). Writing may use abstract symbols that represent the phonetic elements of speech, as in Indo-European languages, or it may use simplified representations of objects and concepts, as in East Asian and Ancient Egyptian pictographic writing. However, they differ from illustrations, such as cave drawings and paintings, and from non-symbolic ways of storing speech on non-textual storage media, such as magnetic audio cassettes.

The study of writing as a special sign system is carried out in such disciplines as grammatology, epigraphy and paleography.

Writing is an extension of human language in time and space. Most often, writing arose as a result of the political expansion of ancient cultures that needed reliable means of transmitting information, maintaining financial records, preserving historical memory, and similar activities. In the 4th millennium BC, the complexity of trade relations and administration outgrew the capabilities of human memory, and writing became a more reliable way of recording and representing interactions on an ongoing basis. In both Mesoamerica and Ancient Egypt, writing developed through calendars and the political need to record social and natural events.

Methods for recording information

Wells argues that writing can “record agreements, laws, commandments in documents. It ensures the growth of the state to a size larger than the old city-states. The word of a priest or king and its guarantees can go far beyond the boundaries outlined by his gaze and voice, and can have an impact after his death."

Types of writing

Syllabary

Historical influence of writing systems

Historians make a distinction between prehistory and history: history is determined by the advent of writing. Cave paintings and petroglyphs of prehistoric peoples can be considered precursors to writing; they cannot be considered writing because they do not directly represent language.

ABC - alphabet (based on the names of the first letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, az and beeches).

Alphabet is a collection of letters and graphemes of a given writing system.

A letter is a graphic sign used to indicate sounds in writing.

Elm is a decorative script in which letters are joined into a continuous pattern (for example, Arabic or Slavic script).

Glagolitic is one of the first two Slavic alphabets. It was widespread in Bulgaria and Moravia in the 10th-11th centuries, and existed in Croatia until the end of the 18th century.

The civil script is an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet, introduced by Peter I in 1708. It served as the basis for modern Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian alphabets.

Decoding is the reading and restoration of understanding of text written in an unknown language or encrypted.

Diacritics are additional signs in the alphabets of some languages ​​(above or below letters), indicating changes in the meaning of the letter.

A sound letter is one in which each letter sign corresponds to a specific sound of oral speech.

Ideographic writing conveys with its sign a phrase, a separate word or its significant part.

Hieroglyphs are ancient pictorial signs of non-alphabetic writings.

Cyrillic is one of the first two Slavic alphabets. Named after the enlightener Kirill. Served as the basis for the creation of modern East Slavic, as well as Serbian alphabets.

Cuneiform writing is written characters consisting of groups of wedge-shaped strokes that were extruded onto raw clay (Mesopotamia, III-IV millennium BC).

Ligature is a letter or sign composed of elements of two letters or signs.

Litera is the same as a letter.

A logogram is a written sign denoting a concept, word, or its significant part.

Pictographic writing is the original type of writing. It is a drawing or a series of drawings that convey a message.

Semiotics is a science that studies the properties of signs and sign systems.

A writing system is the historically established and ordered writing of a particular people. It is characterized by the purpose, type, composition, meaning, form of written characters and basic spelling principles.

A syllabary is one whose signs represent syllables and syllabic sounds (for example, vowels).

Shorthand is a high-speed writing based on the use of a special system of signs, allowing for synchronous recording of oral speech.

Titlo is a superscript indicating the abbreviated spelling of a word, or the numerical value of a letter in medieval Latin, Greek or Slavic texts.

Phonetic transcription is a method of recording in writing the sound of oral speech using special signs and a system of signs used for this purpose.

Transliteration is the transfer of text written in one alphabet by means of another alphabet.

A number is a sign used to indicate a single-digit number in writing. Multi-digit numbers are written using a combination of digits.

). Writing may use abstract symbols that represent the phonetic elements of speech, as in Indo-European languages, or it may use simplified representations of objects and concepts, as in East Asian and Ancient Egyptian pictographic writing. However, they differ from illustrations such as rock art and painting, and from non-symbolic ways of storing speech on non-textual storage media such as magnetic audio cassettes.

The study of writing as a special sign system is carried out in such disciplines as grammatology, epigraphy and paleography.

Writing is an extension of human language in time and space. Most often, writing arose as a result of the political expansion of ancient cultures that needed reliable means of transmitting information, maintaining financial records, preserving historical memory, and similar activities. In the 4th millennium BC, the complexity of trade relations and administration outgrew the capabilities of human memory, and writing became a more reliable way of recording and representing interactions on an ongoing basis. In both Mesoamerica and Ancient Egypt, writing developed through calendars and the political need to record social and natural events.

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Methods for recording information

Wells argues that writing can “record agreements, laws, commandments in documents. It ensures the growth of the state to a size larger than the old city-states. The word of a priest or king and its guarantees can go far beyond the boundaries outlined by his gaze and voice, and can have an impact after his death."

Types of writing

Syllabary

A syllabary is a set of written characters that represent (or approximate) syllables. A sign in a syllabary usually represents a vowel-consonant combination, or simply one vowel sound. But in some cases, the signs represent more complex syllables (for example, consonant-vowel-consonant or consonant-consonant-vowel). The phonetic connection of syllables is not reflected in the alphabet. For example, the syllable "ka" will look completely different from the syllable "ki", and there will be no similar syllables with the same vowels in the alphabet.

Syllabics are best suited for languages ​​with relatively simple syllable structures, such as Japanese. Other syllabary languages ​​include Linear B Mycenaean, Cherokee and Ndyuka, the English-based Creole of Suriname, and the Vai language of Liberia. Most logographic systems have strong syllabic components. The Ethiopic script, although technically based on an alphabet, has fused consonants and vowels, so the script is taught as if it were a syllabary.

Alphabets

An alphabet is a small set of symbols, each of which roughly represents or historically represented the phonemes of a language. In an ideal phonological alphabet, phonemes and letters correspond perfectly to each other in both directions: a writer can predict the spelling of a word by knowing its pronunciation, and a speaker can predict the pronunciation of a word by knowing its spelling.

Languages ​​often develop independently of their writing systems. Scripts are borrowed for other languages ​​that were not originally intended for them, so the degree to which the letters of the alphabet correspond to the phonemes of the language varies significantly from language to language and even within the same language.

Consonantal letter

Most Middle Eastern alphabets display only consonants; vowels may sometimes be indicated by additional diacritics. This property arose as a result of the influence of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Such systems are called abjadami, which means “alphabet” in Arabic.

Consonantal syllabic writing

In most Indian and Southeast Asian alphabets, vowels are indicated by diacritics or by changing the shape of a consonant. This letter is called abugida. Some abugids, such as Ge'ez and Kri, are studied by children as syllabaries, which is why they are often classified as syllabaries. However, unlike true syllabics, they do not have separate characters for each syllable.

Sometimes the term "alphabet" is limited to systems of separate letters for consonants and vowels, such as the Latin alphabet, although abugids and abjads can also refer to alphabets. For this reason, the Greek alphabet is often considered the world's first alphabet.

Characteristic alphabet

The characteristic alphabet looks at the building blocks of phonemes that make up a language. For example, all sounds produced by the lips (“labial” sounds) may have some common element. In the Latin alphabet this is obvious for letters such as "b" and "p". However, the labial "m" is a completely different kind, and the similar-looking "q" is not a labial. In the Korean Hangul script, all four labial consonants are based on the same compounds. However, in practice, the Korean language is taught to a child as being based on a conventional alphabet, and the characteristic elements tend to go unnoticed.

Concept of graphics

Graphics (Greek graphikē, from graphō - I write, draw, draw) is, firstly, a set of writing means, a system of relationships between letters and sounds (phonemes), as well as the very outline of letters and signs; secondly, a branch of linguistics that studies the outline and sound meanings of written signs, primarily letters.

Basic means of modern Russian graphics
↓	↓
Letters	Punctuation marks

As mentioned earlier, in transcription, which is a special type of writing, other graphic signs are also used (sign of softness, longitude, syllabicity, etc.).

The degree of perfection of the graphic system of a language is determined by the correspondence of letters to sounds (phonemes). The ideal graphic system is a system that provides a one-to-one correspondence between a letter and a sound (phoneme).

Modern Russian graphics are divided into handwritten and printed. Handwritten graphics of the Russian language are based on Old Russian writing. The foundations of printed graphics were laid by the reform of Peter I, as a result of which a civil font with a rounded outline of letters and without superscripts was introduced.

Graphic arts(Greek graphike, from grapho - I write, draw, draw) - the totality of all means of writing through which oral speech is transmitted in writing; the branch of language science that studies these means, establishes the norms and procedure for their use.

Graphics studies

• system of relationships between letters and sounds,
• system of writing letters and signs,
• connection between meaning and signs,
• other means and methods of formatting messages.

The main means of graphics are

• letters,
• punctuation marks,
• hyphen,
• transfer sign,
• spaces between words,
• accent mark,
• paragraph mark,
• techniques for shortening words and other means.

GRAPHICS (Greek graphike, from grapho - I write, draw, draw) - 1) a set of descriptive means of a particular letter, including graphemes, punctuation marks, accent marks, etc.; a system of relationships between graphemes and phonemes in phonemic writing; 2) a section of linguistics that studies the relationships between graphemes and phonemes. The concept of "G." usually applied to phonematic. (sound-letter) writing, in which there are 3 sides: alphabet, alphabet and spelling. In modern the most common national ones in the world. writing systems based on Lat. alphabet (see Latin script), Cyrillic and Arabic script. The idea of ​​an ideal grammatical system existing in science (when there is an exact correspondence between phonemes and graphemes: each grapheme conveys one phoneme, and each phoneme is conveyed by one grapheme) is not presented in any letter and can only serve as a starting point for assessing the correspondence between groups. . sound language and writing system.
The discrepancy between the number of graphemes and phonemes in the plural. modern writing systems built on the Latin alphabet are explained by history. adaptation of this alphabet - without radical changes (or no changes at all) - to the languages ​​that have adopted it. 23 lat. letters (25 in late Latin) could not reflect a significantly larger number of plural phonemes. modern languages ​​(36-46). The gap in the ratio of graphemes and phonemes increased over time and due to inevitable changes. changes in the languages ​​themselves, if their spelling remained traditional. This phenomenon is most characteristically presented in English. letter. For 46 phonemes in English. The alphabet has 26 characters. In English letter combinations (complex graphemes) are widely used in writing: digraphs (for example, ck[k]), trigraphs (for example, oeu), polygraphs (for example, augh [o:]). Total in English writing 118 complex graphemes, together with m o-iographs (type b[b]) they make up 144 graphemes. Stable letter combinations have entered the English system. G. as a complement, a means of expressing phonemes. Complex graphemes are also used in the writing of other languages, cf. German ch[h], sch, Polish. sz[s], rz[z], etc. In some graphics. systems use letters specially introduced into the alphabet: French. s, rum. \, ?, German R, dat. in, Polish \. In short alphabets, letters with superscripts are introduced: in Czech. s, s, z, in Polish. s, s, z, z.
Graphic Writing systems built on the Cyrillic alphabet are simpler in terms of the ratio of graphemes and phonemes. When creating alphabets for plurals on its basis. languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR by N. F. Yakovlev was derived (published in 1928) by mathematics. a formula for constructing the most economical (in terms of the number of letters) alphabet (I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay intended to derive it). This formula is almost completely met by the modern one. rus. an alphabet with 33 letters to represent 41 (according to the Leningrad phonological school) phonemes. Rationality Russian. G. is provided by its syllabic. (syllabic) principle, which consists in the fact that the differential sign of hardness/softness of a consonant phoneme is indicated by the next (after the consonant letter) vowel letter or (not before the vowel) special letter. a sign of gentleness (or lack thereof). This gives a savings of 15 letters (since the Russian language has 15 pairs of consonants, differing in hardness/softness, cf. chmol - moth, chmyal - small, etc.). The second feature of the Russian syllabic principle. G. is the designation of the phoneme [j] together with the vowel following it with one letter: i, yu, e, e. These letters are syllabograms, i.e. elements of a syllabic. letters. Since the Serbian language has only 4 pairs of consonants, differing in hardness/softness, special ones have been introduced into the Serbian and Cyrillic alphabet. letters for soft consonants (l>, n>, h, j)). and the syllabic principle is not used.
In plural In G. systems, the positional principle operates: certain graphemes are used depending on the grapheme context (the proximity of certain letters and certain other conditions). However, this principle does not provide such a strict and systematic cohesion of graphemes as with the Russian syllabic principle. G.
Due to the graphic context, the polyphony (ambiguity) of graphemes is removed. Yes, in it. in writing, the letter s in the position between a space and a vowel has the sound value [z] (Saal, setzen), before a consonant, except p, t, and before a space - the value [s] (Preis, Ski), after a space before the letters p, t - value [s] (Stein, Speck). Context also removes polygraphemicity (the possibility of denoting the same phoneme or a differential feature of a phoneme by different graphemes). This context is called phonological. Thus, the opportunity to indicate a sign of softness in Russian. writing either with a soft sign or with a letter like chya> is implemented in the first case not before a vowel (“letter”), in the second - before a vowel (cheyadu”).
Where G, provides more than one possibility of designating a phoneme and cannot provide a definition. decisions, the final choice is determined by spelling. So, from the possibility of denoting the final [s] in Russian. writing in letters chs> or<з>spelling chooses<з>in the word chetraz" and chs> in the word chpalas." In him. In language, the phoneme [f], regardless of position, can be denoted by the graphemes f, v, ph. They are determined by spelling: fur, vor, Phonetilc.

Sign. Types of written characters

It should be noted that writing does not always directly convey language. The transmission of language by graphic means is a very late stage in the development of writing. The predecessors of writing were signs not related to language, conveying information completely independently of the linguistic form of embodiment of this information. In earlier eras, writing might not convey the elements of language, but, nevertheless, be a tool of communication.

Initially, “messages” arose that very little resembled our letters. So, for example, the Scythians sent the Persians, with whom they were fighting, a “message”, which consisted of living animals and birds (frog, mouse, bird) and five arrows, which meant: “If you Persians do not learn to jump through the swamps, how frogs, hide in holes like a mouse and fly like a bird, then you will be showered with our arrows as soon as you set foot on our land.” This is an example of symbolic signaling, where each thing symbolizes something. Along with symbolic signaling, there is also conditional signaling, when the “things” themselves do not express anything, but are used as conventional signs. This is the Peruvian letter "Kupu": a stick with tied multi-colored laces and knots, which can be read as a letter. Or the Iroquois letter "Wampum": a belt or staff with attached or strung shells of various colors and sizes. The “meaning” of knots on laces and combinations of shells, of course, was agreed upon in advance.

Messages transmitted in this way can only be very elementary: most often they are instructions for some action, distress signals, etc. Descriptive writing, of course, has much greater possibilities.

Thus, the broad concept of writing can include all types of human communication using optical signs, that is, signs perceived by the eye. Writing itself, that is, descriptive writing associated with the use of graphic signs (pictures, icons, letters, numbers), forms a narrower circle. Descriptive writing in its various forms either directly correlates with language, reflecting linguistic forms in graphics, or is auxiliary, not related to language, since it does not reflect linguistic forms in graphics.

Just as we distinguish between language and speech, so when talking about writing, we must distinguish, on the one hand, the writing system (the inventory of descriptive signs and the rules of their functioning), and on the other hand, the specific results of the use of these signs as the resulting written texts. The descriptive characters that make up the writing inventory are letters, numbers, punctuation marks and various other figures and images.

Each sign can be considered as a specific element in a given writing system, that is, as an abstract unit repeated many times in texts - a grapheme. According to its outline, a grapheme can be composite: for example, grapheme. A grapheme usually has variants - allographemes.

Among allographemes, one should distinguish: stylistic allographemes (printed and corresponding handwritten letters), optional allographemes (various spellings of handwritten letters; for example, “” and “”), positional allographemes (different layout of the same letter depending on its position in the word ; for example, the Greek letter "sigma" in the form at the beginning and middle of the word and in the form at the end of the word), combinatorial (for example, in Arabic writing, many letters have up to 4 variants, used depending on the presence or absence of other letters to the right or left) . As for the relationship (for example, in Russian writing) between an uppercase letter and its corresponding lowercase letter, then, from the point of view of their sound meanings, these letters should be considered as allographemes of one grapheme.

However, the presence of a number of special functions in capital letters separates them into a separate subclass, opposing the subclass of lowercase letters, and thereby, to some extent, gives capital letters the quality of individual graphemes.

Pictography

Pictography (from lat. Pictus-- drawn + Greek Grapho- writing) is a type of writing in which objects, events, actions, concepts of their connection are conveyed using visual images, figures, diagrams, simplified and generalized images (pictograms).

In pictography, the designator (carrying meaning) is a schematic drawing. For the writing function, the artistic merit of the drawings does not matter; similarity to the object and identifiability are important. Pictography is not associated with the alphabet, that is, a set of specific characters, and thus is not associated with teaching reading and writing. The disconnection of pictography from the forms of language allows it to be a convenient means of communication between multilingual tribes. The opinion that pictography replaced language at a certain period of time is without any basis. What is denoted in pictography are life situations, things, beings. The meaning is conveyed with the help of signs, while verbal design is not essential. In addition to depicting objects, pictography can also contain signs with a purely conventional meaning (for example, a “cross” as a sign of “exchange”).

With the development of concepts and abstract thinking, writing needs arise that pictography can no longer fulfill, and then ideography arises, that is, “writing with concepts,” when what is designated is not the life fact itself in its immediate givenness, but those concepts that arise in human consciousness and require their expression in writing. “Friendship” can be conveyed by the image of two hands shaking one another, “enmity” by the image of crossed weapons, etc. Along with its direct meaning (what is depicted), the drawing also has a figurative, conditional meaning.

Modern writing uses all the techniques developed over the centuries-old history of writing.

Pictography is used when the reader’s language is unknown, as well as for clarity of information.

For a historian of writing, the information contained in the drawing is important: if a drawn image serves as a means of conveying thought, then this is undoubtedly writing. The ability to express your thoughts without resorting to personal contact with other people, to identify objects and phenomena, to talk about them abstractly from a specific situation - there is something magical about this. Nowadays, such discoveries are available only to small children, but even they very quickly forget about them.

Pictographic writing resembles rebuses: each sign or picture conveys not the sound of a language, not syllables, but denotes a certain concept, which in oral language corresponds to a word. In addition, a pictorial recording of a message can convey the entire thought without isolating individual concepts. In any case, it is impossible to highlight the component parts in a pictogram, as in a sentence. But it has the same semantic completeness as a modern sentence. Moreover, any fragment of the pictogram has semantic completeness.

The drawing only denotes concepts, without even preserving their order in messages, because Regardless of the arrangement, the meaning of the entry is preserved. Therefore, pictographic writing does not reflect oral speech.

For example, here is a drawing warning a random guest that there is no food in the house. The man raised his hand to his mouth - food. The man spread his hands - a sign of denial “no”. Or a boat with people shows that the owners have gone fishing. Such a message will be easily understood by anyone who can guess the meaning and meaning of such drawings, no matter what nationality they belong to.

But only specific images are easily deciphered. As soon as it comes to abstract, abstract concepts, the situation changes. There can be many interpretations and meanings. It is believed that the poetic form is most convenient for interpreting pictograms.

A separate drawing is a line of “Poems”. Most of the pictorial texts that have come down to us are hunting reports, business documents, inventories, records of receipts and expenditures of grain, livestock, fodder and various items made by artisans: blacksmiths, weavers, potters; reports on military campaigns, raids, victories; political treaties, petitions, ultimatums, love letters and magical spell formulas. Among the pictographic texts were calendars.

Pictographic writing was universally accessible due to its clarity. But the more complex the message became, the more the accuracy of the transmission of information suffered, and pictography turned into videography- writing in concepts.

Pictography or figurative letter, - transmission of images, impressions, events, thoughts using drawings. On the one hand, such “figurative writing” is sometimes indistinguishable from aimless drawings drawn on rocks, cave walls, fences, on classroom tables, etc., or from images and patterns reproduced on various objects for decoration purposes; on the other hand, they turn into real ideographic and then phonetic writing, as evidenced by the analysis of Egyptian, ancient Chinese and some other hieroglyphs.

Most often, such “writings” are preserved on stone, on rocks (see Petroglyphs); Andre collected a lot of examples from Africa (Wadi Mokatteb in Sinai, Wadi Telissare in Fezzan, Algeria, Kordofan, the country of Somalia, Transvaal), North. and South America, Australia, Asia and Europe. Known are rocks inscribed with concentric circles and crosses in Northumberland (England), images on skalds in Sweden, Ireland, on Lake Onega, “pisanitsa” (images of animals, people, etc.) along the Yenisei, Tobol, etc., “deer stones" in Mongolia, etc.

Such images have been most studied among North American Indians; Mallery dedicated extensive treatises to them with many drawings. He begins with an explanation of relatively recent images, the meaning of which is still clear to old people, and then moves on to similar images from more ancient times. Almost all of these images represent real objects; symbols and emblems are very rare. Many of them recall events important for individual tribes (wars, treaties, famines, abundance of game in a certain year, death of a famous leader, relocation, etc.); some are associated with myths and religious practices, others commemorate visits to places by individuals.

The manner of depiction (of people, animals, etc.) is almost the same among all Indians, as well as the usual designations of death (for example, from a wound in war), union, belonging to a known clan or clan, the descent of one person from another, etc. etc. See Mallery, "Pictographs of the North-American Indians" (in "Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology", 1886, next), and in general about "petroglyphs", drawings among savages, signs of property - R. Andr e, "Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche" (1878 and 1889). Wed. also Grosse, “Die Anf dnge der Kunst” (1894, mid. VI--VII).

Ideography

The transition from pictography to ideography is associated with the need to graphically convey something that is not visual. This is the so-called “internal” evolution of writing, which consisted primarily in the formation of signs for “non-objective words” - verbs, adjectives and abstract nouns, either through the use of figurative signs in “figurative” meanings, or through the formation of new signs.

Ideography is a writing in which graphic signs convey not words in their grammatical and phonetic design, but the meanings that stand behind these words. Therefore, for example, in Chinese hieroglyphic writing, homonyms are expressed in different characters, but they sound and are morphologically constructed the same.

Ideography is used as road signs (a zigzag as a road turn sign, an exclamation mark as a “caution” sign, etc.). Ideography includes various conventional signs in cartography and topography (signs of minerals, circles and dots to indicate populated areas, etc.), the sign of a skull and crossbones on a high-voltage electrical network, the emblem of medicine (snake and bowl of poison)

Hieroglyphs include numbers that express the concept of number, or special symbols of sciences: mathematical, chemical, chess, etc. The need for science in ideography is explained by the fact that science needs to express a concept, firstly, accurately; secondly, briefly; thirdly, to make the concept international, since as a hieroglyph it is not associated with language.

Of course, ideographic writing is writing for the “initiated” - you need to know the signs corresponding to a given field of knowledge.

The main type of modern writing is phonemic phonography, although other techniques are also used. Thus, in Russian writing, along with the normal use of letters as graphic signs for phonemes of the language, there is a syllabic use of graphic signs (Ya-[ya]; ey [yeyu]).

Due to the fact that ideograms are directly related not to sound, as is observed in sound writing, but to the meaning of a word, they can be used on an international scale, i.e. in the writing systems of different languages ​​to denote the same meaning , but different-sounding words. It is thanks to this feature of ideography that many ideographic signs have been preserved and become widespread in modern letter-sound writing systems. Such signs include numbers, algebraic, chemical, astronomical, cartographic and topographic symbols, insignia of military ranks, military branches, as well as symbols in the road sign system, etc.

However, along with its advantages, ideographic writing also has a number of significant disadvantages compared to syllabic and sound writing. The most important of them are the following:

Firstly, the cumbersome nature of ideographic systems makes them difficult to master. The writer does not invent ideograms, as was observed in pictography, but takes them ready-made from the existing selection, i.e., the hieroglyphic alphabet, learning and remembering not only the graphic appearance of the ideogram (hieroglyph), but also the meaning and sound of the word it denotes. And this is not so easy to do, given that the number of ideograms (hieroglyphs) can number in the thousands.

Secondly, the difficulty of conveying the grammatical forms of words using ideograms denoting words. In this regard, grammatical meanings have to be conveyed using special symbols, which also need to be memorized. This makes ideographic writing even more difficult.

The inherent shortcomings of ideographic writing systems became more and more evident with the further development of human society, the expansion of the areas of application of writing, and the increase in the number of people using writing for practical purposes. They served as the main reason for the transition of ideographic systems to syllabic and sound systems.

In addition, in the historical development of ideograms, a movement can be traced from figurative signs to conventional signs, but still retaining a visual motivation, and then to purely conventional signs, which have lost all trace of visual representation.

In any type of ideographic writing there are, of course, elements of sound signs; therefore, to decipher the writing of ancient eras, a new difficulty arises: when a given sign is an ideogram and when the same sign serves as a designation of a phonetic phenomenon (syllable, sound).

A new stage in the development of writing arose in the countries of the Middle East in connection with a number of historical events.

At this stage of development of writing, the main thing was that writing had to be made more accessible to those who used it, and the number of such people was increasing in connection with the development of trade, movement and, finally, with the establishment of statehood.

In this regard, there have been various attempts to simplify the way of writing. Based on the connection between language and writing, these attempts could be different.

Firstly, in relation to vocabulary. Chinese writing went this way. Thus, to denote the concept of “tear” it was necessary to combine two signs: “eye” and “water”; in order to express the concept of “bark”, it was necessary to combine the signs of “dog” and “mouth”. Sometimes the logic of these combinations becomes unclear, for example, in Chinese writing, the character for “ship” in combination with the sign for “flame” should be understood as “fire”, and in combination with the sign for “mouth” - “chattyness”

This way of reducing the ideographic alphabet was unproductive.

Another way to shorten and simplify ideographic writing is related to grammar. So, you can leave the roots with their hieroglyphs, and in derivative forms from these roots use additional hieroglyphs with the meaning of affixes; but this path is available only for those languages ​​where words can be divided into roots and affixes. However, this method can very little reduce the alphabet, since the number of roots is almost limitless, and each root requires its own hieroglyph.

The most productive method turned out to be in phonography, when writing began to convey the language not only in its grammatical structure, but also in its phonetic appearance.

Even the Egyptians and Assyro-Babylonians made attempts to convey the phonetic side of the language in writing. The Assyro-Babylonians began to decompose their complex words into “pieces” that were consonant with the short words of the Sumerian language (from where the Assyro-Babylonians received their writing), i.e. at the end ends - into syllables. Then the hieroglyph began to denote a syllable.

To explain this decomposition of the word, the following example can be given: if we decomposed the Russian name Shura into shu and ra and transferred these pieces in accordance with their French meaning shu (chou) - “cabbage” and pa (rat) - “rat” , then we would depict this name with the hieroglyphs of “cabbage” and “rats”. It was in this way that the first stage in the development of phonography—syllabic, or syllabic—arose.

Next, it would be logical to sanctify the next type of writing - phonography, but I am limited by the scope of the topic I have chosen. Therefore, let's move on to the next section of my course work, and consider this type of writing as logography, which also served as the basis for the emergence of phonographic writing.

We call ideograms written signs that convey meaningful units of language directly (not through the transmission of the sound of these units). Typical examples of ideograms are numbers, "+" or "=" or "%" signs, etc. When we write the number “5”, we convey some idea without referring to the sound and phonemic composition of the word “five”, regardless of what language it is: Russian, English, French, etc. Therefore, a Russian, an Englishman or a Frenchman, reading the number “5”, will pronounce it differently, but will understand it the same way. Unlike phonograms, ideograms, as a rule, do not imply exact correspondence to certain forms of language. Thus, the “=” sign can be read both as “equals” and “equals”, and in the appropriate context as a form of one or another indirect case.

Ideograms associated with whole words are called logograms (lexemograms). They are the most important type of ideograms. There are also morphemograms that serve as designations of morphemes: for example, in German writing, a dot after a number corresponds to the suffix of an ordinal number. A special place is occupied by ideograms-separators (a space between words, punctuation marks) and ideograms-classifiers that highlight a certain class of meaningful units, for example, a capital letter, when it indicates that we have a proper name (the city “Eagle” as opposed to a bird “ eagle") or in German writing indicates that we have a noun (“Kraft” - “strength” as opposed to “kraft” - “in force”). Finally, there are signs that correspond to entire messages; they can be called phraseograms: arrows - direction indicators, prohibition signs. But phraseograms, strictly speaking, are already outside of writing itself, which always presupposes one way or another dismembered transmission of a sound message.

Ideograms can be divided into varieties according to a different principle. Some of them contain elements of visual representation, that is, their outline somehow resembles the object denoted by a given word or phrase (for example, object signs: an image of glasses as a sign of an optics store), others indicate arithmetic operations, etc.

Phonography

The first purely phonographic writing systems known to science are the ancient West Semitic systems, of which the Phoenician turned out to be the most important (inscriptions from the 12th-10th centuries BC). Phoenician graphemes denote sound sequences like “a specific consonant + any vowel (zero vowel).” These graphemes no longer have any logographic functions (except for digital values).

This type of writing is usually called consonantal or unconsonantal. The lack of designation of vowels in the Phoenician and other similar systems, as in the Egyptians, is usually explained by the fact that in a number of Afroasiatic languages ​​(especially Semitic) the root of a word usually consists of only consonants, while vowels inserted into the root as a transfix are changeable in the word , a non-constant element with grammatical meaning. Therefore, at the stage when writing provided only a word-by-word and not a morphemic recording of the text, the designation of vowels was still unnecessary.

Phonography turned out to be the most productive way to shorten writing, which, however, turned out to be possible only when writing began to convey the language not only in its grammatical structure, but also in its phonetic appearance. Even the Egyptians and Assyrian-Babylonians made attempts to convey the phonetic side of the language in writing, decomposing complex words into syllables. The sign (hieroglyph) began to denote a syllable.

However, ancient Egyptian writing, even at its most advanced stage, did not become phonographic. In ancient Egyptian writing, signs were actually developed for each (or almost each) consonant phoneme of their language, more precisely, for combinations like “a certain consonant + any vowel (zero vowel).” But these same signs continued to be used in parallel in their old logographic meanings. Traditional Chinese writing also did not make the decisive transition to phonography. It still remains hieroglyphic (that is, logo- or morphemographic), although up to 90% of the characters used in it are phonetic logograms (or phonetic morphemograms).

The preservation of the archaic character of the letter was facilitated here by the typological features of the Chinese language (the impossibility of a morphemic boundary within a syllable, the frequent coincidence of a syllable and a word). Of course, such writing is associated with enormous inconveniences, and above all, with great difficulty in mastering literacy. To be able to just read a Chinese newspaper, you need to know 6-7 thousand graphemes.

The first stage in the development of phonography is syllabic or syllabic. The best example is ancient Indian writing. In ancient Indian writing, each sign served to indicate a consonant in combination with the vowel “a”, that is, for the syllables “pa”, “ba”, “da”, etc. a specific sign was used. In order to read another vowel or one consonant, one or another superscript or subscript sign was used. This is an example of a syllabic alphabet, the number of characters of which corresponds to the number of syllables with a given vowel, which, as a rule, does not exceed several dozen. The result is a relatively simple alphabet. We find a further step in the development of phonography in the writing of the ancient Jews and Phoenicians, where letters denoted consonants that expressed roots, and the vowels alternating between them to express grammatical forms were denoted by diacritics (from the Greek diakritikos - “distinctive”) signs.

Subsequently, certain ways of denoting vowels were gradually developed. The paths of this development in different systems turned out to be different:

1. In some cases, the unvocalized nature of writing is largely preserved, for example, in modern Hebrew and Arabic writing. In these systems, vowels are only partially marked. Moreover, for this purpose some consonant letters and additional icons are used above and below the line.

2. In other cases, on the basis and under the influence of unvocalized ancient Semitic writing, systems are developed that are generally considered syllabographic. These are the Indian systems, of which the most famous is the Devanagari script, which developed by the 11th-13th centuries. AD and which is now the official state letter of the Republic of India. There are also syllabographic systems in which (unlike Indian writing) the syllabic sign is not divided into elements that could be correlated with phonemes within the syllable. This is exactly what the Japanese kana letter is.

3. The third line of evolution of consonantal writing is its gradual transformation into complete phonemography. A classic example of such development is Greek writing (the oldest known inscriptions date back to the 8th century BC). The Greeks began to denote both consonant and vowel sounds with separate signs (letters). Thus a system arose in which each sign represents either a vowel or a consonant phoneme. The text is written phoneme by phone, so that the sequence of letters corresponds to the sequence of phonemes.

Special letters were invented for special aspirated consonants. Thus, the Greek alphabet was the first letter-sound alphabet and later served as the basis for the alphabets of Latin, Slavic and many languages, where the letters conveyed not just sounds, but corresponded to phonemes. Therefore, these alphabets can be called phonemic.

In one way or another, other European and some non-European systems of phonemographic writing also go back to the Greek letter: first of all, the Latin letter and, apparently, the runic letter of the ancient Germans, the Slavic letter in

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Chinese writing

Chinese hieroglyphic writing is an exceptional phenomenon among modern writing systems. This is the only hieroglyphic writing in the world that was invented one and a half millennium BC. e. and continues to exist today. Hieroglyphic writing, which was invented in almost all centers of ancient civilizations - in the Middle East, South Asia, China, Central America, disappeared, leaving behind few monuments. And only Chinese hieroglyphic writing throughout its history was able to adapt to the changing conditions of the development of Chinese civilization and remain a complex, but acceptable means of writing for China.

The Chinese letter sign is a complex graphic figure. Its Chinese name is zi - “written sign”; in European languages ​​it is called character - “sign”; in Russian, by analogy with the signs of other hieroglyphic writings, it is called a hieroglyph. Accordingly, in Russian, Chinese writing is traditionally called hieroglyphic. The unusual nature of Chinese writing has always aroused the curiosity of both scientific experts and numerous amateurs. There is a large literature about it, but the scientific study of its history began at the end of the last century after the discovery of the most ancient monuments of Chinese writing. Hieroglyphic writing differs from alphabetic writing not only in the form or degree of complexity of individual characters. The differences are manifested in all the properties of the signs of these two types of writing.

Origin of Chinese writing

When considering the origin of Chinese writing, one should distinguish between legend and reality. Such a significant cultural achievement is always correlated in the popular consciousness with the activities of an important cultural hero. The Chinese traditional history of writing dates back to the era of the first mythical emperors Fu Xi and Shen Nong, when knotted cords and trigrams consisting of a combination of whole and broken lines were used to record messages. Thus, Fu Xi and Shen Nong were not so much the inventors of writing as the creators of the process of semiosis - the creation of conventional signs to denote real objects.
The first sign system in the history of Chinese culture consisted of two elementary signs, of which one was a whole line, and the second was an interrupted straight line. These signs were combined into trigrams - gua with a non-repeating combination of whole and broken lines. There were eight such trigrams. Each of them had a certain meaning, which could vary depending on the purpose for which these trigrams were used. Trigrams could be combined in pairs. The result of this combination into non-repeating pairs were 64 hexagrams, which were signs not of an object, but of a situation set out in the attached couplet, the meaning of which was interpreted by the soothsayer. This simple sign system, naturally, could not be used to record a message in Chinese, but it was of fundamental importance because with its help the idea was learned that any message can be encoded using written signs. The task was only to create signs that would have one constant meaning instead of signs that had many situational meanings. From here there was only one step left to create signs for individual words of the Chinese language. The connection of trigrams with Chinese hieroglyphic writing was well understood by early philologists. In the preface to the dictionary of Showen Jiezi, Xu Shen wrote: “When Fu Xi became the ruler of the Universe, he was the first to create eight trigrams, and Shen Nong used knots on cords for the needs of ruling and transmitting orders.” Similar statements are also found in the I Ching, Lao Tzu and Zhuang Tzu. There are no differences in meaning between them, so we can assume that all this information goes back to the same cultural tradition.
Next, according to the myth about the invention of Chinese writing, followed the era of Emperor Huang Di. During his reign, the court historiographer Tsang Jie created the current hieroglyphic writing. According to legend, the idea of ​​​​creating hieroglyphs was inspired by bird tracks on the coastal sand. Looking at them, he suddenly realized that to create a graphic sign denoting an object, it is not at all necessary to draw the object itself: a conventional sign distinguishable from another conventional sign is quite enough to identify it. Legend has it that the hieroglyphs created by Tsang Jie were rather conventional images of objects and therefore were called wen “image, ornament.” Later, more complex signs began to be created, consisting of several such designs. These complex signs are called zi. The preface to the dictionary "Shouwen Jiezi" states that "the court historiographer of Emperor Huang Di named Cang Jie was the first to create writing on tablets." It also contains, most likely, a false etymology of the word zi “written sign” from the word zi “born”, i.e. “derived” from several signs.
There is another traditional view of the starting point of the history of Chinese writing, also based on the mythological idea of ​​​​the beginning of the reliable history of China. According to the traditional historical concept, Emperor Huang Di was a real historical person and ruled China in the 26th century. BC e. At the same time, the historiographer Tsang Jie served at his court. Accordingly, the invention of Chinese writing also dates back to this time. Supporters of this view of the history of Chinese writing believe that it existed even before Tsang Jie, who acted not so much as the creator of a new one, but as a reformer of an already existing hieroglyphic writing. Indirect considerations are usually given in defense of this view of the history of Chinese writing, however, direct evidence indicating the existence of writing in that distant historical era is still missing.
According to archaeology, the early history of Chinese writing begins with incisions on ceramic vessels discovered in excavations of all Neolithic cultures of China. A common place for markings on Neolithic pottery is the rim or bottom of the vessel.
The incisions on the pottery of Neolithic cultures were elementary in form. According to the technique of execution, they were features of a complex shape, applied with a pointed object to unfired ceramic products. However, sometimes there are notches made on fired products. Their form varies from one Neolithic culture to another, and only a small number of simple signs were found to be common to several cultures at the same time.

Historians of Chinese writing tend to consider these incisions as its oldest signs. If this is indeed the case, then we can most likely suspect that they represent the most ancient forms of signs for numerals. The differences in graphic form and their composition in the sets of characters of each Neolithic culture separately means that they all had their own writing. The limited number of characters has led some researchers to suggest that Neolithic writing was alphabetic. A special place among the incisions belonging to various Neolithic cultures belongs to the incisions of the Dawenkou culture, Shandong province. According to the results of radiocarbon analysis, the sites of this culture date back to the third and even fifth millennium BC. e. The signs on the ceramics of the Dawenkou culture are more complex compared to the signs of other both synchronous and later Neolithic cultures. According to their graphic characteristics, they are drawings quite similar to the depicted object. This similarity suggests that they were the earliest pictograms of Chinese writing. From here it was concluded that Chinese writing has origins dating back not to the middle of the second, but to the middle of the fifth millennium BC.
Archaeological studies of later eras in the history of material culture in China have shown that at the beginning of the second millennium BC. on ceramics you can see not single signs, but groups of signs, which in their graphics resemble the signs on Yin bones and shells. Thus, at the site of Wucheng, Jiangxi province, which dates back to the beginning of the second millennium BC. Ceramics with incisions arranged in groups of 5-7 characters were discovered. In some cases, the number of notches can reach twelve. Such groups of signs may well be considered as inscriptions. In their graphics, the notches are similar to the signs of the Yin script, but it is not possible to identify them with the signs of the Yin or modern Chinese script. These signs can be considered the predecessors of Yin writing or its local forms. None of the supposed inscriptions have been read. Their study is the task of future generations of Chinese paleographers.
Notches on ceramics continued to exist even after the invention of writing. They remain one of the characteristic features of ceramics of the later historical periods of Chunqiu (722 - 481 BC) and Zhanguo (481 - 250 BC). The technical differences between incisions and characters are particularly noticeable on pottery from Baijiazhuang and Zhengzhou. Here, both incisions and inscriptions made in hieroglyphs were found on ceramics from the cultural layer of the Zhanguo era. It is significant that the notches were made by hand, and the hieroglyphic inscriptions were made with a stamp. The difference in technique is quite understandable: the potters were unlikely to be literate enough to make an inscription on each vessel separately, so for ornamental inscriptions they used a ready-made stamp, and for their technological purposes - notches, the meaning of which was clear to them, but was not essential for ceramic users. Perhaps some of the ceramics users could read them.
On Yin period ceramics, the distinction between incisions and hieroglyphs was not so clear. In Xiaotong and Dasikun, where most of the Yin oracle bones were found, ceramic vessels with inscriptions were constantly found from the very beginning of excavations. The signs on these inscriptions can be identified with the signs of the Yin script, but nevertheless, in general they cannot be read. Some researchers believe that these later inscriptions mixed Yin characters with notches, but the reason for the mixture remains unclear. The same mixed script, consisting of Yin hieroglyphs and incisions, is found in excavations far beyond the Yin capital on the periphery of the Yin empire, and perhaps beyond its borders. In the Maqiao IV cultural layer near Shanghai, which chronologically corresponds to the middle and late Yin period on the Central Plain, pottery with incised marks and actual signs of Yin hieroglyphic writing was discovered.
Even the few descriptions of incisions presented here found on ceramics in excavations of Neolithic cultures, Yin and early Zhou times, indicate a long evolution of Chinese writing from the simplest graphic images not directly related to language to signs conveying linguistic units. As is known, the need for writing arises at that level of development of civilization when sustainable communication in society as a whole is required. time as well as in space. To ensure stable communication in space, the invention of a transmission method was required, and to ensure it in time, the invention of a method of storing information was required. In both cases, only a letter could do this.
Creating writing requires both graphic and technical conditions. The material on which signs for various purposes were applied must have a surface that would correspond to the capabilities of the chosen writing instrument. As in all other centers of civilization, the first writing instrument in China was a pointed object suitable for drawing thin lines. Accordingly, the writing material had to have a soft surface. As is known, pottery production in China has reached a high degree of perfection; Chinese potters had different methods of applying ornaments and, in general, any image to raw and fired products. Therefore, raw or baked clay was a completely accessible material for writing. However, the oldest material that has survived to this day are the scapular bones of large mammals and turtle shells. To give the scratched lines greater contrast, black dye was used to fill the scratched groove. Existing inscriptions on oracle bones are mostly scratched on the surface of the bone shell and only some of them are applied in ink or some other similar way, all the basic elements of the writing technique - an object that serves as a surface for writing, tools for applying written characters, a dye for highlighting them more clearly on the surface - were already present in the Yin writing technique.
Archaeologists studying Chinese ceramics of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, as well as researchers of the history of Chinese writing, rightly see connections between the incisions on ceramics and the signs of Yin hieroglyphic writing. To date, many articles have been published where one or another sign on ceramics is identified with the sign of the Yin script. There is also no doubt that the graphics of these signs are genetically related to the ornaments and patterned decor on ceramics of that time. In other words, notches, ornaments, and patterned decor on Neolithic ceramics created the graphic environment in which the Yin hieroglyphic script was formed. With the invention of the Yin hieroglyphic script, notches on ceramics continued to exist as a technical means of pottery production. Thus, the signs - incisions on Neolithic ceramics, together with ornament and decoration, represent pre-writing, the graphic environment where writing signs can appear. All these components of the graphic environment are a necessary step for the creation of real writing, which conveys linguistic units with regular written signs.

Alphabet and hieroglyphs

The graphic difference between hieroglyphic writing and alphabetic writing is that the sign of a hieroglyphic writing is always more complex than alphabetic characters, and the number of characters themselves reaches many thousands. In the latest dictionary of the Chinese language, or more precisely, the Chinese script, their number reaches 50 thousand. None of the known hieroglyphic writings had so many units. The example of Chinese writing shows how large the number of characters in hieroglyphic writing can reach if it exists for a long enough time. Hieroglyphic writing also differs from alphabetic writing in the principle of designation. Alphabetical writing serves to convey units of expression. The size of these units varies. Among the known alphabetic scripts there are those that denote individual phonemes, and scripts that denote entire syllables. However, a common feature of both phonemic and syllabic writing is that the linguistic units they denote, in principle, do not have their own meaning. Hieroglyphic writing denotes significant linguistic units - words and morphemes. In other words, it directly conveys the plan of content of linguistic units. These two types of writing are characterized by completely different relationships with the language they convey. The alphabetic writing is intended for a particular state of one language: without suitable modifications it cannot be used for another language or for another state of the same one. Hieroglyphic writing, on the contrary, is universal. In theory, hieroglyphs can be used to write in any language. In practice, isolating syllabic-morphemic languages, where each morpheme represents a syllable, are most suitable for writing in hieroglyphic writing. This is evidenced by the history of Chinese hieroglyphic writing, as well as the centuries-old experience of using hieroglyphs for Vietnamese and some Thai languages. As the experience of using Chinese characters for writing in Japanese and Korean has shown, the successful use of hieroglyphs for agglutinating languages ​​is possible only with the simultaneous use of alphabetic writing.
From the universality of hieroglyphic writing follows another property: the independence of the sign from its reading. A hieroglyphic writing sign can have any number of readings in accordance with the number of languages ​​that use this writing. So Chinese characters have not only Chinese, but also Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese readings. Within China, each character has both a “national” reading and many dialectical ones. Moreover, in many dialects, especially in the south, two readings of the same hieroglyph are distinguished: colloquial and literary. The second is used when reading written texts aloud and when pronouncing scientific and cultural terms.
Independence from the actual pronunciation of the signified linguistic unit also gives hieroglyphic writing timeless qualities: with knowledge of grammar, a text written in hieroglyphic writing can be understood regardless of when it was written, and its characters can be read in any convenient way. So, for example, the texts of ancient classical texts today can be read with the national reading of hieroglyphs, with any dialect reading, with Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese reading, completely regardless of how exactly they were read at the time of creation. All these properties of hieroglyphic writing have played an important role in the extraordinary stability of Chinese traditional culture and in the fact that Chinese writing has been preserved in our time.

Yin letter

The first source of information about the ancient period of the development of Chinese writing is the inscriptions on oracle bones, discovered in large quantities during excavations of the last capital of the Shang Dynasty, which was located on the site of the modern village of Xiaotun, Anyang County, Henan Province. According to the modern administrative division, Anyang County is included in Hebei Province. From the “Bamboo Annals” it is known that the Shang king Pan Geng in the 14th year of his reign, i.e. in 1387 BC. moved the capital from Yan north to Maine and named it Yin.
This city remained the capital of the Shang Dynasty until its end in 1122 BC. The Yin capital was not a city in the modern sense of the word; it was located in several villages on both sides of the Yellow River. Therefore, the Yin site includes excavations not only in Xiaotong, but also in the surrounding villages.
The discovery of Yin writing was preceded by an interesting story. In some Beijing pharmacies in the last century, they sold so-called dragon bones, which were fragments of the skull shells and scapular bones of large mammals with incomprehensible signs applied to them. Dragon bones were sold as medicinal substances and in crushed form, and were used by some Chinese medicine doctors to treat wounds. At the end of the last century, the Minister of War of the Qing government, Wang Yirong, became interested in these bones and especially the inscriptions on them, who gave orders to find out their origin. An investigation carried out by his subordinates showed that shells and bones with incomprehensible signs were delivered to Beijing from the city of Anyang in the neighboring province of Henan. The local population, of course, knew about them for a long time: these bones were often found during excavation work. Due to the fact that they belonged to large mammals and turtles, which had not been in the area for a long time, the superstitious population considered them; dragon bones. Sinister objects found during excavation work were collected and thrown into wells, which were considered the habitat of dragons. Some of these bones fell into the hands of traveling traders, who sold them to Beijing pharmacies. Wang Yirong appreciated the importance of these inscriptions as early examples of Chinese writing and began compiling a collection. At the same time, some Chinese antiquities lovers and Christian missionaries working in Anyang began collecting collections. When enough materials had accumulated for their research, the outstanding Chinese historian and paleographer Wang Guowei took up these collections, who managed to read the inscriptions on several dozen objects. As a result of his work, it was possible to determine that these inscriptions belong to the last period of the history of the Shang Dynasty. In terms of content, they represent a record of questions to the spirits of ancestors during fortune telling, a record of answers to them, an indication of whether the prediction came true. Fortune telling on bones took place as follows: the priest-fortuneteller heated a section of the bone with a red-hot metal rod. Heating caused cracks to form on it, the shape and direction of which were interpreted as a positive or negative answer to the question. The same question could be asked several times in different forms, all of them were written down there. For each fortune-telling, the date and name of the fortune-teller were indicated; this structure of the inscriptions on the oracle bones made it possible to determine their dating and sequence in time, to establish the names and chronology of the rulers of the last centuries of the Shang Dynasty, as well as the main events in the state and the family of the ruler, about which these fortune-telling were committed. From a technical point of view, the problem that Wang Guowei solved can be defined as the decipherment of the Yin hieroglyphic script. Usually, the decipherment of scripts is carried out with the help of bilingual - a parallel inscription made by a known script. When deciphering the Yin script, the researcher does not have a bilingual system on the basis of which it is possible to reconstruct the signs of the Yin script using any other known script or using a modern Chinese script. The Showen Jiezi dictionary, compiled in the 1st century, has bilingual properties of the maximum degree. AD which contains ancient Chinese characters. However, the task of researchers of Yin writing was complicated by the fact that those ancient styles that are given in this dictionary date back to a much later time, approximately V-III centuries BC. e. These designs in their graphic appearance were closer to the signs of the Yin script, but in no way coincided with it. Another important source for the reconstruction of Yin writing was the inscriptions of characters in original inscriptions on bronze vessels and bells of the Zhou era, which helped identify the characters of Yin writing with signs of modern appearance. The procedure for reconstructing the Yin script involved identifying the signs on the oracle bones and the ancient signs from the said dictionary using the inscriptions on Zhou bronze. Identification of Yin script characters with modern hieroglyphs through the characters of the Showen Jiezi dictionary and bronze inscriptions as a method of reconstructing Yin script turned out to be quite effective, despite the fact that it excluded the possibility of arbitrary interpretations of Yin script characters. In addition, an area was discovered where its use was impossible. As it turned out during the decipherment, not all signs of the Yin script were included in the inscriptions on bronze items and in other epigraphic monuments of the Zhou era. Therefore, for these signs, neither graphical identification nor determination of meaning using the currently accepted method is possible. It is obvious that reconstruction of the meaning of these hieroglyphs is possible only if there is a favorable context. Currently, an opus of inscriptions on Yin oracle bones has been published, which is updated as new finds appear. It is worth specially noting that at present the reconstruction is limited to the meanings of the Yin characters. Their reading remains unknown to this day due to the lack of transcriptions. Wang Guowei's research on deciphering the Yin script was continued by the next generation of Chinese paleographers and is currently being successfully developed.
Great similarity with the Yin hieroglyphic script is observed in the original writing, which is common in Shangjiangyu Township, Jianyong County, Hunan Province. This hieroglyphic script is used exclusively by women and is therefore called women's script in contrast to the Chinese hieroglyphic script, which is called men's script. Currently, texts of women's writing dating back to the 19th century have been preserved. Local residents report that there were also older written monuments of this
letters, but they were destroyed during the period of struggle against superstitions. According to its principles of designation, women's writing is essentially no different from Chinese: it contains signs of pictographic and ideographic categories. Among them there are many that are used mainly as syllabic phonetic signs, which brings writing closer in type to the syllabic alphabet. Xie-Zhimin, the main researcher of this letter, believes that it directly stems from the Yin script. It seems more likely that the signs of women's writing were invented independently, but in any case this letter is of extreme interest.
The unity of any community of people is ensured and maintained thanks to a single communication code, through which information is exchanged between its members. Both words and material symbols can serve as means of communication. Symbols are created by objects, gestures, images. They form verbal, noticeable, visual message codes. A remarkable feature of communication is that the same message can be encoded in different ways. Thus, a certain historical event can be presented as an epic in oral form, as a fact of history in written form, or presented as a dance, pantomime or theatrical performance.
However, the basis of any non-verbal communication is ultimately speech: any image, when comprehended, is described by speech means. The peculiarity of writing as a cultural phenomenon is that it mediocrely recodes human speech into visual images. The ways of this recoding can be different. There are different ways possible in designating semantic units of speech. One of them is implemented in the Mayan writing, where each sign describes a certain situation, so there is no one-to-one correspondence between a sign and a verbal description, but the situation itself is described correctly. The writing system of the Nosu people in Southern China is based on the same principle. Another way is to create written signs directly related to language units. Dividing speech into individual sounds is a difficult task that civilizations on all continents have solved for many centuries. Much more natural and visual is the division of speech into semantic units. This task was solved successfully everywhere. Therefore, everywhere the history of writing begins with hieroglyphic writing, where each sign represents the situation as a whole or a separate part of it as a special object. The connection of a sign for a separate object with a significant unit of speech - a morpheme or syllable - occurs later. At present, we can only assume what the signs of Yin writing actually meant - objects or words. However, the fairly consistent grammar of these inscriptions suggests that Yin writing was already associated with speech. The only problem is to what extent the Yin language was reflected in them.
The technique of forming visual images to convey speech in the language of the Yin people is generated by their traditional culture. As is known, sign-symbols can be the most common objects, such as, for example, a laurel wreath - a symbol of victory, and an olive branch - a symbol of peace, etc. Gestures also have a sign function, which in visual genres of art - theater and dance - in addition to semantic They also have an aesthetic function.
In its semantic structure, Yin writing consisted mainly of pictographic signs. Pictograms of Yin writing were a schematized image of one object: a mountain, the sun, flowing water, etc. Picture signs were created primarily to depict objects with a clearly defined external shape. To indicate actions and processes, complex signs were created - ideograms, consisting of several simple images. The sign “to cultivate the land was an image of a man holding a two-pronged hoe in his hand, “to fish” was an image of a fish, a net and two hands, “to row” was an image of a boat and a man with an oar in his hand. The process of creating hieroglyphic writing signs can be shown in example of two signs. One of them is a simple “eye” pictogram, the other is a complex image consisting of an “eye” pictogram and a “hand” pictogram, meaning “look”. The function of the hand sign in this complex image is that it transforms the meaning of the eye sign into the meaning of look. The meaning of this combination is to combine the image of the active organ of vision with some hand gesture, indicating that the organ is performing its inherent functions.
The degree of detail in the image could be different in different cases. Unlike modern hieroglyphs, standard graphic units-graphemes were not distinguished within the characters of the Yin script. The number of features in the sign depended on the writer’s desire to convey more or less details in his image. Researchers of Yin writing point to the similarity of the graphic style of hieroglyphs depicting animals with the style of zoomorphic ornament, which is found on various objects of material culture of the Yin era and even previous historical eras. This means that in its origins, Chinese hieroglyphic writing is associated with fine arts and ornament. This makes clear the reason why the characters of the Chinese script were called the word wen "pattern".
Each feature in a written sign has a certain structural meaning and subject semantics.
In Yin hieroglyphic writing, there is still no clear division of the hieroglyph into graphic elements. If we return to the examples discussed above, the signs given there cannot be clearly divided into graphic elements. The sign “to cultivate the land” is an image of a man with a hoe in his hands, but not the graphic complex “man” + “hoe”.
The clear division of hieroglyphs into graphic elements is associated with the further development of Yin writing and with the transformation of simple or composite hieroglyphs into standard characters of Chinese hieroglyphic writing. Despite the lack of a graphic standard for the signs of Yin writing and the lack of a clear identification of graphic elements in the composition, we can definitely talk about the presence of pictogram signs or ideogram signs in the Yin hieroglyphic writing. As in all hieroglyphic writings, signs of phoneticization are noticeable in Yin writing: in the inscriptions on oracle bones there are a small number of signs that are used phonetically; phonetic is the use of a sign in which it does not have its usual reference, but conveys the reading of another linguistic unit with the same meaning: the same sound, i.e. in the case of a syllabic-morphemic language, it essentially acts as a syllabic sign. In the Chinese philological tradition, the phonetic use of a sign is called borrowing, and a character used as a syllabic sign is considered borrowed. Like many ancient writings, the Yin hieroglyphic writing on oracle bones and tortoise shells had a clearly expressed sacred function. At one time it was believed that the use of writing in the Shang Empire was limited to the imperial court in the Yin capital, but already in the 40s, oracle bones were found in excavations throughout the Shang Empire. The widespread distribution of oracle bones indicates that fortune-telling similar to the imperial ones was also carried out in the residences of other rulers. It is noteworthy that divination on bones and shells was preserved in the early years of the following Zhou dynasty and only then fell into disuse.
The secular use of Yin writing is also evidenced by unreadable inscriptions on ceramics. Therefore, Yin writing was probably also used in everyday life. It is not entirely clear what materials were used for writing. It is difficult to imagine that at that time ink and some means for applying it to the surface already existed. Bamboo slips would have been quite suitable for this purpose, but nothing is known about their use as a writing material at that time. Therefore, we can be sure that the signs of the Yin script were applied with a sharp object to a bone, a tortoise shell, a wooden plank, or to the surface of unfired clay.

Zhou letter

During the transition from the Shang dynasty to the Zhou dynasty, ritual was certainly the area of ​​social life where the most significant changes occurred. One of the attributes of the Zhou ritual were bronze ritual vessels and bells with inscriptions. Both were a mandatory part of the sacrificial ritual in honor of the ancestor who glorified the family and was awarded the favor of the Zhou Emperor. The ritual of sacrifice, which required specially made vessels with inscriptions, was also performed after various kinds of awards and after the completion of an important legal act - a court decision, demarcation of lands, etc. In these cases, the inscriptions on the sacrificial vessels stated who and for what merits receives appointment to a position or other favor, and what is the decision of the court. Thus, ritual vessels served the function of letters of grant and court orders to confirm the rights and privileges of their owner. A study of the language of inscriptions on early Zhou ritual vessels confirms that the Zhou people used the same language as the written language in which the inscriptions on oracle bones were made. Over time, the language of inscriptions on bronze changed, which seems quite natural, because the Zhou dynasty ruled for almost a thousand years.
Despite the fact that inscriptions on oracle bones of the Shang era are found throughout the territory of the Shang state, no noticeable local variants of the Yin hieroglyphic script have been attested, which allows us to speak about both the vulnerability of its distribution and a fairly consistent observance of the norms of writing its characters. At present, it is difficult to establish the reason why local variations began to develop in Chinese writing during the Zhou Dynasty. One of the most likely reasons is that writing began to be used on a wider scale and its functions expanded. Perhaps it was at that time that administrative correspondence appeared between parts of the sovereign, huge in terms of the scale of that time, with the metropolis. Each administrative unit had its own scriptoria, which, when compiling various administrative documents, had to find or invent written signs to denote objects that had never before been mentioned in written documents. There is no doubt that different signs could be created to designate the same referent in different parts of the country. Local variants competed with each other on the general imperial stage, as a result of which, naturally, the most successful forms of signs became widespread. Despite the natural processes of selecting the most successful characters, it is natural to assume that the central government also took measures to unify the written language.

The first known attempt to codify graphic Chinese writing is the list of hieroglyphs of Shi Zhou Pian "The Book of the Historiographer of Zhou", compiled during the reign of Xuan Wang back in the era of the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to legend, this list consisted of 15 chapters, where the hieroglyphs were arranged in some meaningful order. It is possible that already in this list the hieroglyphs were arranged according to subject categories, which are observed in later lists. The graphic form of the Chinese hieroglyphic characters is called Da Zhuan "Great Seal"! What the signs from Shi Zhou's list looked like can be judged from the very limited number of such signs attested in the dictionary of Showen Jiezi. One version of this letter can be seen on several inscriptions dating back to the 8th century. BC e., i.e. a little later than the time when Shi Zhou Pian was compiled. The graphic form of Chinese script characters attested on stone drums is called shigu wen "stone drum script". Ten such drums were discovered on the territory of the former Qin state during the Tang Dynasty (618-782), when interest in the written monuments of the past first arose in China. A letter of the same type is found on the famous Pingyang stele, which was also found on the lands of the former Qin kingdom.

Calligraphy

The unique art of calligraphy is rightfully considered a national treasure of China. Calligraphy is an art that people in China are introduced to earlier than any other. While teaching a child to read and write, at the same time they begin to practice calligraphy, not only to facilitate the process of memorizing difficult and numerous hieroglyphs, but also to lay the foundations of aesthetic taste, awaken the ability to perceive art and independent creativity.
“Calligraphy is music for the eyes,” said Chinese sages; calligraphy is also called non-objective painting and silent music. They also say that calligraphy is a dance without a performer, architecture without structures and building materials. Such admiring epithets are a tribute to admiration for Art with a capital “A”. Indeed, the movement of a hand with a brush saturated with ink, similar to a kind of dance, subject to the inner creative concentration of the master, is capable of creating on a white sheet of paper a special rhythmic harmony of black lines, strokes, dots - a harmony that conveys an endless range of human thoughts, feelings, moods. That is why calligraphy is the key to many other related art forms that draw their inspiration from it.
Writing hieroglyphs beautifully and gracefully was considered a great art. The development of calligraphic handwriting also depended on the flexibility of the fingers, so the calligrapher and scribe constantly held two balls in their right hand, which they fingered, not allowing their fingers to “freeze.” Calligraphy was equated with such art forms as poetry and painting. Since ancient times, people have had respect for those who knew classical books and knew how to write hieroglyphs beautifully. Large and beautifully written posters were hung on the street, in courtyards and indoors. The paper on which hieroglyphs were written was highly valued; the written piece of paper was treated with respect and was not thrown away anywhere.
Calligraphy also reflects the basic philosophical and aesthetic principles associated with ideas about the forces and laws of universal development. Thus, in one of the classical treatises it is said that “the power hidden in the brush, hidden in its tip (yin-yang energy) finds its completion in the hieroglyph. The energy and strength put into the brush is cast into an elegant, beautiful...” The art of calligraphy is the embodiment of the highest harmony and was already considered “the first among the arts” in ancient times.
Chinese calligraphy, like writing, began with simple characters, but over time, various styles and schools emerged that became an important part of Chinese culture. There are five styles of characters: Zhuan, Li, Kai, Xing (a popular cursive script) and Cao.

"Zhuan" or block script - the oldest style of writing hieroglyphs after fortune-telling inscriptions, which were inconvenient due to lack of uniformity. The first attempt to unify writing was made during the reign of the Zhou Wang Xuan (827-782 BC), when the court historian Shi Zhou compiled a dictionary of 15 parts, where standardized characters were written in the Zhuan style. This style is also called “Zhouzhuan”, after the name of its author. The Shi Zhou dictionary has long been lost, but it has been proven that the inscriptions on the “stone drums” of the Qin Dynasty were made in the “Zhuan” style.

When the first Qin emperor Qin Shihuang in 221 BC. unified the country, he ordered his minister Li Si to collect and classify all forms of writing existing up to that point in various parts of the country and unify the writing. Then Li Si chose the ancient Zhuan style for unification. And now a stele with hieroglyphs engraved by Li Si himself can be seen in the Temple of the Deity of Mount Taishan in Shandong Province. But only 9 and a half hieroglyphs survived, and the rest were erased by time.

"Depriving"(official font) was created on the basis of “xiaozhuan” (small seal) during the reign of the same Qin dynasty. The emergence of a new font was due to the fact that “Xiaozhuan,” although a simplified font, turned out to be too complex for government officials, who had to rewrite a huge number of documents. Prison warden Cheng Miao also simplified the Xiaozhuan font by straightening the curved strokes. The font was named "li", which means "scribe" in Chinese. According to another version, Cheng Miao committed some kind of offense and was imprisoned, that is, he became involuntary, “li.” Therefore, the font was called “lishu” - “slave font”.

"Kaishu"(charter letter). The earliest examples of this writing style date back to the Wei Dynasty (220-265), but this script became widespread during the Jin Dynasty (265-420). Modern font has a square shape without any slant. Hieroglyphs consist of 8 types of strokes: dot, horizontal, vertical, hook, ascending, folding to the left and folding to the right. Any aspiring calligrapher should start by learning this style.

"Caoshu"(cursive) developed from "lishu", suitable for quick but sloppy writing. This font is further divided into two subtypes: “Zhangcao” and “Jincao”.

Zhangcao font appeared during the Qin Dynasty and was widespread until the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. The hieroglyphs, although written in cursive, are located separately from each other, and the dots do not merge with other features.

"Jincao" or modern cursive writing was invented by Zhang Zhi (?-192) during the Eastern Han dynasty, and became widespread during the Jin and Tang dynasties. This font is still popular today. The main feature of cursive writing is the rapid writing of hieroglyphs with interconnected strokes. When written in the Jincao script, characters are often connected to each other: the last line of one goes into the first line of the next. In the same text, hieroglyphs can vary in size, which depends only on the whim of the calligrapher.

Zhang Xu, who lived during the Tang Dynasty in the 8th century, is considered the great master of “caoshu”. He was famous for his carelessness when working with a brush. They say that he did not sit down to write while sober. He created a unique style. When the brush seems to be galloping across the paper, spinning and spinning, turning the text into one continuous hieroglyph. Nowadays you can still see fragments of steles engraved by his hand in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum.

"Xingshu"(running cursive) is something between a statutory letter and cursive writing.

If written in this font more carefully with distinguishable features, it resembles “kaisha”. And if you write quickly, then “xingshu” will be close to “caoshu”. Chinese calligraphers often compare these three styles - "kaishu", "xingshu" and "caoshu" - to a person standing, walking and running. Undoubtedly, the best example of writing “xingshu” is recognized as “Inscriptions in the Lanting Pavilion” by Wang Xizhi (321-379) during the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Four Jewels of the Scholar's Study (wenfangsibao)
Brush, inkwell, paper and ink are the traditional tools of calligraphers and artists in China, so they are often called the "Four Treasures of the Cabinet". Traditionally, Xuan paper, Hui ink, Hu brush, and Duan inkwell were considered the best.

Xuan paper (xuanzhi)
This paper is mainly used in calligraphy and painting. Already during the Tang Dynasty, this paper was used as an offering to the imperial court. All the famous masterpieces of Chinese painting were made on xuan paper. Without it, the existence of traditional Chinese painting is unthinkable.
In the West, “xuan” is called rice paper, which is not entirely true. It was actually made from the bark of Pteroceltis tatarinowii mixed with rice straw. The birthplace of paper is considered to be Jingxian County in Anhui Province. Since in ancient times the county belonged to the province of Xuanzhou, and the center of paper trade was the city of Xuancheng, it received this name.

The process of making paper was labor-intensive and consisted of 18 stages, lasting about 300 days. Xuan paper is considered the best for its white, plaster-like color, softness and time-tested strength. The ink on such paper is absorbed and does not spread, because its surface is neither too smooth nor too rough. Xuan paper is used not only in calligraphy and painting, but especially nowadays for diplomatic agreements and other important documents. It can also be used as blotting paper or for filtration.

Hu brushes (hubi)
The use of brushes for writing is one of the features of Chinese calligraphy. They are still used by students in calligraphy and painting classes and, of course, by professionals. According to legend, the first brush was made by the general of the first Qin emperor, Meng Tian, ​​who stood with his troops along the Great Wall for a long time. One day he accidentally noticed a piece of sheep's wool on the wall. The general picked it up and tied it to a branch - and this is how the first writing brush turned out. But, according to archaeologists, this is just a beautiful legend. Based on studies of painted pottery from the Neolithic Banpo culture, discovered near Xi'an, it was proven that primitive brushes appeared 6,000 years ago. But people still consider Meng Tian to be the inventor of the brush. Shanlian Township in Wuxing County, Zhejiang Province, which is considered the "city of brushes", is also called Mengxi (Meng River) in memory of General Meng Tian. The brushes produced here are called “hubi”, since the town was once located in Huzhou Prefecture. They are considered the best brushes in the country.
Hu brushes are made from the hair of goats, hares and yellow weasels. The brush will follow the hand of the master on the paper: where necessary, the features will be lighter or darker, wider or narrower. High-quality “Hu” brushes must meet the following 4 requirements: a sharp tip, a clear arrangement of hairs, a rounded shape and the ability to quickly regain shape. The production of a brush consists of 70 stages. For example, material preparation involves sorting wool by thickness, length, softness or hardness. Wool with different characteristics is used to produce different types of brushes. Nowadays, more than 200 types are produced. The brush stick is made from high quality local bamboo and is often decorated with ivory or mahogany, designs or inscriptions. Once upon a time, “hu” brushes were supplied to the imperial court. They were a mandatory element of the desktop of an educated person.

Hui mascara (huimo)
In China, “hard ink” or “ink block” was used for writing, which in turn could be real works of art. To prepare ink for writing, a little water was poured into the inkwell, and then the block was rubbed in a circular motion. When the liquid became thick and black, it was ready for use.
Before the invention of ink, graphite was used for writing. But as the country developed under the Han Dynasty, graphite production could not meet the growing demand. At that time, the production of carcass from soot from burnt pine wood began.
During the Ming Dynasty, mascara began to be made from burnt pine resin, lard and vegetable oil. The first high-quality mascara in China began to be made in Shexian County, Anhui Province, and since the county was called Huizhou during the Song Dynasty, the ink began to be called “Hui.” This type of ink was invented by artisan Xi Chao and his son Xi Tinggui during the Tang Dynasty, and then spread throughout Huizhou County.

The best mascara may contain musk and other aromatic substances used in traditional Chinese medicine. Thanks to them, the mascara retains its black color for a long time. Regular mascara is sold in pieces, and expensive mascara is sold in pairs. The bars are usually gilded and decorated with paintings and poems by great masters. A pair of luxurious bars were placed in a silk box. Calligraphers of all times have attached great importance to the choice of ink. For example, during the Qing Dynasty, individual pieces of carcass could be sold by weight for the price of gold.

Duan inkwell
To write with ink, you need one more item - an inkwell. In ancient times, the Chinese used a carcass grinding plate or stone for this purpose. The earliest inkwells date back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), meaning they have been used for writing for over 2,000 years. In a nutshell, an inkwell is a stone on which ink is ground with water. As a rule, smooth or slightly rough stones were used for production.
A discriminating calligrapher will only use an inkwell made in Duanxi, a suburb of Zhaoqing (formerly Duanzhou), in Guangdong Province. The inkwells were named after the origin of the “duan” stone. Their history goes back more than 1500 years.

Before becoming a beautiful inkwell, a stone must undergo a labor-intensive processing process that includes quarrying, selecting, engraving, polishing and finishing in an elegant box. The most difficult stage is the extraction of stone in the Keshan Mountains, not far from Zhaoqing. To extract the stone, a tunnel was made at the foot of the mountain and water was pumped out. Masons work up a sweat to extract stone of the required quality, which is subject to strict control.
Duan inkwells are valued for their smooth surface, which always shines as if wet. With their help, the process of rubbing mascara takes a minimum of time. They are also suitable for storing unused mascara. Also, selected stone can have elegant natural patterns.

Chinese seals

Seal carving is traditionally considered one of the four unique Chinese arts that make up the cultural heritage of the Middle Kingdom - along with painting, calligraphy and poetry. The red imprint of a Chinese seal is not only a signature or sign, but also an object of aesthetic contemplation and a touch of “the phenomena of the East.”
The history of Chinese seals dates back to the prehistoric Yin Dynasty, which existed 3,700 years ago. Then the fortune tellers carved their predictions on the shells of the turtles. The art of seal carving flourished 22 centuries ago during the Qin Dynasty. Then the Chinese began to carve their names on household utensils and documents (made of wood or bamboo) in order to indicate their belonging to one or another owner. Then the engraving of personal names on bone, jade or wood appeared - in fact, what we now mean by Chinese seals.

As in other countries, seals can be used by officials or institutions, as well as by private individuals. Starting from the Age of the Warring States (475-221 centuries BC), the seal became an indispensable attribute of the appointment of an official to any post by the emperor or prince. The seal personified position and power. Private individuals used seals to authenticate written documents or simply as a symbol of good luck and prosperity for the owners.
The most interesting thing is that seals are a living and imperishable reflection of the development of Chinese writing. The earliest seals - during the Qin and Han dynasties - were cut using the ancient script "zhuan" - a wavy script. Therefore, seal carving is still sometimes called “zhuanke” - “wave carving”. And in English this font is called Seal Characters. As writing developed, new fonts were used for seals. And now seals can be cut in almost any style, except italic.

Hieroglyphs on a seal can be either raised or indented. The printing material is selected at the request of the customer. Typically stone, wood or bone is used. But special connoisseurs and aesthetes prefer seals made from precious and semi-precious stones such as heliotrope, jade, agate, crystal, as well as ivory and other valuable materials.
Emperors used gold or more precious stones for their seals. Today, Chinese central government departments typically use bronze seals, while lower level departments use wooden ones.

It is customary to decorate expensive seals with various inscriptions on the side, and the tops often themselves sometimes represent works of art, as they are decorated with various figures. You can especially often find the figure of a lion - a symbol of power and prosperity.

Printing, as a work of art, includes three aspects: calligraphy, composition and engraving. The master must master all styles of calligraphy. He must master the techniques of layout and composition in order to place several complex hieroglyphs in a limited space and achieve a high aesthetic effect. He must also be able to work with different materials, since different knives are used for different materials and different carving skills are used. Watching a seal cutter at work is considered one of the popular pastimes for the Chinese.

Literacy training

Due to its complexity, isolation from the living language and, in its own way, ritual significance for the state, writing in old China was always an object of sincere veneration and even almost religious admiration. Throwing away any written sheets was considered the height of indecency; they were burned with honor in special urns. Naturally, literacy has always been a subject of special concern to the upper echelons of Chinese society. They tried to teach a child to write almost from infancy. In noble families, the first, and sometimes the only toys a child had were writing instruments and sheets of paper with hieroglyphs. Under the guidance of the teacher, the child learned the basics of literacy, painting over the signs written in red ink and soon pleased the elders with his own inscription from simple, but carefully selected hieroglyphs:
I'll bring a gift to my father.
Confucius himself taught three thousand.
Seventy became real scientists.
And you, little students, eight of you or nine!
Diligently practice humanity,
And you will learn what ritual is.

Now the young student, who did not yet understand what he was writing, could take up books for basic reading. One of them was traditionally a list of family signs. It is known that in the Han era it included 132 characters, later their number grew to 400. Another, most popular book was called the “Canon of Three Characters” and consisted of many lines of three characters each. These were mainly edifying maxims, composed without any allowance for the tender age of the students. On the very first page of this unique primer one could read:
“Where man begins: his nature is based on goodness. By nature people are close to each other, but by habits they are far from each other.”
The third primer, the so-called “Canon of a Thousand Hieroglyphs,” was a coherent text of exactly a thousand characters, not a single one of which was repeated. He also introduced the young student to traditional ideas about man and the world. For example, it began with a statement of the basics of cosmology:
“The sky is dark, the Earth is yellow, the universe is great and vast...”
In the seventh or eighth year of life, classical education began for boys. It was considered, of course, as preparation for service. Students did not receive any special or technical knowledge: professionalism could even prevent future officials from carrying out their mission of governing the state through symbolic gestures. Studying was reduced to memorizing the Confucian canons, and there were a total of more than 400 thousand hieroglyphs in them. To memorize all these books required at least six years of persistent daily study. The wisdom of the ancients was hammered into the heads of the students in the simplest way: the teacher read aloud a saying, after which the students recited it in chorus and one by one. Having repeated the same phrase, looking at the book fifty times and the same number from memory, even the student who did not have brilliant abilities memorized it firmly. Science was hammered into the careless and incapable with a stick. The old Chinese school also studied exemplary commentaries on the canons, rules of versification, and individual historical and literary works. To complete a classical education, at least 12-13 years of hard daily study were required.

In the late Middle Ages, the basis of school education was memorizing the main Confucian canons, the so-called “Four Books,” and Zhu Xi’s commentaries on them. Elements of traditional education—primarily memorization of canons—are preserved to this day in the Republic of China on Taiwan.

Written and spoken languages

Since the written language finally broke away from the spoken language (this happened, as already mentioned, in the middle of the 1st millennium), the relationship between writing and speech has become an important problem in Chinese society and culture. As the circle of educated people expanded, it became increasingly acute. Throughout the Middle Ages, classical literary works were created in a dead book language - Wenyan. The influence of oral speech is felt in them only sporadically. Since the Song era, when China developed a developed urban culture, this influence has noticeably increased. In the 11th century a genre of short stories appeared in colloquial language, the so-called huaben. The basis for the new literature was the then dialect of Northern China. Theatrical art, fueled simultaneously by classical literature and folklore, played a significant role in the rapprochement of literature and oral language. From the 13th century the term “spoken language” itself appears - baihua (the term “bai” was borrowed from the theatrical lexicon, where it denoted the prosaic remarks of actors). Of course, it included many elements of traditional written language.

In subsequent centuries, baihua became the basis of new prose genres and, above all, novels. Arrangements are being made in baihua of works previously written in wenyang. As a result, by the 19th century. In China, a new literary language developed, based on the spoken language. The first work entirely written in the language of modern prose is considered to be the novel “Seaside Flowers” ​​by the Shanghai writer Han Bangqing, published in 1894. At the same time, the first magazines and newspapers in baihua appeared in China. Book language was still used in official documents and traditional genres of classical literature - treatises, essays, poems based on ancient rhymes, etc.
At the same time, the “language of officials” (guanhua), based on the Beijing dialect, became widespread throughout Northern China. It was the language of government officials - both Manchu and Chinese. It formed the basis of the modern literary language, in English called Mandarin language. Of course, there are significant differences between the standard languages ​​of Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the People's Republic of China, especially in vocabulary.

Since the end of the 19th century, the formation of a national language has accelerated noticeably due to the introduction into the vocabulary of a huge number of new words and terms that came from Japanese and European languages, all of which were two- or three-syllable words. The problems of translating foreign concepts were solved in different ways. Sometimes a Chinese word with a similar meaning was chosen for this: for example, the term “revolution” is conveyed by the concept of “change of command for a kingdom” (gemin), which is already found in the oldest Chinese texts. The Chinese astrological term shuxue - "the science of numbers" - became a designation for mathematics. From Buddhist literature, such concepts as “present”, “past” and “future”, “world”, “faith”, etc. came into modern Chinese. Most often, the meaning of a foreign word was conveyed using a previously unknown combination of morphemes, for example: philosophy - zhexue (lit. "science of wisdom"), chemistry - huaxue ("science of transformations"), telephone - dianhua ("electric speech"). Thus, Wenyan plays a role in modern China similar to that played by Latin and Greek in Europe. Later, phonetic borrowings from foreign languages ​​began to appear in the Chinese language - for example, buershiweike (Bolshevik), suveiai (council), etc. However, such transcriptions make up a very small part of borrowed words and often contain some additional meaning for the Chinese reader. For example, the word “humor” (humo) literally means “deep silence.” Although the Chinese language, as we could see, stubbornly resists the direct borrowing of foreign words, the grammar of the new literary language in many respects is closer to the grammar of Western languages: conjunctions, verb tense categories, markers of adjectives and adverbs, and many other innovations appear. If we ignore the historical and cultural context of the hieroglyphs, the language of modern Chinese newspapers is lexically and stylistically quite adequate to the language of the modern Western press.

Literature in Baihua began to become widespread in the daily life of the Chinese after the overthrow of the monarchy, when the previous examinations for academic titles were abolished and Wenyan lost its position as an official language. Authoritative writers of that time unanimously advocated for the transformation of baihua into the language of artistic prose and journalism. Nevertheless, wenyan retained for a long time, and outside the PRC to a certain extent still retains its position in the press due to its semantic capacity. Only after the formation of the People's Republic of China, baihua established itself in all areas of cultural life and became the national language of the Chinese. Nevertheless, the problem of combining a single literary language with dialects has not yet been solved. In addition, in the context of the universal spread of Baihua, a new problem has arisen in the assimilation of the rich literary heritage of the Wenyan language by modern Chinese.

Chinese writing in the 20th century

Since the end of the 19th century, in connection with the need to modernize China and introduce literacy to wide sections of society, the question of writing reform has become particularly acute. This reform was carried out in several directions:
First, attempts have been made to determine the number of signs required for general use. It has been experimentally established that about 4,300 characters are used in educational texts, as well as children's and popular literature. Currently, it is believed that to read literary works, knowledge of 7-9 thousand hieroglyphs is sufficient (with a total of 50 thousand).

Secondly, the reform of writing was carried out along the lines of simplifying traditional written signs, for which different methods were used: reducing the sign to one or two of the most characteristic features, using cursive styles, cutting off part of the hieroglyph, or even completely replacing a complex sign with another, simpler design. In the 30s, the first list of simplified hieroglyphs appeared, numbering 2,400 characters; more than 300 of them have been officially recommended for use. Nevertheless, in Kuomintang China and later in Taiwan, simplified signs, with rare exceptions, did not take root. On a large scale, a program to simplify hieroglyphs was carried out only in the mid-50s in the PRC: access to the basics of literacy was facilitated for wide sections of the population, but the average resident of the PRC today practically cannot read old books or even newspapers published in Taiwan.

The third direction of writing reform is the creation of an alphabetic letter. The first Chinese alphabets, based on Latin, were compiled by Christian missionaries in the second half of the 19th century, but were not successful. An exception was the alphabet for the Southern Fujian dialect, which came into use in Taiwan. At the beginning of the 20th century. two syllabic alphabets appeared - for the “language of officials” of Northern China and the southern dialects. On the basis of the first, in 1919, the so-called alphabet for indicating pronunciation - Zhuyin Zimu - was adopted for use for educational purposes. Graphically, this alphabet consisted of extremely simplified elements of Chinese characters with reading instructions in Latin letters. Zhuyin Zimu was considered only as an auxiliary tool in teaching hieroglyphic writing. It is still accepted in Taiwan to this day. The PRC adopted a completely Latinized alphabet, the so-called alphabet of pronounced sounds - Pinyin Zimu. The use of the latter is also limited mainly to the area of ​​school education.

Although in the first half of the 20th century. many influential scientists, writers and public figures in China put forward projects for a radical reform of writing, up to the complete replacement of hieroglyphs with alphabetic writing or even some artificial language like Esperanto, the real results of their reform activities turned out to be very modest and, moreover, not without a number of negative consequences - for example, clearly the emerging gap between modern literacy and the written tradition of old China. In the context of the general computerization of society, which is happening before our eyes in China, the reform of hieroglyphic writing generally loses its meaning. But the alphabetic letter unexpectedly turned out to be very useful for composing various kinds of text programs in Chinese.