Writing Systems – Page 7 – A comparative study of the world's major writing systems

Section 14 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

14 The creation of new consonant letters in early Greek alphabetic writing

As explained in §12.5, when the five matres changed into vowel letters, the ordinary Phoenician signs used for writing Greek would inevitably change from syllabic signs into consonant letters. This shift in the nature of Greek alphabetic writing probably took place in the ninth century BC. What were the sound values of the consonant letters of the Greek alphabet when Greek writing had become segmental?

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Section 15 of The Origin of the Greek Alphabet : A New Perspective

15 Concluding remarks

15.1 The importance of writing foreign names in the history of writing

The importance of writing foreign names in the history of writing cannot be exaggerated. The writing of the sounds of the names in a foreign language is basically the writing of the sounds of that foreign language. Usually attention is focussed just on the sound of a name, not its meaning. The form of writing that is built on the writing of foreign sounds may be crude at the outset; however, a fully-fledged writing system may, over time, develop from it. One good example is the birth of Greek alphabetic writing.

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