #FFA500; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Brahmic_scripts" title="Brahmic scripts">North Indic</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #D2691E; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Brahmic_scripts" title="Brahmic scripts">South Indic</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #8B4513; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Ge%27ez_script" title="Ge'ez script">Ethiopic</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #808000; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Thaana" title="Thaana">Thaana</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #EEE8AA; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Aboriginal_syllabics" title="Canadian Aboriginal syllabics">Canadian syllabic</a></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0.3em 0.4em 0.3em;font-weight:bold"><span class="nowrap"><sup>a</sup> <a href="/wiki/Featural_alphabet" title="Featural alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Featural-alphabetic</a>.<span class="nowrap">   </span><sup>b</sup> Limited.</span></td>
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<th style="padding:0.2em 0.4em 0.2em;font-size:145%;line-height:1.2em">Present-day writing systems</th>
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<td style="padding:0.2em 0 0.4em"><a href="/wiki/File:World_alphabets_%26_writing_systems.svg" class="image"><img alt="World alphabets & writing systems.svg" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/World_alphabets_%26_writing_systems.svg/220px-World_alphabets_%26_writing_systems.svg.png" width="220" height="102" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/World_alphabets_%26_writing_systems.svg/330px-World_alphabets_%26_writing_systems.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/World_alphabets_%26_writing_systems.svg/440px-World_alphabets_%26_writing_systems.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="2714" data-file-height="1256" /></a></td>
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<th style="padding:0.1em"><a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">Alphabetic</a></th>
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<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em;text-align: left">
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #99cccc; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Latin_script" title="Latin script">Latin</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #ccccff; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Cyrillic_script" title="Cyrillic script">Cyrillic</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #9a06fe; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Hangul" title="Hangul">Hangul</a> <span style="font-size:90%;">(<a href="/wiki/Featural_alphabet" title="Featural alphabet" class="mw-redirect">featural</a>)</span></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #3166ce; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> Other alphabetic</div>
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<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Abjad" title="Abjad">Abjad</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Abugida" title="Abugida">Abugida</a></li>
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<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em;text-align: left">
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #99ff99; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Arabic_script" title="Arabic script">Arabic</a> <span style="font-size:90%;">(abjad)</span></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #389738; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> Other abjad</div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #ee940a; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Devanagari" title="Devanagari">Devanagari</a> <span style="font-size:90%;">(abugida)</span></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #ffcc01; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> Other abugida</div>
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<th style="padding:0.1em">Other types</th>
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<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em;text-align: left">
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #ff4e4d; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Syllabary" title="Syllabary">Syllabaries</a></div>
<div class="legend"><span class="legend-color" style="display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color: #ffff65; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Chinese_characters" title="Chinese characters">Chinese</a> <span style="font-size:90%;">(<a href="/wiki/Logogram" title="Logogram">logographic</a>)</span></div>
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<th style="background:#B2BEB5;padding:0.2em 0.4em 0.2em;font-size:145%;line-height:1.2em"><strong class="selflink">Writing systems</strong></th>
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<td style="padding:0.2em 0 0.4em"><a href="/wiki/File:09-Pismo.jpg" class="image"><img alt="09-Pismo.jpg" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/09-Pismo.jpg/150px-09-Pismo.jpg" width="150" height="63" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/09-Pismo.jpg/225px-09-Pismo.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/09-Pismo.jpg/300px-09-Pismo.jpg 2x" data-file-width="340" data-file-height="142" /></a></td>
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<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/History_of_writing" title="History of writing">History</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Grapheme" title="Grapheme">Grapheme</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/List_of_writing_systems" title="List of writing systems">List of writing systems</a></li>
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<th style="padding:0.1em;background:#B2BEB5">Types</th>
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<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">Alphabet</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Abjad" title="Abjad">Abjad</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Abugida" title="Abugida">Abugida</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Syllabary" title="Syllabary">Syllabary</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Logogram" title="Logogram">Logography</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Shorthand" title="Shorthand">Shorthand</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Featural_writing_system" title="Featural writing system">Featural</a></li>
</ul>
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<th style="padding:0.1em;background:#B2BEB5">Related topics</th>
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<td style="padding:0 0.1em 0.4em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pictogram" title="Pictogram">Pictogram</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Ideogram" title="Ideogram">Ideogram</a></li>
</ul>
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<p>A <b>writing system</b> is any conventional method of visually representing verbal <a href="/wiki/Communication" title="Communication">communication</a>. While both writing and <a href="/wiki/Spoken_language" title="Spoken language">speech</a> are useful in conveying <a href="/wiki/Message" title="Message">messages</a>, writing differs in also being a reliable form of <a href="/wiki/Information" title="Information">information</a> <a href="/wiki/Recording" title="Recording">storage</a> and <a href="/wiki/Information_transfer" title="Information transfer">transfer</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a></sup> The processes of <a href="/wiki/Code" title="Code">encoding and decoding</a> writing systems involve shared understanding between <a href="/wiki/Writing" title="Writing">writers</a> and <a href="/wiki/Reading_(process)" title="Reading (process)">readers</a> of the meaning behind the sets of <a href="/wiki/Character_(symbol)" title="Character (symbol)">characters</a> that make up a script. Writing is usually recorded onto a <a href="/wiki/Storage_medium#Recording_medium" title="Storage medium" class="mw-redirect">durable medium</a>, such as paper or <a href="/wiki/Data_storage_device" title="Data storage device">electronic storage</a>, although non-durable methods may also be used, such as writing on a computer <a href="/wiki/Display_device" title="Display device">display</a>, in sand, or by <a href="/wiki/Skywriting" title="Skywriting">skywriting</a>.</p>
<p>The general attributes of writing systems can be placed into broad categories such as <a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">alphabets</a>, <a href="/wiki/Syllabary" title="Syllabary">syllabaries</a>, or <a href="/wiki/Logogram" title="Logogram">logographies</a>. Any particular system can have attributes of more than one category. In the alphabetic category, there is a standard set of <a href="/wiki/Letter_(alphabet)" title="Letter (alphabet)">letters</a> (basic written <a href="/wiki/Symbols" title="Symbols" class="mw-redirect">symbols</a> or <a href="/wiki/Graphemes" title="Graphemes" class="mw-redirect">graphemes</a>) of <a href="/wiki/Consonants" title="Consonants" class="mw-redirect">consonants</a> and <a href="/wiki/Vowels" title="Vowels" class="mw-redirect">vowels</a> that encode based on the general principle that the letters (or letter pair/groups) represent <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">speech sounds</a>. In a syllabary, each symbol correlates to a <a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">syllable</a> or <a href="/wiki/Mora_(linguistics)" title="Mora (linguistics)">mora</a>. In a logography, each character represents a word, <a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morpheme</a>, or other semantic units. Other categories include <a href="/wiki/Abjad" title="Abjad">abjads</a>, which differ from alphabets in that vowels are not indicated, and <a href="/wiki/Abugida" title="Abugida">abugidas</a> or alphasyllabaries, with each character representing a consonant–vowel pairing. Alphabets typically use a set of 20-to-35 symbols to fully express a language, whereas syllabaries can have 80-to-100, and logographies can have several hundreds of symbols.</p>
<p>Most systems will typically have an ordering of its symbol elements so that groups of them can be coded into larger clusters like <a href="/wiki/Word" title="Word">words</a> or <a href="/wiki/Acronyms" title="Acronyms" class="mw-redirect">acronyms</a> (generally <a href="/wiki/Lexeme" title="Lexeme">lexemes</a>), giving rise to many more possibilities (<a href="/wiki/Permutation" title="Permutation">permutations</a>) in meanings than the symbols can convey by themselves. Systems will also enable the <a href="/wiki/Concatenation" title="Concatenation">stringing together</a> of these smaller groupings (sometimes referred to by the generic term 'character strings') in order to enable a full expression of the language. The reading step can be accomplished purely in the mind as an internal process, or <a href="/wiki/Reading_aloud" title="Reading aloud" class="mw-redirect">expressed orally</a>. A special set of symbols known as <a href="/wiki/Punctuation" title="Punctuation">punctuation</a> is used to aid in structure and organization of many writing systems and can be used to help capture nuances and variations in the message's meaning that are communicated verbally by cues in <a href="/wiki/Rhythm" title="Rhythm">timing</a>, <a href="/wiki/Tone_(linguistics)" title="Tone (linguistics)">tone</a>, <a href="/wiki/Pitch_accent" title="Pitch accent">accent</a>, <a href="/wiki/Inflection" title="Inflection">inflection</a> or <a href="/wiki/Intonation_(linguistics)" title="Intonation (linguistics)">intonation</a>. A writing system will also typically have a method for formatting recorded messages that follows the spoken version's rules like its <a href="/wiki/Grammar" title="Grammar">grammar</a> and <a href="/wiki/Syntax" title="Syntax">syntax</a> so that the <a href="/wiki/Receiver_(information_theory)" title="Receiver (information theory)">reader</a> will have the <a href="/wiki/Meaning_(linguistics)" title="Meaning (linguistics)">meaning</a> of the intended message accurately preserved.</p>
<p>Writing systems were preceded by <a href="/wiki/Proto-writing" title="Proto-writing">proto-writing</a>, which used <a href="/wiki/Pictograms" title="Pictograms" class="mw-redirect">pictograms</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ideograms" title="Ideograms" class="mw-redirect">ideograms</a> and other <a href="/wiki/Mnemonic" title="Mnemonic">mnemonic</a> symbols. Proto-writing lacked the ability to capture and express a full range of thoughts and ideas. The invention of writing systems, which dates back to the beginning of the <a href="/wiki/Bronze_Age" title="Bronze Age">Bronze Age</a> in the late <a href="/wiki/Neolithic_Era" title="Neolithic Era" class="mw-redirect">Neolithic Era</a> of the late <a href="/wiki/4th_millennium_BCE" title="4th millennium BCE" class="mw-redirect">4th millennium BCE</a>, enabled the accurate durable recording of <a href="/wiki/Human_history" title="Human history" class="mw-redirect">human history</a> in a manner that was not prone to the same <a href="/wiki/Telephone_(game)" title="Telephone (game)" class="mw-redirect">types of error</a> to which <a href="/wiki/Oral_tradition" title="Oral tradition">oral history</a> is vulnerable. Soon after, writing provided <a href="/wiki/Postal_system" title="Postal system" class="mw-redirect">a reliable form</a> of long distance communication. With the advent of <a href="/wiki/Publishing" title="Publishing">publishing</a>, it provided the <a href="/wiki/Media_(communication)" title="Media (communication)">medium</a> for an early form of <a href="/wiki/Mass_communication" title="Mass communication">mass communication</a>. Secure written communications were also made more reliable with the invention of <a href="/wiki/Ciphertext" title="Ciphertext">encryption</a>.</p>
<p></p>
<div id="toc" class="toc">
<div id="toctitle">
<h2>Contents</h2>
</div>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#General_properties"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">General properties</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#Basic_terminology"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Basic terminology</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="#History"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">History</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="#Functional_classification"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Functional classification</span></a>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="#Logographic_systems"><span class="tocnumber">4.1</span> <span class="toctext">Logographic systems</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="#Syllabic_systems:_syllabary"><span class="tocnumber">4.2</span> <span class="toctext">Syllabic systems: syllabary</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="#Segmental_systems:_Alphabets"><span class="tocnumber">4.3</span> <span class="toctext">Segmental systems: Alphabets</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="#Featural_systems"><span class="tocnumber">4.4</span> <span class="toctext">Featural systems</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="#Ambiguous_systems"><span class="tocnumber">4.5</span> <span class="toctext">Ambiguous systems</span></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10"><a href="#Graphic_classification"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">Graphic classification</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="#Directionality"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">Directionality</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12"><a href="#On_computers"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">On computers</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13"><a href="#See_also"><span class="tocnumber">8</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">9</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15"><a href="#Citations"><span class="tocnumber">9.1</span> <span class="toctext">Citations</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16"><a href="#Sources"><span class="tocnumber">9.2</span> <span class="toctext">Sources</span></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17"><a href="#External_links"><span class="tocnumber">10</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p></p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="General_properties">General properties</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: General properties">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<div class="thumb tright">
<div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Kuozhai.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Kuozhai.jpg/220px-Kuozhai.jpg" width="220" height="224" class="thumbimage" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Kuozhai.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Kuozhai.jpg 2x" data-file-width="293" data-file-height="298" /></a>
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<div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Kuozhai.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
Chinese characters (漢字) are morpho-syllabic. Each one represents a syllable with a distinct meaning, but some characters may have multiple meanings or pronunciations</div>
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<p>Writing systems are distinguished from other possible <a href="/wiki/Symbolic_communication" title="Symbolic communication">symbolic communication</a> systems in that a writing system is always associated with at least one <a href="/wiki/Spoken_language" title="Spoken language">spoken language</a>. In contrast, visual representations such as drawings, paintings, and non-verbal items on maps, such as contour lines, are not language-related. Some symbols on information signs, such as the symbols for male and female, are also not language related, but can grow to become part of language if they are often used in conjunction with other language elements. Some other symbols, such as <a href="/wiki/Numeral_system" title="Numeral system">numerals</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Ampersand" title="Ampersand">ampersand</a>, are not directly linked to any specific language, but are often used in writing and thus must be considered part of writing systems.</p>
<p>Every human community possesses language, which many regard as an innate and defining condition of humanity. However, the development of writing systems, and the process by which they have supplanted traditional <a href="/wiki/Orality" title="Orality">oral</a> systems of communication, have been sporadic, uneven and slow. Once established, writing systems generally change more slowly than their spoken counterparts. Thus they often preserve features and expressions which are no longer current in the spoken language. One of the great benefits of writing systems is that they can preserve a permanent record of information expressed in a language.</p>
<p>All writing systems require:</p>
<ul>
<li>at least one set of defined base elements or <a href="/wiki/Symbol" title="Symbol">symbols</a>, individually termed <i>signs</i> and collectively called a <i>script</i>;<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a></sup></li>
<li>at least one set of rules and conventions (<a href="/wiki/Orthography" title="Orthography">orthography</a>) understood and shared by a community, which assigns <a href="/wiki/Meaning_(linguistic)" title="Meaning (linguistic)" class="mw-redirect">meaning</a> to the base elements (<a href="/wiki/Grapheme" title="Grapheme">graphemes</a>), their ordering and relations to one another;</li>
<li>at least one language (generally <a href="/wiki/Spoken_language" title="Spoken language">spoken</a>) whose constructions are represented and can be recalled by the interpretation of these elements and rules;</li>
<li>some physical means of distinctly representing the symbols by application to a permanent or semi-permanent <a href="/wiki/Medium_(communication)" title="Medium (communication)" class="mw-redirect">medium</a>, so they may be interpreted (usually visually, but tactile systems have also been devised).</li>
</ul>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Basic_terminology">Basic terminology</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Basic terminology">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<div class="thumb tright">
<div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="/wiki/File:A_Specimen_by_William_Caslon.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/A_Specimen_by_William_Caslon.jpg/220px-A_Specimen_by_William_Caslon.jpg" width="220" height="289" class="thumbimage" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/A_Specimen_by_William_Caslon.jpg/330px-A_Specimen_by_William_Caslon.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/A_Specimen_by_William_Caslon.jpg/440px-A_Specimen_by_William_Caslon.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2898" data-file-height="3807" /></a>
<div class="thumbcaption">
<div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:A_Specimen_by_William_Caslon.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
<i>A Specimen</i> of typefaces and styles, by <a href="/wiki/William_Caslon" title="William Caslon">William Caslon</a>, letter founder; from the 1728 <i><a href="/wiki/Cyclop%C3%A6dia,_or_an_Universal_Dictionary_of_Arts_and_Sciences" title="Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences">Cyclopaedia</a></i></div>
</div>
</div>
<p>In the examination of individual scripts, the study of writing systems has developed along partially independent lines. Thus, the terminology employed differs somewhat from field to field.</p>
<p>The generic term <i>text</i> refers to an instance of written material. The act of composing and recording a text may be referred to as <i><a href="/wiki/Writing" title="Writing">writing</a></i>, and the act of viewing and interpreting the text as <i><a href="/wiki/Reading_(activity)" title="Reading (activity)" class="mw-redirect">reading</a></i>. <i><a href="/wiki/Orthography" title="Orthography">Orthography</a></i> refers to the method and rules of observed writing structure (literal meaning, "correct writing"), and particularly for <a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">alphabetic</a> systems, includes the concept of <i><a href="/wiki/Spelling" title="Spelling">spelling</a></i>.</p>
<p>A <i><a href="/wiki/Grapheme" title="Grapheme">grapheme</a></i> is a specific base unit of a writing system. Graphemes are the <i>minimally significant</i> elements which taken together comprise the set of "building blocks" out of which texts made up of one or more writing systems may be constructed, along with rules of correspondence and use. The concept is similar to that of the <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phoneme</a> used in the study of spoken languages. For example, in the <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a>-based writing system of standard contemporary English, examples of graphemes include the <a href="/wiki/Majuscule" title="Majuscule" class="mw-redirect">majuscule</a> and <a href="/wiki/Lower_case" title="Lower case" class="mw-redirect">minuscule</a> forms of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet (corresponding to various phonemes), marks of <a href="/wiki/Punctuation" title="Punctuation">punctuation</a> (mostly non-phonemic), and a few other symbols such as those for <a href="/wiki/Arabic_numeral" title="Arabic numeral" class="mw-redirect">numerals</a> (logograms for numbers).</p>
<p>An individual grapheme may be represented in a wide variety of ways, where each variation is visually distinct in some regard, but all are interpreted as representing the "same" grapheme. These individual variations are known as <i><a href="/wiki/Allograph" title="Allograph" class="mw-redirect">allographs</a></i> of a grapheme (compare with the term <a href="/wiki/Allophone" title="Allophone">allophone</a> used in linguistic study). For example, the minuscule letter <i>a</i> has different allographs when written as a <a href="/wiki/Cursive" title="Cursive">cursive</a>, <a href="/wiki/Capital_letters" title="Capital letters" class="mw-redirect">block</a>, or <a href="/wiki/Typeface" title="Typeface">typed</a> letter. The choice of a particular allograph may be influenced by the medium used, the <a href="/wiki/Writing_implement" title="Writing implement">writing instrument</a>, the stylistic choice of the writer, the preceding and following graphemes in the text, the time available for writing, the intended audience, and the largely unconscious features of an individual's <a href="/wiki/Handwriting" title="Handwriting">handwriting</a>.</p>
<p>The terms <i><a href="/wiki/Glyph" title="Glyph">glyph</a></i>, <i><a href="/wiki/Sign_(linguistics)" title="Sign (linguistics)">sign</a></i> and <i>character</i> are sometimes used to refer to a grapheme. Common usage varies from discipline to discipline; compare <a href="/wiki/Cuneiform_script" title="Cuneiform script">cuneiform sign</a>, <a href="/wiki/Maya_script" title="Maya script">Maya glyph</a>, <a href="/wiki/Chinese_character" title="Chinese character" class="mw-redirect">Chinese character</a>. The glyphs of most writing systems are made up of lines (or strokes) and are therefore called <a href="/wiki/Linear_writing" title="Linear writing" class="mw-redirect">linear</a>, but there are glyphs in <a href="/wiki/Non-linear_writing" title="Non-linear writing" class="mw-redirect">non-linear writing systems</a> made up of other types of marks, such as Cuneiform and <a href="/wiki/Braille" title="Braille">Braille</a>.</p>
<p>Writing systems are <a href="/wiki/Conceptual_system" title="Conceptual system">conceptual systems</a>, as are the languages to which they refer. Writing systems may be regarded as <i>complete</i> according to the extent to which they are able to represent all that may be expressed in the spoken language.</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="History">History</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: History">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<div role="note" class="hatnote relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="/wiki/History_of_writing" title="History of writing">History of writing</a></div>
<div class="thumb tright">
<div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Sanskrit_Brhama_English_alphabets.JPG" class="image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/Sanskrit_Brhama_English_alphabets.JPG/220px-Sanskrit_Brhama_English_alphabets.JPG" width="220" height="340" class="thumbimage" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/Sanskrit_Brhama_English_alphabets.JPG/330px-Sanskrit_Brhama_English_alphabets.JPG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/Sanskrit_Brhama_English_alphabets.JPG/440px-Sanskrit_Brhama_English_alphabets.JPG 2x" data-file-width="1000" data-file-height="1544" /></a>
<div class="thumbcaption">
<div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Sanskrit_Brhama_English_alphabets.JPG" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
Table of scripts in the introduction to <i><a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a>-English Dictionary</i> by <a href="/wiki/Monier_Monier-Williams" title="Monier Monier-Williams">Monier Monier-Williams</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Writing systems were preceded by <a href="/wiki/Proto-writing" title="Proto-writing">proto-writing</a>, systems of <a href="/wiki/Ideogram" title="Ideogram">ideographic</a> and/or early <a href="/wiki/Mnemonic" title="Mnemonic">mnemonic</a> symbols. The best known examples are:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Jiahu_symbols" title="Jiahu symbols">Jiahu symbols</a>, carved on <a href="/wiki/Tortoise" title="Tortoise">tortoise</a> <a href="/wiki/Animal_shell" title="Animal shell" class="mw-redirect">shells</a> in <a href="/wiki/Jiahu" title="Jiahu">Jiahu</a>, c. 6600 BC</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Vin%C4%8Da_signs" title="Vinča signs" class="mw-redirect">Vinča signs</a> (<a href="/wiki/T%C4%83rt%C4%83ria_tablets" title="Tărtăria tablets">Tărtăria tablets</a>), c. 5300 BC</li>
<li>Early <a href="/wiki/Indus_script" title="Indus script">Indus script</a>, c. 3500 BC.</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Nsibidi" title="Nsibidi">Nsibidi</a> script, c. before 500 AD</li>
</ul>
<p>The invention of the first writing systems is roughly contemporary with the beginning of the <a href="/wiki/Bronze_Age" title="Bronze Age">Bronze Age</a> in the late <a href="/wiki/Neolithic" title="Neolithic">Neolithic</a><sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Disputed_statement" title="Wikipedia:Disputed statement" class="mw-redirect"><span title="The material near this tag is possibly inaccurate or nonfactual. (May 2015)">dubious</span></a> <span class="metadata">– <a href="/wiki/Talk:Writing_system#Bronze_Age_is_what_follows_after_Neolithic.2C_by_definition._Or_is_there_some_deeper_meaning_hidden_here.3F" title="Talk:Writing system">discuss</a></span></i>]</sup> of the late <a href="/wiki/4th_millennium_BC" title="4th millennium BC">4th millennium BC</a>. The <a href="/wiki/Sumerian_language" title="Sumerian language">Sumerian</a> archaic <a href="/wiki/Cuneiform_(script)" title="Cuneiform (script)" class="mw-redirect">cuneiform script</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs" title="Egyptian hieroglyphs">Egyptian hieroglyphs</a> are generally considered the earliest writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400 to 3200 BC with earliest coherent texts from about <a href="/wiki/26th_century_BC" title="26th century BC">2600 BC</a>. It is generally agreed that Sumerian writing was an independent invention; however, it is debated whether Egyptian writing was developed completely independently of Sumerian, or was a case of <a href="/wiki/Cultural_diffusion" title="Cultural diffusion" class="mw-redirect">cultural diffusion</a>.</p>
<p>A similar debate exists for the <a href="/wiki/Chinese_script" title="Chinese script" class="mw-redirect">Chinese script</a>, which developed around 1200 BC. <a href="/wiki/Chinese_script" title="Chinese script" class="mw-redirect">Chinese script</a> are probably an independent invention, because there is no evidence of contact between China and the literate civilizations of the Near East,<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a></sup> and because of the distinct differences between the Mesopotamian and Chinese approaches to <a href="/wiki/Logogram" title="Logogram">logography</a> and phonetic representation.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a></sup></p>
<p>The <a href="/wiki/Pre-Columbian" title="Pre-Columbian" class="mw-redirect">pre-Columbian</a> <a href="/wiki/Mesoamerican_writing_systems" title="Mesoamerican writing systems">Mesoamerican writing systems</a> (including among others <a href="/wiki/Olmec" title="Olmec">Olmec</a> and <a href="/wiki/Maya_script" title="Maya script">Maya scripts</a>) are generally believed to have had independent origins.</p>
<p>It is thought that the first <a href="/wiki/Consonantal_alphabet" title="Consonantal alphabet" class="mw-redirect">consonantal alphabetic</a> writing appeared before 2000 BC, as a representation of language developed by <a href="/wiki/Semitic_people" title="Semitic people">Semitic</a> tribes in the Sinai-peninsula (see <a href="/wiki/History_of_the_alphabet" title="History of the alphabet">History of the alphabet</a>). Most other alphabets in the world today either descended from this one innovation, many via the <a href="/wiki/Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet">Phoenician alphabet</a>, or were directly inspired by its design.</p>
<p>The first true alphabet is the <a href="/wiki/Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek script</a> which consistently represents <a href="/wiki/Vowel" title="Vowel">vowels</a> since 800 BC.<sup id="cite_ref-Blackwell_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Blackwell-5"><span>[</span>5<span>]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-True_alphabet_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-True_alphabet-6"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a></sup> The <a href="/wiki/Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet</a>, a direct descendant, is by far the most common writing system in use.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a></sup></p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Functional_classification">Functional classification</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Functional classification">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<div role="note" class="hatnote">For lists of writing systems by type, see <a href="/wiki/List_of_writing_systems" title="List of writing systems">List of writing systems</a>.</div>
<div class="thumb tright">
<div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Puyi%27s_schoolbook_-_Forbidden_City.JPG" class="image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Puyi%27s_schoolbook_-_Forbidden_City.JPG/220px-Puyi%27s_schoolbook_-_Forbidden_City.JPG" width="220" height="165" class="thumbimage" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Puyi%27s_schoolbook_-_Forbidden_City.JPG/330px-Puyi%27s_schoolbook_-_Forbidden_City.JPG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Puyi%27s_schoolbook_-_Forbidden_City.JPG/440px-Puyi%27s_schoolbook_-_Forbidden_City.JPG 2x" data-file-width="1280" data-file-height="960" /></a>
<div class="thumbcaption">
<div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Puyi%27s_schoolbook_-_Forbidden_City.JPG" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
This textbook for <a href="/wiki/Puyi" title="Puyi">Puyi</a> shows the <a href="/wiki/English_alphabet" title="English alphabet">English alphabet</a>. Although the English letters run from left to right, the Chinese explanations run from top to bottom, as traditionally written</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Several approaches have been taken to classify writing systems, the most common and basic one is a broad division into three categories: <i>logographic</i>, <i>syllabic</i>, and <i>alphabetic</i> (or <i>segmental</i>); however, all three may be found in any given writing system in varying proportions, often making it difficult to categorise a system uniquely. The term <i>complex system</i> is sometimes used to describe those where the admixture makes classification problematic. Modern linguists regard such approaches, including Diringer's<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span>[</span>8<span>]</span></a></sup></p>
<ul>
<li>pictographic script</li>
<li>ideographic script</li>
<li>analytic transitional script</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Phonetic_transcription" title="Phonetic transcription">phonetic script</a></li>
<li>alphabetic script</li>
</ul>
<p>as too simplistic, often considering the categories to be incomparable. Hill<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span>[</span>9<span>]</span></a></sup> split <i>writing</i> into three major categories of linguistic analysis, one of which covers discourses and is not usually considered writing proper:</p>
<ul>
<li><i>discourse system</i>
<ul>
<li><i>iconic discourse system</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Amerindian_languages" title="Amerindian languages" class="mw-redirect">Amerindian</a></li>
<li><i>conventional discourse system</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Quipu" title="Quipu">Quipu</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><i>morphemic writing system</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Hieroglyph" title="Hieroglyph">Egyptian</a>, <a href="/wiki/Cuneiform" title="Cuneiform" class="mw-redirect">Sumerian</a>, <a href="/wiki/Maya_writing" title="Maya writing" class="mw-redirect">Maya</a>, <a href="/wiki/Chinese_character" title="Chinese character" class="mw-redirect">Chinese</a></li>
<li><i>phonemic writing system</i>
<ul>
<li><i>partial phonemic writing system</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Demotic_script" title="Demotic script" class="mw-redirect">Egyptian</a>, <a href="/wiki/Hebrew_script" title="Hebrew script" class="mw-redirect">Hebrew</a>, <a href="/wiki/Arabic_script" title="Arabic script">Arabic</a></li>
<li><i>poly-phonemic writing system</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Linear_B" title="Linear B">Linear B</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kana" title="Kana">Kana</a>, <a href="/wiki/Cherokee_script" title="Cherokee script" class="mw-redirect">Cherokee</a></li>
<li><i>mono-phonemic writing system</i>
<ul>
<li><i>phonemic writing system</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Ancient Greek</a>, <a href="/wiki/English_writing_system" title="English writing system" class="mw-redirect">Old English</a></li>
<li><i>morpho-phonemic writing system</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/German_writing_system" title="German writing system" class="mw-redirect">German</a>, <a href="/wiki/English_writing_system" title="English writing system" class="mw-redirect">Modern English</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>DeFrancis,<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span>[</span>10<span>]</span></a></sup> criticizing Sampson's<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span>[</span>11<span>]</span></a></sup> introduction of <i>semasiographic writing</i> and <i>featural alphabets</i> stresses the phonographic quality of writing proper</p>
<ul>
<li><i>pictures</i>
<ul>
<li><i>nonwriting</i></li>
<li><i>writing</i>
<ul>
<li><i><a href="/wiki/Rebus" title="Rebus">rebus</a></i>
<ul>
<li><i>syllabic systems</i>
<ul>
<li><i>pure syllabic</i>, e.g. Linear B, Yi, Kana, Cherokee</li>
<li><i><span id="morpho-syllabic">morpho-syllabic</span></i>, e.g. Sumerian, Chinese, Mayan</li>
<li><i>consonantal</i>
<ul>
<li><i>morpho-consonantal</i>, e.g. Egyptian</li>
<li><i>pure consonantal</i>, e.g. Phoenician</li>
<li><i>alphabetic</i>
<ul>
<li><i>pure phonemic</i>, e.g. Greek</li>
<li><i>morpho-phonemic</i>, e.g. English</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Faber<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span>[</span>12<span>]</span></a></sup> categorizes phonographic writing by two levels, linearity and coding:</p>
<ul>
<li><i>logographic</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Chinese_character" title="Chinese character" class="mw-redirect">Chinese</a>, <a href="/wiki/Hieroglyph" title="Hieroglyph">Ancient Egyptian</a></li>
<li><i>phonographic</i>
<ul>
<li><i>syllabically linear</i>
<ul>
<li><i>syllabically coded</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Kana" title="Kana">Kana</a>, <a href="/wiki/Akkadian_language" title="Akkadian language">Akkadian</a></li>
<li><i>segmentally coded</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Hebrew_script" title="Hebrew script" class="mw-redirect">Hebrew</a>, <a href="/wiki/Syriac_script" title="Syriac script" class="mw-redirect">Syriac</a>, <a href="/wiki/Arabic_script" title="Arabic script">Arabic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ethiopian_script" title="Ethiopian script" class="mw-redirect">Ethiopian</a>, <a href="/wiki/Amharic_script" title="Amharic script" class="mw-redirect">Amharic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Devanagari" title="Devanagari">Devanagari</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><i>segmentally linear</i>
<ul>
<li><i>complete</i> (alphabet), e.g. <a href="/wiki/Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Greco-Latin</a>, <a href="/wiki/Cyrillic_script" title="Cyrillic script">Cyrillic</a></li>
<li><i>defective</i>, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Ugaritic" title="Ugaritic">Ugaritic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Phoenician_script" title="Phoenician script" class="mw-redirect">Phoenician</a>, <a href="/wiki/Aramaic_script" title="Aramaic script" class="mw-redirect">Aramaic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Old_South_Arabian" title="Old South Arabian">Old South Arabian</a>, <a href="/wiki/Old_Hebrew" title="Old Hebrew" class="mw-redirect">Old Hebrew</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<table class="wikitable">
<caption>Classification by Daniels</caption>
<tr>
<th>Type</th>
<th>Each symbol represents</th>
<th>Example</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="/wiki/Logogram" title="Logogram">Logographic</a></td>
<td><a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morpheme</a></td>
<td><a href="/wiki/Chinese_character" title="Chinese character" class="mw-redirect">Chinese characters</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="/wiki/Syllabary" title="Syllabary">Syllabic</a></td>
<td><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">syllable</a> or <a href="/wiki/Mora_(linguistics)" title="Mora (linguistics)">mora</a></td>
<td>Japanese <i><a href="/wiki/Kana" title="Kana">kana</a></i></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">Alphabetic</a></td>
<td><a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phoneme</a> (consonant or vowel)</td>
<td><a href="/wiki/Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="/wiki/Abugida" title="Abugida">Abugida</a></td>
<td>phoneme (consonant+vowel)</td>
<td>Indian <i><a href="/wiki/Devan%C4%81gar%C4%AB" title="Devanāgarī" class="mw-redirect">Devanāgarī</a></i></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="/wiki/Abjad" title="Abjad">Abjad</a></td>
<td>phoneme (consonant)</td>
<td><a href="/wiki/Arabic_alphabet" title="Arabic alphabet">Arabic alphabet</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="/wiki/Featural_alphabet" title="Featural alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Featural</a></td>
<td>phonetic feature</td>
<td>Korean <i><a href="/wiki/Hangul" title="Hangul">hangul</a></i></td>
</tr>
</table>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Logographic_systems">Logographic systems</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Logographic systems">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<div role="note" class="hatnote relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Logogram" title="Logogram">Logogram</a></div>
<div class="thumb tright">
<div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="/wiki/File:%E6%97%A5-oracle.svg" class="image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/%E6%97%A5-oracle.svg/220px-%E6%97%A5-oracle.svg.png" width="220" height="220" class="thumbimage" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/%E6%97%A5-oracle.svg/330px-%E6%97%A5-oracle.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/%E6%97%A5-oracle.svg/440px-%E6%97%A5-oracle.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="300" data-file-height="300" /></a>
<div class="thumbcaption">
<div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:%E6%97%A5-oracle.svg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
Early <a href="/wiki/Chinese_character" title="Chinese character" class="mw-redirect">Chinese character</a> for <a href="/wiki/Sun" title="Sun">sun</a> (<i>ri</i>), 1200 B.C</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="thumb tright">
<div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Character_Ri4_Trad.svg" class="image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Character_Ri4_Trad.svg/220px-Character_Ri4_Trad.svg.png" width="220" height="220" class="thumbimage" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Character_Ri4_Trad.svg/330px-Character_Ri4_Trad.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Character_Ri4_Trad.svg/440px-Character_Ri4_Trad.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="60" data-file-height="60" /></a>
<div class="thumbcaption">
<div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Character_Ri4_Trad.svg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
Modern Chinese character (<i>ri</i>) meaning <i>sun</i> or <i>day</i></div>
</div>
</div>
<p>A <i>logogram</i> is a single written character which represents a complete grammatical word. Most <a href="/wiki/Chinese_character" title="Chinese character" class="mw-redirect">Chinese characters</a> are classified as logograms.</p>
<p>As each character represents a single word (or, more precisely, a <a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morpheme</a>), many logograms are required to write all the words of language. The vast array of logograms and the memorization of what they mean are major disadvantages of logographic systems over alphabetic systems. However, since the meaning is inherent to the symbol, the same logographic system can theoretically be used to represent different languages. In practice, the ability to communicate across languages only works for the closely related <a href="/wiki/Varieties_of_Chinese" title="Varieties of Chinese">varieties of Chinese</a>, as differences in syntax reduce the crosslinguistic portability of a given logographic system. <a href="/wiki/Japanese_language" title="Japanese language">Japanese</a> uses <a href="/wiki/Kanji" title="Kanji">Chinese logograms</a> extensively in its writing systems, with most of the symbols carrying the same or similar meanings. However, the grammatical differences between Japanese and Chinese are significant enough that a long Chinese text is not readily understandable to a Japanese reader without any knowledge of basic <a href="/wiki/Chinese_grammar" title="Chinese grammar">Chinese grammar</a>, though short and concise phrases such as those on signs and newspaper headlines are much easier to comprehend.</p>
<p>While most languages do not use wholly logographic writing systems, many languages use some logograms. A good example of modern western logograms are the <a href="/wiki/Hindu-Arabic_numerals" title="Hindu-Arabic numerals" class="mw-redirect">Hindu-Arabic numerals</a>: everyone who uses those symbols understands what <i>1</i> means whether he or she calls it <i>one</i>, <i>eins</i>, <i>uno</i>, <i>yi</i>, <i>ichi</i>, <i>ehad</i>, <i>ena</i>, or <i>jedan</i>. Other western logograms include the <a href="/wiki/Ampersand" title="Ampersand">ampersand</a> <i>&</i>, used for <i>and</i>, the <a href="/wiki/At_sign" title="At sign">at sign</a> <i>@</i>, used in many contexts for <i>at</i>, the <a href="/wiki/Percent_sign" title="Percent sign">percent sign</a> <i>%</i> and the many signs representing units of currency (<a href="/wiki/Dollar_sign" title="Dollar sign">$</a>, <a href="/wiki/Cent_sign" title="Cent sign" class="mw-redirect">¢</a>, <a href="/wiki/Euro_sign" title="Euro sign">€</a>, <a href="/wiki/Pound_sign" title="Pound sign">£</a>, <a href="/wiki/Yen_sign" title="Yen sign" class="mw-redirect">¥</a> and so on.)</p>
<p>Logograms are sometimes called <a href="/wiki/Ideogram" title="Ideogram">ideograms</a>, a word that refers to symbols which graphically represent abstract ideas, but linguists avoid this use, as Chinese characters are often <a href="/wiki/Semantics" title="Semantics">semantic</a>–<a href="/wiki/Phonetic" title="Phonetic" class="mw-redirect">phonetic</a> compounds, symbols which include an element that represents the meaning and a <a href="/wiki/Phonetic_complement" title="Phonetic complement">phonetic complement</a> element that represents the pronunciation. Some nonlinguists distinguish between <a href="/wiki/Lexigraphy" title="Lexigraphy" class="mw-redirect">lexigraphy</a> and ideography, where symbols in lexigraphies represent words and symbols in ideographies represent words or morphemes.</p>
<p>The most important (and, to a degree, the only surviving) modern logographic writing system is the Chinese one, whose characters have been used with varying degrees of modification in <a href="/wiki/Varieties_of_Chinese" title="Varieties of Chinese">varieties of Chinese</a>, <a href="/wiki/Japanese_language" title="Japanese language">Japanese</a>, <a href="/wiki/Korean_language" title="Korean language">Korean</a>, <a href="/wiki/Vietnamese_language" title="Vietnamese language">Vietnamese</a>, and other <a href="/wiki/East_Asian_languages" title="East Asian languages">east Asian languages</a>. <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Egypt" title="Ancient Egypt">Ancient Egyptian</a> hieroglyphs and the Mayan writing system are also systems with certain logographic features, although they have marked phonetic features as well and are no longer in current use. Vietnamese speakers switched to the <a href="/wiki/Vietnamese_alphabet" title="Vietnamese alphabet">Latin alphabet</a> in the 20th century and the <a href="/wiki/Hanja" title="Hanja">use of Chinese characters in Korean</a> is increasingly rare. The <a href="/wiki/Japanese_writing_system" title="Japanese writing system">Japanese writing system</a> includes several distinct forms of writing including logography.</p>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Syllabic_systems:_syllabary">Syllabic systems: syllabary</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Syllabic systems: syllabary">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<div role="note" class="hatnote relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Syllabary" title="Syllabary">Syllabary</a></div>
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<div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Cherokee_stop_sign.png" class="image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Cherokee_stop_sign.png/220px-Cherokee_stop_sign.png" width="220" height="349" class="thumbimage" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Cherokee_stop_sign.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Cherokee_stop_sign.png 2x" data-file-width="227" data-file-height="360" /></a>
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<a href="/wiki/Bilingual" title="Bilingual" class="mw-redirect">Bilingual</a> stop sign in English and the <a href="/wiki/Cherokee_syllabary" title="Cherokee syllabary">Cherokee syllabary</a>, <a href="/wiki/Tahlequah,_Oklahoma" title="Tahlequah, Oklahoma">Tahlequah, Oklahoma</a></div>
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<p><i>Another type of writing system with systematic syllabic linear symbols, the <a href="/wiki/Abugida" title="Abugida">abugidas</a>, is discussed below as well.</i></p>
<p>As logographic writing systems use a single symbol for an entire word, a <i>syllabary</i> is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) <a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">syllables</a>, which make up <a href="/wiki/Word" title="Word">words</a>. A symbol in a syllabary typically represents a <a href="/wiki/Consonant" title="Consonant">consonant</a> sound followed by a <a href="/wiki/Vowel" title="Vowel">vowel</a> sound, or just a vowel alone.</p>
<p>In a "true syllabary", there is no systematic graphic similarity between phonetically related characters (though some do have graphic similarity for the vowels). That is, the characters for <span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA">/ke/</span>, <span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA">/ka/</span> and <span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA">/ko/</span> have no similarity to indicate their common "k" sound (voiceless velar plosive). More recent creations such as the <a href="/wiki/Cree_syllabary" title="Cree syllabary" class="mw-redirect">Cree syllabary</a> embody a system of varying signs, which can best be seen when arranging the syllabogram set in an <a href="/wiki/Syllable_onset" title="Syllable onset" class="mw-redirect">onset</a>–<a href="/wiki/Syllable_coda" title="Syllable coda" class="mw-redirect">coda</a> or onset–<a href="/wiki/Syllable_rime" title="Syllable rime" class="mw-redirect">rime</a> table.</p>
<p>Syllabaries are best suited to languages with relatively simple syllable structure, such as Japanese. The <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English language</a>, on the other hand, allows complex syllable structures, with a relatively large inventory of <a href="/wiki/Vowel" title="Vowel">vowels</a> and complex <a href="/wiki/Consonant_cluster" title="Consonant cluster">consonant clusters</a>, making it cumbersome to write English words with a syllabary. To write English using a syllabary, every possible syllable in English would have to have a separate symbol, and whereas the number of possible syllables in Japanese is around 100, in English there are approximately 15,000 to 16,000.</p>
<p>However, syllabaries with much larger inventories do exist. The <a href="/wiki/Yi_script" title="Yi script">Yi script</a>, for example, contains 756 different symbols (or 1,164, if symbols with a particular tone diacritic are counted as separate syllables, as in <a href="/wiki/Unicode" title="Unicode">Unicode</a>). The <a href="/wiki/Chinese_script" title="Chinese script" class="mw-redirect">Chinese script</a>, when used to write <a href="/wiki/Middle_Chinese" title="Middle Chinese">Middle Chinese</a> and the modern <a href="/wiki/Varieties_of_Chinese" title="Varieties of Chinese">varieties of Chinese</a>, also represents syllables, and includes separate glyphs for nearly all of the many thousands of syllables in <a href="/wiki/Middle_Chinese" title="Middle Chinese">Middle Chinese</a>; however, because it primarily represents <a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morphemes</a> and includes different characters to represent homophonous morphemes with different meanings, it is normally considered a logographic script rather than a syllabary.</p>
<p>Other languages that use true syllabaries include <a href="/wiki/Mycenae" title="Mycenae">Mycenaean</a> <a href="/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language">Greek</a> (<a href="/wiki/Linear_B" title="Linear B">Linear B</a>) and <a href="/wiki/Native_American_languages" title="Native American languages" class="mw-redirect">Native American languages</a> such as <a href="/wiki/Cherokee_language" title="Cherokee language">Cherokee</a>. Several languages of the <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Near_East" title="Ancient Near East">Ancient Near East</a> used forms of <a href="/wiki/Cuneiform_(script)" title="Cuneiform (script)" class="mw-redirect">cuneiform</a>, which is a syllabary with some non-syllabic elements.</p>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Segmental_systems:_Alphabets">Segmental systems: Alphabets</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Segmental systems: Alphabets">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<div role="note" class="hatnote relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">Alphabet</a></div>
<p>An <i>alphabet</i> is a small set of <i>letters</i> (basic written symbols), each of which roughly represents or represented historically a <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phoneme</a> of a spoken <a href="/wiki/Language" title="Language">language</a>. The word <i>alphabet</i> is derived from <a href="/wiki/Alpha_(letter)" title="Alpha (letter)" class="mw-redirect">alpha</a> and <a href="/wiki/Beta_(letter)" title="Beta (letter)" class="mw-redirect">beta</a>, the first two symbols of the <a href="/wiki/Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a>.</p>
<p>The first type of alphabet that was developed was the <a href="/wiki/Abjad" title="Abjad">abjad</a>. An abjad is an alphabetic writing system where there is one symbol per consonant. Abjads differ from other alphabets in that they have characters only for <a href="/wiki/Consonant" title="Consonant">consonantal</a> sounds. Vowels are not usually marked in abjads.</p>
<p>All known abjads (except maybe <a href="/wiki/Tifinagh" title="Tifinagh">Tifinagh</a>) belong to the Semitic family of scripts, and derive from the original <a href="/wiki/Middle_Bronze_Age_alphabets" title="Middle Bronze Age alphabets" class="mw-redirect">Northern Linear Abjad</a>. The reason for this is that <a href="/wiki/Semitic_languages" title="Semitic languages">Semitic languages</a> and the related <a href="/wiki/Berber_languages" title="Berber languages">Berber languages</a> have a <a href="/wiki/Morphology_(linguistics)" title="Morphology (linguistics)">morphemic structure</a> which makes the denotation of <a href="/wiki/Vowel" title="Vowel">vowels</a> redundant in most cases.</p>
<p>Some abjads, like Arabic and Hebrew, have markings for vowels as well. However, they use them only in special contexts, such as for teaching. Many scripts derived from abjads have been extended with vowel symbols to become full alphabets. Of these, the most famous example is the derivation of the <a href="/wiki/Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a> from the Phoenician abjad. This has mostly happened when the script was adapted to a non-Semitic language.</p>
<p>The term <i>abjad</i> takes its name from the old order of the <a href="/wiki/Arabic_alphabet" title="Arabic alphabet">Arabic alphabet</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Consonant" title="Consonant">consonants</a> 'alif, bā', jīm, dāl, though the word may have earlier roots in <a href="/wiki/Phoenician_languages" title="Phoenician languages" class="mw-redirect">Phoenician</a> or <a href="/wiki/Ugaritic" title="Ugaritic">Ugaritic</a>. "Abjad" is still the word for alphabet in <a href="/wiki/Arabic_language" title="Arabic language" class="mw-redirect">Arabic</a>, Malay and <a href="/wiki/Indonesian_language" title="Indonesian language">Indonesian</a>.</p>
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<div class="thumbinner" style="width:222px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Bible_printed_with_Balinese_script.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Bible_printed_with_Balinese_script.jpg/220px-Bible_printed_with_Balinese_script.jpg" width="220" height="203" class="thumbimage" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Bible_printed_with_Balinese_script.jpg/330px-Bible_printed_with_Balinese_script.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Bible_printed_with_Balinese_script.jpg/440px-Bible_printed_with_Balinese_script.jpg 2x" data-file-width="679" data-file-height="625" /></a>
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A Bible printed with <a href="/wiki/Balinese_script" title="Balinese script" class="mw-redirect">Balinese script</a></div>
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<p>An <a href="/wiki/Abugida" title="Abugida">abugida</a> is an alphabetic writing system whose basic signs denote consonants with an <a href="/wiki/Inherent_vowel" title="Inherent vowel">inherent vowel</a> and where consistent modifications of the basic sign indicate other following vowels than the inherent one.</p>
<p>Thus, in an abugida there may or may not be a sign for "k" with no vowel, but also one for "ka" (if "a" is the inherent vowel), and "ke" is written by modifying the "ka" sign in a way that is consistent with how one would modify "la" to get "le". In many abugidas the modification is the addition of a vowel sign, but other possibilities are imaginable (and used), such as rotation of the basic sign, addition of <a href="/wiki/Diacritic" title="Diacritic">diacritical marks</a> and so on.</p>
<p>The contrast with "true <a href="/wiki/Syllabary" title="Syllabary">syllabaries</a>" is that the latter have one distinct symbol per possible syllable, and the signs for each syllable have no systematic graphic similarity. The graphic similarity of most abugidas comes from the fact that they are derived from abjads, and the consonants make up the symbols with the inherent vowel and the new vowel symbols are markings added on to the base symbol.</p>
<p>In the <a href="/wiki/Ge%27ez_script" title="Ge'ez script">Ge'ez script</a>, for which the linguistic term <i>abugida</i> was named, the vowel modifications do not always appear systematic, although they originally were more so. <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Aboriginal_syllabics" title="Canadian Aboriginal syllabics">Canadian Aboriginal syllabics</a> can be considered abugidas, although they are rarely thought of in those terms. The largest single group of abugidas is the <a href="/wiki/Brahmic_family" title="Brahmic family" class="mw-redirect">Brahmic family</a> of scripts, however, which includes nearly all the scripts used in <a href="/wiki/India" title="India">India</a> and <a href="/wiki/Southeast_Asia" title="Southeast Asia">Southeast Asia</a>.</p>
<p>The name <i>abugida</i> is derived from the first four characters of an order of the Ge'ez script used in some contexts. It was borrowed from Ethiopian languages as a linguistic term by <a href="/wiki/Peter_T._Daniels" title="Peter T. Daniels">Peter T. Daniels</a>.</p>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Featural_systems">Featural systems</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Featural systems">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<div role="note" class="hatnote relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Featural_writing_system" title="Featural writing system">Featural writing system</a></div>
<p>A <i>featural</i> script represents finer detail than an alphabet. Here symbols do not represent whole phonemes, but rather the elements (features) that make up the phonemes, such as <a href="/wiki/Voice_(phonetics)" title="Voice (phonetics)">voicing</a> or its <a href="/wiki/Place_of_articulation" title="Place of articulation">place of articulation</a>. Theoretically, each feature could be written with a separate letter; and abjads or abugidas, or indeed syllabaries, could be featural, but the only prominent system of this sort is <a href="/wiki/Korean_language" title="Korean language">Korean</a> <a href="/wiki/Hangul" title="Hangul">hangul</a>. In hangul, the featural symbols are combined into alphabetic letters, and these letters are in turn joined into syllabic blocks, so that the system combines three levels of phonological representation.</p>
<p>Many scholars, e.g. <a href="/wiki/John_DeFrancis" title="John DeFrancis">John DeFrancis</a>, reject this class or at least labeling hangul as such.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2012)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> The Korean script is a conscious script creation by literate experts, which Daniels calls a "sophisticated <a href="/wiki/Grammatogeny" title="Grammatogeny" class="mw-redirect">grammatogeny</a>".<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2012)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> These include <a href="/wiki/Stenography" title="Stenography" class="mw-redirect">stenographies</a> and <a href="/wiki/Constructed_script" title="Constructed script">constructed scripts</a> of hobbyists and fiction writers (such as <a href="/wiki/Tengwar" title="Tengwar">Tengwar</a>), many of which feature advanced graphic designs corresponding to phonologic properties. The basic unit of writing in these systems can map to anything from phonemes to words. It has been shown that even the Latin script has sub-character "features".<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span>[</span>13<span>]</span></a></sup></p>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Ambiguous_systems">Ambiguous systems</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Ambiguous systems">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<p>Most writing systems are not purely one type. The English writing system, for example, includes numerals and other logograms such as #, $, and &, and the phonemic letter clusters are a complex match to sound<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify"><span title="The text near this tag may need clarification or removal of jargon. (August 2012)">clarification needed</span></a></i>]</sup>. As mentioned above, all logographic systems have phonetic components as well, whether along the lines of a syllabary, such as Chinese ("logo-syllabic"), or an abjad, as in Egyptian ("logo-consonantal").</p>
<p>Some scripts, however, are truly ambiguous. The <a href="/wiki/Semi-syllabary" title="Semi-syllabary">semi-syllabaries</a> of ancient Spain were syllabic for <a href="/wiki/Plosive_consonant" title="Plosive consonant" class="mw-redirect">plosives</a> such as <i>p</i>, <i>t</i>, <i>k</i>, but alphabetic for other consonants. In some versions, vowels were written redundantly after syllabic letters, conforming to an alphabetic orthography. <a href="/wiki/Old_Persian_cuneiform" title="Old Persian cuneiform">Old Persian cuneiform</a> was similar. Of 23 consonants (including null), seven were fully syllabic, thirteen were purely alphabetic, and for the other three, there was one letter for /C<i>u</i>/ and another for both /C<i>a</i>/ and /C<i>i</i>/. However, all vowels were written overtly regardless; as in the Brahmic abugidas, the /C<i>a</i>/ letter was used for a bare consonant.</p>
<p>The <a href="/wiki/Zhuyin" title="Zhuyin" class="mw-redirect">zhuyin</a> phonetic glossing script for Chinese divides syllables in two or three, but into <a href="/wiki/Syllable_onset" title="Syllable onset" class="mw-redirect">onset</a>, <a href="/wiki/Syllable_medial" title="Syllable medial" class="mw-redirect">medial</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Syllable_rime" title="Syllable rime" class="mw-redirect">rime</a> rather than consonant and vowel. <a href="/wiki/Pahawh_Hmong" title="Pahawh Hmong">Pahawh Hmong</a> is similar, but can be considered to divide syllables into either onset-rime or consonant-vowel (all consonant clusters and diphthongs are written with single letters); as the latter, it is equivalent to an abugida but with the roles of consonant and vowel reversed. Other scripts are intermediate between the categories of alphabet, abjad and abugida, so there may be disagreement on how they should be classified.</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Graphic_classification">Graphic classification</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Graphic classification">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<p>Perhaps the primary graphic distinction made in classifications is that of <i>linearity</i>. Linear writing systems are those in which the characters are composed of lines, such as the <a href="/wiki/Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet</a> and <a href="/wiki/Chinese_character" title="Chinese character" class="mw-redirect">Chinese characters</a>. Chinese characters are considered linear whether they are written with a ball-point pen or a calligraphic brush, or cast in bronze. Similarly, <a href="/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs" title="Egyptian hieroglyphs">Egyptian hieroglyphs</a> and <a href="/wiki/Maya_script" title="Maya script">Maya glyphs</a> were often painted in linear outline form, but in formal contexts they were carved in <a href="/wiki/Bas-relief" title="Bas-relief" class="mw-redirect">bas-relief</a>. The earliest examples of writing are linear: the <a href="/wiki/Cuneiform_script" title="Cuneiform script">Sumerian script</a> of c. 3300 BC was linear, though its <a href="/wiki/Cuneiform" title="Cuneiform" class="mw-redirect">cuneiform</a> descendants were not. Non-linear systems, on the other hand, such as <a href="/wiki/Braille" title="Braille">braille</a>, are not composed of lines, no matter what instrument is used to write them.</p>
<p>Cuneiform was probably the earliest non-linear writing. Its glyphs were formed by pressing the end of a reed stylus into moist clay, not by tracing lines in the clay with the stylus as had been done previously. The result was a radical transformation of the appearance of the script.</p>
<p>Braille is a non-linear adaptation of the Latin alphabet that completely abandoned the Latin forms. The letters are composed of raised bumps on the writing <a href="/wiki/Substrate_(printing)" title="Substrate (printing)">substrate</a>, which can be leather (<a href="/wiki/Louis_Braille" title="Louis Braille">Louis Braille</a>'s original material), stiff paper, plastic or metal.</p>
<p>There are also transient non-linear adaptations of the Latin alphabet, including <a href="/wiki/Morse_code" title="Morse code">Morse code</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Manual_alphabet" title="Manual alphabet" class="mw-redirect">manual alphabets</a> of various <a href="/wiki/Sign_language" title="Sign language">sign languages</a>, and semaphore, in which <a href="/wiki/Flag_semaphore" title="Flag semaphore">flags</a> or <a href="/wiki/Semaphore_line" title="Semaphore line">bars</a> are positioned at prescribed angles. However, if "writing" is defined as a potentially permanent means of recording information, then these systems do not qualify as writing at all, since the symbols disappear as soon as they are used. (Instead, these transient systems serve as <a href="/wiki/Signaling_(telecommunications)" title="Signaling (telecommunications)">signals</a>.)</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Directionality">Directionality</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Directionality">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
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Overview of the writing directions used in the world</div>
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</div>
<div role="note" class="hatnote">See also: <a href="/wiki/Right-to-left" title="Right-to-left">Right-to-left</a>, <a href="/wiki/Horizontal_and_vertical_writing_in_East_Asian_scripts" title="Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts">Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts</a>, <a href="/wiki/Bi-directional_text" title="Bi-directional text">Bi-directional text</a> and <a href="/wiki/Mirror_writing" title="Mirror writing">Mirror writing</a></div>
<p>Scripts are also graphically characterized by the direction in which they are written. Egyptian hieroglyphs were written either left to right or right to left, with the animal and human glyphs turned to face the beginning of the line. The early alphabet could be written in multiple directions,<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span>[</span>14<span>]</span></a></sup> horizontally (left-to-right or right-to-left) or vertically (up or down). It was commonly written <a href="/wiki/Boustrophedon" title="Boustrophedon">boustrophedonically</a>: starting in one (horizontal) direction, then turning at the end of the line and reversing direction.</p>
<p>The <a href="/wiki/Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a> and its successors settled on a left-to-right pattern, from the top to the bottom of the page. Other scripts, such as <a href="/wiki/Arabic_alphabet" title="Arabic alphabet">Arabic</a> and <a href="/wiki/Hebrew_language" title="Hebrew language">Hebrew</a>, came to be written right-to-left. Scripts that incorporate <a href="/wiki/Chinese_characters" title="Chinese characters">Chinese characters</a> have traditionally been written vertically (top-to-bottom), from the right to the left of the page, but nowadays are frequently written left-to-right, top-to-bottom, due to <a href="/wiki/Western_culture" title="Western culture">Western</a> influence, a growing need to accommodate terms in the <a href="/wiki/Latin_script" title="Latin script">Latin script</a>, and technical limitations in popular <a href="/wiki/Electronic_document" title="Electronic document">electronic document</a> formats. The <a href="/wiki/Old_Uyghur_alphabet" title="Old Uyghur alphabet">Old Uyghur alphabet</a> and its descendants are unique in being written top-to-bottom, left-to-right; this direction originated from an ancestral Semitic direction by rotating the page 90° <a href="/wiki/Clockwise_and_counterclockwise" title="Clockwise and counterclockwise" class="mw-redirect">counter-clockwise</a> to conform to the appearance of vertical Chinese writing. Several scripts used in the <a href="/wiki/Languages_of_the_Philippines" title="Languages of the Philippines">Philippines</a> and <a href="/wiki/Indonesia" title="Indonesia">Indonesia</a>, such as <a href="/wiki/Hanun%C3%B3%27o_script" title="Hanunó'o script" class="mw-redirect">Hanunó'o</a>, are traditionally written with lines moving away from the writer, from bottom to top, but are read horizontally left to right. While <a href="/wiki/Ogham" title="Ogham">Ogham</a> is written bottom to top and read vertically, commonly on the corner of a stone.</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="On_computers">On computers</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: On computers">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<p>In computers and telecommunication systems, writing systems are generally not codified as such, but graphemes and other grapheme-like units that are required for text processing are represented by "<a href="/wiki/Character_(computing)" title="Character (computing)">characters</a>" that typically manifest in <a href="/wiki/Character_encoding" title="Character encoding">encoded</a> form. There are many <a href="/wiki/Category:Character_encoding" title="Category:Character encoding">character encoding standards and related technologies</a>, such as <a href="/wiki/ISO/IEC_8859-1" title="ISO/IEC 8859-1">ISO/IEC 8859-1</a> (a character repertoire and encoding scheme oriented toward the Latin script), <a href="/wiki/CJK_characters" title="CJK characters">CJK</a> (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and <a href="/wiki/Bi-directional_text" title="Bi-directional text">bi-directional text</a>. Today, many such standards are re-defined in a collective standard, the <a href="/wiki/International_Organization_for_Standardization" title="International Organization for Standardization">ISO</a>/<a href="/wiki/International_Electrotechnical_Commission" title="International Electrotechnical Commission">IEC</a> 10646 "<a href="/wiki/Universal_Character_Set" title="Universal Character Set" class="mw-redirect">Universal Character Set</a>", and a parallel, closely related expanded work, <i>The Unicode Standard</i>. Both are generally encompassed by the term <a href="/wiki/Unicode" title="Unicode">Unicode</a>. In Unicode, each character, in every language's writing system, is (simplifying slightly) given a unique identification number, known as its <i>code point</i>. Computer <a href="/wiki/Operating_system" title="Operating system">operating systems</a> use code points to look up characters in the <a href="/wiki/Typeface" title="Typeface">font</a> file, so the characters can be displayed on the page or screen.</p>
<p>A <a href="/wiki/Computer_keyboard" title="Computer keyboard">keyboard</a> is the device most commonly used for writing via computer. Each key is associated with a standard code which the keyboard sends to the computer when it is pressed. By using a combination of alphabetic keys with <a href="/wiki/Modifier_key" title="Modifier key">modifier keys</a> such as <a href="/wiki/Control_key" title="Control key">Ctrl</a>, <a href="/wiki/Alt_key" title="Alt key">Alt</a>, <a href="/wiki/Shift_key" title="Shift key">Shift</a> and <a href="/wiki/AltGr_key" title="AltGr key">AltGr</a>, various character codes are generated and sent to the <a href="/wiki/CPU" title="CPU" class="mw-redirect">CPU</a>. The <a href="/wiki/Operating_system" title="Operating system">operating system</a> intercepts and converts those signals to the appropriate characters based on the <a href="/wiki/Keyboard_layout" title="Keyboard layout">keyboard layout</a> and <a href="/wiki/Input_method_editor" title="Input method editor" class="mw-redirect">input method</a>, and then delivers those converted codes and characters to the running <a href="/wiki/Application_software" title="Application software">application software</a>, which in turn looks up the appropriate <a href="/wiki/Glyph" title="Glyph">glyph</a> in the currently used font file, and requests the operating system to draw these on the <a href="/wiki/Computer_display" title="Computer display" class="mw-redirect">screen</a>.</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
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<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Artificial_script" title="Artificial script" class="mw-redirect">Artificial script</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Calligraphy" title="Calligraphy">Calligraphy</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Digraphia" title="Digraphia">Digraphia</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Formal_language" title="Formal language">Formal language</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/ISO_15924" title="ISO 15924">ISO 15924</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pasigraphy" title="Pasigraphy">Pasigraphy</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Penmanship" title="Penmanship">Penmanship</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Transliteration" title="Transliteration">Transliteration</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Written_language" title="Written language">Written language</a></li>
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<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Citations">Citations</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Citations">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<div class="reflist columns references-column-width" style="-moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;">
<ol class="references">
<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/definition.htm">"Definitions of writing systems"</a>. <i>Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages</i>. www.omniglot.com<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2013-06-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWriting+system&rft.atitle=Definitions+of+writing+systems&rft.genre=unknown&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.omniglot.com%2Fwriting%2Fdefinition.htm&rft.jtitle=Omniglot%3A+The+Online+Encyclopedia+of+Writing+Systems+and+Languages&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal" class="Z3988"><span style="display:none;"> </span></span></span></li>
<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Coulmas, Florian. 2003. <i>Writing systems. An introduction</i>. Cambridge University Press. pg. 35.</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">David N. Keightley, Noel Barnard. The Origins of Chinese civilization. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4-vdP2aZWhUC&pg=PA415">Page 415-416</a></span></li>
<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Sex_and_Eroticism_in_Mesopotamian_Litera.html?id=Fn67_Rid51EC">Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature</a>. By Dr Gwendolyn Leick. Pg 3.</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-Blackwell-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Blackwell_5-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation book">Coulmas, Florian (1996). <i>The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems</i>. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. <a href="/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-631-21481-X" title="Special:BookSources/0-631-21481-X">0-631-21481-X</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWriting+system&rft.aufirst=Florian&rft.aulast=Coulmas&rft.btitle=The+Blackwell+Encyclopedia+of+Writing+Systems&rft.date=1996&rft.genre=book&rft.isbn=0-631-21481-X&rft.place=Oxford&rft.pub=Blackwell+Publishers+Ltd.&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988"><span style="display:none;"> </span></span></span></li>
<li id="cite_note-True_alphabet-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-True_alphabet_6-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFMillard1986">Millard 1986</a>, p. 396</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFHaarmann2004">Haarmann 2004</a>, p. 96</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">David Diringer (1962): <i>Writing</i>. London.</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Archibald Hill (1967): <i>The typology of Writing systems</i>. In: William A. Austin (ed.), Papers in Linguistics in Honor of Leon Dostert. The Hague, 92–99.</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">John DeFrancis (1989): <i>Visible speech. The diverse oneness of writing systems</i>. Honolulu</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Geoffrey Sampson (1986): <i>Writing Systems. A Linguistic Approach</i>. London</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Alice Faber (1992): <i>Phonemic segmentation as an epiphenomenon. Evidence from the history of alphabetic writing</i>. In: Pamela Downing et al. (ed.): The Linguistics of Literacy. Amsterdam. 111–134.</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">See <cite id="CITEREFPrimus2004" class="citation">Primus, Beatrice (2004), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://idsl1.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/fileadmin/IDSLI/dozentenseiten/artikel_primus/Primus_Featural_Analysis_2004.pdf">"A featural analysis of the Modern Roman Alphabet"</a> <span style="font-size:85%;">(PDF)</span>, <i>Written Language and Literacy</i> <b>7</b> (2): 235–274<span class="reference-accessdate">, retrieved <span class="nowrap">2015-12-05</span></span></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWriting+system&rft.atitle=A+featural+analysis+of+the+Modern+Roman+Alphabet&rft.aufirst=Beatrice&rft.aulast=Primus&rft.date=2004&rft.genre=article&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fidsl1.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de%2Ffileadmin%2FIDSLI%2Fdozentenseiten%2Fartikel_primus%2FPrimus_Featural_Analysis_2004.pdf&rft.issue=2&rft.jtitle=Written+Language+and+Literacy&rft.pages=235-274&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.volume=7" class="Z3988"><span style="display:none;"> </span></span>.</span></li>
<li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation book">Threatte, Leslie (1980). <i>The grammar of Attic inscriptions</i>. W. de Gruyter. pp. 54–55. <a href="/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/3-11-007344-7" title="Special:BookSources/3-11-007344-7">3-11-007344-7</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWriting+system&rft.au=Threatte%2C+Leslie&rft.btitle=The+grammar+of+Attic+inscriptions&rft.date=1980&rft.genre=book&rft.isbn=3-11-007344-7&rft.pages=54-55&rft.pub=W.+de+Gruyter&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988"><span style="display:none;"> </span></span></span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Sources">Sources</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Sources">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<div class="refbegin columns references-column-width" style="-moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em;">
<ul>
<li>Cisse, Mamadou. 2006. "Ecrits et écritures en Afrique de l'Ouest". Sudlangues n°6, <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.sudlangues.sn/spip.php?article101">http://www.sudlangues.sn/spip.php?article101</a></li>
<li>Coulmas, Florian. 1996. <i>The Blackwell encyclopedia of writing systems</i>. Oxford: Blackwell.</li>
<li>Coulmas, Florian. 2003. <i>Writing systems. An introduction</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Peter_T._Daniels" title="Peter T. Daniels">Daniels, Peter T</a>, and <a href="/wiki/William_Bright" title="William Bright">William Bright</a>, eds. 1996. <i>The World's Writing Systems</i>. <a href="/wiki/Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press">Oxford University Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0195079930" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0-19-507993-0</a>.</li>
<li>DeFrancis, John. 1990. <i>The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy</i>. Honolulu: <a href="/wiki/University_of_Hawaii_Press" title="University of Hawaii Press">University of Hawaii Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0824810686" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0-8248-1068-6</a></li>
<li><cite class="citation book">Haarmann, Harald (2004). <i>Geschichte der Schrift</i> [<i>History of Writing</i>] (in German) (2nd ed.). München: C. H. Beck. <a href="/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/3-406-47998-7" title="Special:BookSources/3-406-47998-7">3-406-47998-7</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWriting+system&rft.aufirst=Harald&rft.aulast=Haarmann&rft.btitle=Geschichte+der+Schrift&rft.date=2004&rft.edition=2nd&rft.genre=book&rft.isbn=3-406-47998-7&rft.place=M%C3%BCnchen&rft.pub=C.+H.+Beck&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988"><span style="display:none;"> </span></span></li>
<li>Hannas, William. C. 1997. <i>Asia's Orthographic Dilemma</i>. University of Hawaii Press. <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/082481892X" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0-8248-1892-X</a> (paperback); <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0824818423" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0-8248-1842-3</a> (hardcover)</li>
<li><cite class="citation journal">Millard, A. R. (1986). "The Infancy of the Alphabet". <i>World Archaeology</i> <b>17</b> (3): 390–398. <a href="/wiki/Digital_object_identifier" title="Digital object identifier">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="//dx.doi.org/10.1080%2F00438243.1986.9979978">10.1080/00438243.1986.9979978</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWriting+system&rft.atitle=The+Infancy+of+the+Alphabet&rft.aufirst=A.+R.&rft.aulast=Millard&rft.date=1986&rft.genre=article&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F00438243.1986.9979978&rft.issue=3&rft.jtitle=World+Archaeology&rft.pages=390-398&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.volume=17" class="Z3988"><span style="display:none;"> </span></span></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Yutaka_Nishiyama" title="Yutaka Nishiyama">Nishiyama, Yutaka</a>. 2010. <i>The Mathematics of Direction in Writing</i>. International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ijpam.eu/contents/2010-61-3/9/9.pdf">Vol.61, No.3, 347-356.</a></li>
<li>Rogers, Henry. 2005. <i>Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach</i>. Oxford: Blackwell. <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0631234632" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0-631-23463-2</a> (hardcover); <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0631234640" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0-631-23464-0</a> (paperback)</li>
<li>Sampson, Geoffrey. 1985. <i>Writing Systems</i>. Stanford, California: <a href="/wiki/Stanford_University_Press" title="Stanford University Press">Stanford University Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0804717567" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0-8047-1756-7</a> (paper), <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0804712549" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0-8047-1254-9</a> (cloth).</li>
<li>Smalley, W. A. (ed.) 1964. <i>Orthography studies: articles on new writing systems</i>. London: United Bible Society.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="External_links">External links</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Writing_system&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: External links">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<ul>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://writsy.oxfordjournals.org/current.dtl/">Writing Systems Research</a> Free first issue of a journal devoted to research on writing systems</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.archchinese.com/">Arch Chinese (Traditional & Simplified)</a> Chinese character writing animations and native speaker pronunciations</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://sensiblechinese.com/how-to-learn-chinese-characters">Sensible Chinese</a> A practical guide to approaching the Chinese writing system</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.decodeunicode.org/">decodeunicode</a> Unicode Wiki with all 98,884 Unicode 5.0 characters as gifs in three sizes</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/Writing_Systems/Welcome.html">African writing systems</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws.html">Ancient Scripts</a> Introduction to different writing systems</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.evertype.com/alphabets/index.html">Alphabets of Europe</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ccelian.com/ElianScriptFull.html">Elian script</a> a writing system that combines the linearity of spelling with the free-form aspects of drawing.</li>
<li><span class="languageicon" style="font-size:0.95em; font-weight:bold; color:#555;">(Russian)</span> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rbardalzo.narod.ru/vse_alf.html">Written of the World</a></li>
<li><span class="languageicon" style="font-size:0.95em; font-weight:bold; color:#555;">(Hungarian)</span> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://123456789101112.uw.hu">Ultraweb.hu - főoldal</a></li>
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<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row" class="navbox-group">Overview</th>
<td class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/History_of_writing" title="History of writing">History of writing</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/History_of_the_alphabet" title="History of the alphabet">History of the alphabet</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Grapheme" title="Grapheme">Graphemes</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Script_(Unicode)" title="Script (Unicode)">Scripts in Unicode</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row" class="navbox-group">Lists</th>
<td class="navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/List_of_writing_systems" title="List of writing systems">Writing systems</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/List_of_languages_by_writing_system" title="List of languages by writing system">Languages by writing system</a> / <a href="/wiki/List_of_languages_by_first_written_accounts" title="List of languages by first written accounts">by first written account</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Undeciphered_writing_systems" title="Undeciphered writing systems">Undeciphered writing systems</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/List_of_inventors_of_writing_systems" title="List of inventors of writing systems" class="mw-redirect">Inventors of writing systems</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row" class="navbox-group"><a href="/wiki/List_of_writing_systems" title="List of writing systems">Types</a></th>
<td class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Featural_writing_system" title="Featural writing system">Featural</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">Alphabets</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Abjad" title="Abjad">Abjads</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Abugida" title="Abugida">Alphasyllabaries / Abugidas</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Syllabary" title="Syllabary">Syllabaries</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Semi-syllabary" title="Semi-syllabary">Semi-syllabaries</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Ideogram" title="Ideogram">Ideogrammic</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pictogram" title="Pictogram">Pictographic</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Logogram" title="Logogram">Logographic</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Numeral_system" title="Numeral system">Numeral</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table class="navbox" style="border-spacing:0">
<tr>
<td style="padding:2px">
<table class="nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit">
<tr>
<th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2">
<div class="plainlinks hlist navbar mini">
<ul>
<li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:List_of_writing_systems" title="Template:List of writing systems"><abbr title="View this template" style=";;background:none transparent;border:none;">v</abbr></a></li>
<li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:List_of_writing_systems" title="Template talk:List of writing systems"><abbr title="Discuss this template" style=";;background:none transparent;border:none;">t</abbr></a></li>
<li class="nv-edit"><a class="external text" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:List_of_writing_systems&action=edit"><abbr title="Edit this template" style=";;background:none transparent;border:none;">e</abbr></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="font-size:114%"><a href="/wiki/List_of_writing_systems" title="List of writing systems">Types</a> of <strong class="selflink">writing systems</strong></div>
</th>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em"></div>
<table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0">
<tr>
<th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:10em">Overview</th>
<td class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/History_of_writing" title="History of writing">History of writing</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Grapheme" title="Grapheme">Grapheme</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:10em">Lists</th>
<td class="navbox-list navbox-even" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/List_of_writing_systems" title="List of writing systems">Writing systems</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Undeciphered_writing_systems" title="Undeciphered writing systems">undeciphered</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/List_of_inventors_of_writing_systems" title="List of inventors of writing systems" class="mw-redirect">inventors</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/List_of_constructed_scripts" title="List of constructed scripts">constructed</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/List_of_languages_by_writing_system" title="List of languages by writing system">Languages by writing system</a> / <a href="/wiki/List_of_languages_by_first_written_accounts" title="List of languages by first written accounts">by first written accounts</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em"></div>
<table class="nowraplinks collapsible expanded navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0">
<tr>
<th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2" style=";"><span style="float:left;width:6em"> </span>
<div style="font-size:114%"><span style="font-size:105%;"><a href="/wiki/List_of_writing_systems" title="List of writing systems">Types</a></span></div>
</th>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em"></div>
<table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em"></div>
<table class="nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0">
<tr>
<th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2" style=";"><span style="float:left;width:6em"> </span>
<div style="font-size:114%"><a href="/wiki/Abjad" title="Abjad">Abjads</a></div>
</th>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em">
<ul>
<li><i><a href="/wiki/Abjad_numerals" title="Abjad numerals">Numerals</a></i></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Aramaic_alphabet" title="Aramaic alphabet">Aramaic</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Hatran_alphabet" title="Hatran alphabet">Hatran</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Arabic_script" title="Arabic script">Arabic</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pitman_shorthand" title="Pitman shorthand">Pitman shorthand</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Hebrew_alphabet" title="Hebrew alphabet">Hebrew</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Ashuri_alphabet" title="Ashuri alphabet">Ashuri</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Cursive_Hebrew" title="Cursive Hebrew">Cursive</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Rashi_script" title="Rashi script">Rashi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Solitreo" title="Solitreo">Solitreo</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Libyco-Berber_script" title="Libyco-Berber script" class="mw-redirect">Libyco-Berber</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Manichaean_alphabet" title="Manichaean alphabet">Manichaean</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Nabataean_alphabet" title="Nabataean alphabet">Nabataean</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Old_North_Arabian_script" title="Old North Arabian script">Old North Arabian</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pahlavi_scripts" title="Pahlavi scripts">Pahlavi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet" title="Paleo-Hebrew alphabet">Paleo-Hebrew</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pegon_alphabet" title="Pegon alphabet">Pegon</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet">Phoenician</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Psalter_alphabet" title="Psalter alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Psalter</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Punic_alphabet" title="Punic alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Punic</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Samaritan_alphabet" title="Samaritan alphabet">Samaritan</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/South_Arabian_alphabet" title="South Arabian alphabet">South Arabian</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/South_Arabian_alphabet#Zabur_script" title="South Arabian alphabet">Zabur</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/South_Arabian_alphabet#Musnad" title="South Arabian alphabet">Musnad</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Sogdian_alphabet" title="Sogdian alphabet">Sogdian</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Syriac_alphabet" title="Syriac alphabet">Syriac</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Syriac_alphabet#Classical_.CA.BEEs.E1.B9.ADrang.C4.93l.C4.81" title="Syriac alphabet">ʾEsṭrangēlā</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Syriac_alphabet#West_Syriac_Ser.E1.B9.AD.C4.81" title="Syriac alphabet">Serṭā</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Syriac_alphabet#East_Syriac_Ma.E1.B8.8Fn.E1.B8.A5.C4.81y.C4.81" title="Syriac alphabet">Maḏnḥāyā</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Teeline_Shorthand" title="Teeline Shorthand">Teeline Shorthand</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Ugaritic_alphabet" title="Ugaritic alphabet">Ugaritic</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em"></div>
<table class="nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0">
<tr>
<th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2" style=";"><span style="float:left;width:6em"> </span>
<div style="font-size:114%"><a href="/wiki/Abugida" title="Abugida">Abugidas</a></div>
</th>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em"></div>
<table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0">
<tr>
<th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:5em"><a href="/wiki/Brahmic_family_of_scripts" title="Brahmic family of scripts" class="mw-redirect">Brahmic</a></th>
<td class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em"></div>
<table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0">
<tr>
<th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:5em">Northern</th>
<td class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Bengali_alphabet" title="Bengali alphabet">Assamese-Bengali</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Bhaiksuki_alphabet" title="Bhaiksuki alphabet">Bhaikshuki</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Bhujimol" title="Bhujimol">Bhujinmol</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Brahmi_script" title="Brahmi script">Brāhmī</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Devanagari" title="Devanagari">Devanāgarī</a></li>
<li>Dogra</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Gujarati_alphabet" title="Gujarati alphabet">Gujarati</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Gupta_script" title="Gupta script">Gupta</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Gurmukh%C4%AB_alphabet" title="Gurmukhī alphabet">Gurmukhī</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Kaithi" title="Kaithi">Kaithi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Kalinga_alphabet" title="Kalinga alphabet">Kalinga</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Khojki" title="Khojki">Khojki</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Khotanese_language" title="Khotanese language" class="mw-redirect">Khotanese</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Khudabadi_script" title="Khudabadi script">Khudawadi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/La%E1%B9%87%E1%B8%8D%C4%81_scripts" title="Laṇḍā scripts">Laṇḍā</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Lepcha_alphabet" title="Lepcha alphabet">Lepcha</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Limbu_alphabet" title="Limbu alphabet">Limbu</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Mahajani" title="Mahajani">Mahajani</a></li>
<li>Marchen</li>
<li>Marchung</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Meitei_Mayek_alphabet" title="Meitei Mayek alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Meitei Mayek</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Modi_alphabet" title="Modi alphabet">Modi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Multani_alphabet" title="Multani alphabet">Multani</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/N%C4%81gar%C4%AB_script" title="Nāgarī script">Nāgarī</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Nandinagari" title="Nandinagari">Nandinagari</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Odia_alphabet" title="Odia alphabet">Odia</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/%27Phags-pa_script" title="'Phags-pa script">'Phags-pa</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Prachalit_Nepal_alphabet" title="Prachalit Nepal alphabet">Newar</a></li>
<li>Pungs-chen</li>
<li>Pungs-chung</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Ranjana_alphabet" title="Ranjana alphabet">Ranjana</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/%C5%9A%C4%81rad%C4%81_script" title="Śāradā script">Sharada</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Saurashtra_alphabet" title="Saurashtra alphabet">Saurashtra</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Siddha%E1%B9%83_alphabet" title="Siddhaṃ alphabet" class="mw-redirect"><span title="International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration" class="Unicode" style="white-space:normal; text-decoration: none">Siddhaṃ</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Soyombo_alphabet" title="Soyombo alphabet">Soyombo</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Sylheti_Nagari" title="Sylheti Nagari">Sylheti Nagari</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Takri_alphabet" title="Takri alphabet">Takri</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tibetan_alphabet" title="Tibetan alphabet">Tibetan</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Uchen_script" title="Uchen script">Uchen</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Um%C3%AA_script" title="Umê script">Umê</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tirhuta" title="Tirhuta">Tirhuta</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tocharian_alphabet" title="Tocharian alphabet">Tocharian</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Mongolian_alphabets#Horizontal_square_script" title="Mongolian alphabets" class="mw-redirect">Zanabazar Square</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:5em">Southern</th>
<td class="navbox-list navbox-even" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Ahom_alphabet" title="Ahom alphabet">Ahom</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Balinese_alphabet" title="Balinese alphabet">Balinese</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Batak_script" title="Batak script" class="mw-redirect">Batak</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Baybayin" title="Baybayin">Baybayin</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Bhattiprolu_alphabet" title="Bhattiprolu alphabet">Bhattiprolu</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Buhid_alphabet" title="Buhid alphabet">Buhid</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Burmese_script" title="Burmese script" class="mw-redirect">Burmese</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Chakma_alphabet" title="Chakma alphabet">Chakma</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Cham_alphabet" title="Cham alphabet">Cham</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Grantha_alphabet" title="Grantha alphabet">Grantha</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Goykanadi" title="Goykanadi">Goykanadi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Hanun%C3%B3%27o_alphabet" title="Hanunó'o alphabet">Hanunó'o</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Javanese_script" title="Javanese script">Javanese</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Kadamba_alphabet" title="Kadamba alphabet">Kadamba</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Kannada_alphabet" title="Kannada alphabet">Kannada</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Kawi_script" title="Kawi script">Kawi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Khmer_alphabet" title="Khmer alphabet">Khmer</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Kulitan_alphabet" title="Kulitan alphabet">Kulitan</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tai_Tham_alphabet" title="Tai Tham alphabet">Lanna</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Lao_alphabet" title="Lao alphabet">Lao</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Leke_script" title="Leke script">Leke</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Lontara_alphabet" title="Lontara alphabet">Lontara</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Malayalam_alphabet" title="Malayalam alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Malayalam</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Maldivian_writing_systems" title="Maldivian writing systems">Maldivian</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Dhives_Akuru" title="Dhives Akuru">Dhives Akuru</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Eveyla_Akuru" title="Eveyla Akuru">Eveyla Akuru</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Mon_alphabet" title="Mon alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Mon</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Old_Sundanese_script" title="Old Sundanese script" class="mw-redirect">Old Sundanese</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pallava_alphabet" title="Pallava alphabet">Pallava</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pyu_script" title="Pyu script">Pyu</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Rejang_alphabet" title="Rejang alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Rejang</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Rencong_alphabet" title="Rencong alphabet">Rencong</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Sinhala_alphabet" title="Sinhala alphabet">Sinhala</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Sundanese_alphabet" title="Sundanese alphabet">Sundanese</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tagbanwa_alphabet" title="Tagbanwa alphabet">Tagbanwa</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tai_Le_alphabet" title="Tai Le alphabet">Tai Le</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tai_Tham_alphabet" title="Tai Tham alphabet">Tai Tham</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tai_Viet_script" title="Tai Viet script" class="mw-redirect">Tai Viet</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_alphabet" title="Tamil alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Tamil</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Telugu_script" title="Telugu script">Telugu</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Thai_alphabet" title="Thai alphabet">Thai</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Tigalari_alphabet" title="Tigalari alphabet">Tigalari</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Vatteluttu_alphabet" title="Vatteluttu alphabet">Vatteluttu</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Kolezhuthu" title="Kolezhuthu">Kolezhuthu</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Malayanma" title="Malayanma">Malayanma</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Visayan_alphabet" title="Visayan alphabet" class="mw-redirect">Visayan</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:2px">
<td colspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:5em">Others</th>
<td class="navbox-list navbox-even" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;padding:0px">
<div style="padding:0em 0.25em">
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Boyd%27s_syllabic_shorthand" title="Boyd's syllabic shorthand">Boyd's syllabic shorthand</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Aboriginal_syllabics" title="Canadian Aboriginal syllabics">Canadian syllabics</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="/wiki/Blackfoot_language#Writing_system" title="Blackfoot language">Blackfoot</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/D%C3%A9n%C3%A9_syllabics" title="Déné syllabics" class="mw-redirect">Déné syllabics</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Fox_language#Writing_systems" title="Fox language">Fox I</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Ge%27ez_script" title="Ge'ez script">Ge'ez</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Gunjala_Gondi_Lipi" title="Gunjala Gondi Lipi">Gunjala Gondi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Japanese_Braille" title="Japanese Braille">Japanese Braille</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Sunwar_language#Writing_Systems" title="Sunwar language">Jenticha</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Kayah_Li_alphabet" title="Kayah Li alphabet">Kayah Li</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Kharosthi" title="Kharosthi">Kharosthi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Mandombe_script" title="Mandombe script">Mandombe</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Gondi_script" title="Gondi script">Masaram Gondi</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Meroitic_alphabet" title="Meroitic alphabet">Meroitic</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pollard_script" title="Pollard script">Miao</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Mwangwego_alphabet" title="Mwangwego alphabet">Mwangwego</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Sorang_Sompeng_alphabet" title="Sorang Sompeng alphabet">Sorang Sompeng</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/Pahawh_Hmong" title="Pahawh Hmong">Pahawh Hmong</a></li>
<li><a href="/wiki/T%C4%81na" title="Tāna" class="mw-redirect">Tāna</a></li>