Alphabetic Literacy

Viktoriia Dudar

Professor Barbara Gleason

Theories and Models of Literacy

21 October 2009

Alphabetic Literacy

Scholars make a distinction between alphabetic and non-alphabetic (restricted) literacies describing the former as the literacies that are based on the alphabet and the latter as those deriving from the logographic scripts. There is a thin line between the two; a good example would be the argument whether or not Semitic writing systems should be considered alphabetic: while Olson classifies them likewise, Blake states that “the term ‘alphabet’ – a word simply made up of the names for the first two letters of the Greek alphabet – should be applied only to the Greek system and to those scripts derived from it” (42). Moreover, different approaches exist about the importance of the invention of the alphabet, the intrinsic nature of its social and cognitive consequences, and the different characteristics of the alphabetic literacy as an autonomous phenomenon. Consequently, the evolution of the alphabet, the development of various alphabetic scripts, and the diverse theories about changes in human consciousness as a result of acquiring literacy will be discussed to better understand the concept of alphabetic literacy.

First of all, the modern alphabetic literacy is the result of a writing evolution that spans over thousands of years. Ignace Gelb differentiates four steps in its development, such as picture writing, followed by word-based writing, then sound-based syllabic writing, and concluding with the invention of the alphabet (Olson 9). The origins of writing systems can be traced back to the Sumerian cuneiform, the oldest script in the world. The clay objects, variously shaped (e.g., animals, jars), dating back to 8000 B.C., were discovered in lower Mesopotamia, and they are believed to be the earliest pictographic examples of human attempts to write. However, archeologists think that the major advancement in Sumerian script took place about 3200 B.C. when instead of using tokens, the signs were inscribed into the clay tablets and the phonographic principle (the use of a sign to represent a sound) was adopted. The first logographic form of writing emerged, containing about 1,200 characters represented by the geometric shapes and stylized pictures of objects. Although Sumerian script remained for the most part logographic, it was implemented by the Akkadians, and later by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, who significantly developed the phonographic properties of the script (Olson 10). The further development of the alphabet corresponds to the invention of Linear B, a Mycenaean Greek writing system that was based on the sound structure of the language. This syllabic script is thought to have been developed about 1400 B.C. and it consists of about 200 signs that represent phonetic and semantic values (Olson 11).

Furthermore, “the final stage in the evolution of writing systems was the discovery of the alphabetic principle, the procedure of breaking the syllables into its constituent consonantal and vowel sounds” (Olson 11). Thus, the Semitic 22- graph system invented by Phoenicians in the 2^nd millennium BC is the earliest-known alphabet. Sanskrit, Aramaic, Persian, Hebrew and Arabic scripts have developed from the Semitic writing system. The absence of signs representing vowel sounds, the notable characteristic of Semitic scripts, creates a subject for argument among scholars. Olson states that the Semitic script remains complete and unambiguous even with unrepresented vowel sounds because they are used to distinguish mostly “grammatical rather than lexical meaning” (12), so it can be considered an alphabet per se. On the other hand, Blake argues that the Semitic script is a rather unvocalized syllabary with ambiguous symbols that makes reading “a difficult, often puzzling, and laborious task” (43). Despite this divergence, both scholars agree that the adoption of the Semitic script to the Greek language, which occurred sometime between 1000 – 900 BC, can be considered one of the greatest achievements of human culture. The Greeks borrowed letters from the Semitic writing system to represent consonant sounds, and used six other Semitic signs that did not occur in the Greek language to stand for vowel sounds.

The Greek alphabet became a model for the Romans who borrowed it through the Etruscans (a civilization in the Tuscany area of central Italy) to form the 23-letter Latin alphabet. Latin language remained the main medium or instrument of state and scholastic matters until the end of the Middle Ages and the liturgical language of the Roman Catholic Church until the beginning of the 20^th century. However, the shortage of writing materials, the lack of standardization of writing, the using of scriptura continua (a script without word separation or any punctuation marks) led to a phenomenon where the ability to read and write belonged to the narrow circle of church clergy and specially trained scribes who often were slaves.

In addition, another writing system, namely the Cyrillic alphabet, derived from the Greek language. It was invented by two brothers, Saint Cyril and Methodius, who spoke fluently the Macedonian dialect of the Slavs around Thessalonica (their home town) in order to have liturgical services and preach to the people in their own tongue. The brothers and their students have not just invented the alphabet, but they also translated the first Slavonic Bible and Slavonic service books to take into their mission to Moravia and Bulgaria in 863 A.D. Church Slavonic still remains the liturgical language in many modern Eastern Orthodox Churches and is easily understood by Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, and other nations in Central and Eastern Europe, Balkans and the northern part of Asia. According to Timothy Ware, an English theologian, Slavic Christians could hear the Gospel in their native language and “enjoyed a precious privilege, such as none of the peoples of Western Europe shared at this time” (83). Only the invention of printing technology with movable type by Johannes Gutenberg and publishing of the 42-line Bible in 1455 made it possible in the Western nations. According to Havelock, “alphabetic literacy, in order to overcome the limitation of method and so achieve its full potential, had to await the invention of the printing press”(qtd. in Blake 49). This novice technology triggered the significant transformations in the Western World such as the fast spread of literacy, the expansion of libraries and universities, the development of modern science, the Protestant Reformation and the publishing of the first Bibles in vernacular tongues in the West (the Luther’s Bible in 1534, and the King James Bible in 1611). These changes led to the establishing of different European language as the national tongues at the end of the18th and the beginning of the 19^th centuries. For example, the process of differentiating of the 26 letters in the Modern English language was completed no sooner than the 19^th century.

The 20^th century is characterized by the invention of the new electronic technology that drastically changed human reading and writing habits and marked the beginning of the so-called Information Era. However, the invention of alphabet “initiated what printing and electronics only continued, the physical reduction of dynamic sound to quiescent space, the separation of the word from the living present, where alone real, spoken words exist” (Ong 22). So, Ong, as well as Goody, and Olson, asserts that the alphabet possesses the unique qualities, such as arbitrariness, opacity, regularity, efficiency and autonomy on the opposite to the restricted literacies (Brandt 23). That is to say that the use of letters that represent phonemes in the alphabetic writing is much more efficient than the use of graphs in logographic scripts because the meaning of the words is represented symbolically, but not iconically. As a result, the number of symbols in logographic and syllabic scripts can reach a several thousands and ought to be memorized in order to communicate. For example, a literate Chinese speaker operates about four thousand symbols, and it imposes the problem of ambiguity that makes it more difficult to decipher language (Olson 13). However, when talking about the process of silent reading Saenger suggests the opposite, “the Chinese graphic tradition provides optimal conditions for rapid lexical access and allows Chinese children to develop silent reading at an earlier age than in Burma or in the West” (2).

In addition, the consequences of the alphabetic literacy on the cognitive and social levels are the subject of dispute among scholars. Goody, Ong, and Olson believe that the acquisition of the alphabetic literacy leads to substantial changes in the human consciousness opposite to mastering non-alphabetic literacies like Chinese (Collins 78). They agree that the alphabet transforms human thinking, relationship to language and representation of traditions. Literate people are capable of rational, abstract thinking that fosters metalinguistic awareness, detaching of meaning from context, and moving from collective to individualistic society (Collins 78). This school of thought propagates the Great Cognitive Divide theory of literacy that has many supporters as well as critics. On one hand, some scholars believe that “the alphabet literally changed the cognitive and psychological processes of the Western mind” or “the alphabet and literacy provided novel ‘models’ for thinking about language and ways of using language in writing as well as in speaking” (Blake 70). On the other hand, critics are challenging the idea of the alphabetic literacy superiority over the non-alphabetic literacies (the drastic differences between the Western and non-Western world). In particular, Gough, using the data from Ancient India and China, argues that the non-alphabetic literacy was widely spread in those countries as well as in Ancient Greece. Furthermore, China developed a rich historiographic tradition (not myth), and systematic science without alphabetic literacy. In addition, the process of printing with the movable type was invented by Bi Sheng four centuries earlier than in the West (Collins 79). This argument is further complicated by the diverse opinions about the autonomous nature of the alphabetic literacy, and the different points of view on the literate versus oral traditions. For instance, while Goody argues that “a single literacy was responsible for the shift from preliterate to literate cultures”(qtd. in Blake 24), Street criticizes this idea and asserts that literacy is always embedded in cultural practices and cannot be detached from social situations (Collins 80). Finally, the argument that only literacy fosters abstract thinking is disapproved by Scribner and Cole who suggest that the cognitive consequences associated with literacy are the result of social practices such as schooling (Brandt 25).

In conclusion, the diversity of theories about the development and the consequences of the alphabetic literacy demonstrate the high interest in scholastic circles toward this concept. The profound study and the rethinking of literacy can help to improve the methods of teaching writing and reading to children as well as to adults. In addition, it will foster the spread of universal literacy that is one of the most important struggles of the modern society.

Works Cited

Blake, Brett Elizabeth, and Robert W. Blake. Literacy Primer. New York: Peter Lang, 2005. Print.

Brandt, Deborah. “Strong Text: Opacity, Autonomy, and Anonymity.” Literacy as Involvement: The Acts of Writers, Readers, and Texts. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990. 13-32. Print.

Collins, James. “Literacy and Literacies.” Annual Review of Anthropology 24 (1995): 75-93. JSTOR. Web. 13 Oct. 2009.

Olson, David R. “Writing.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Web Encyclopedia Britannica Online, 2009. Web. 2 Sept. 2009. .

Ong, Walter J. “Writing Is a Technology that Restructures Thought.” Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Ellen Cushman, Eugene R. Kintgen, Barry M. Kroll, and Mike Rose. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001. 19 – 31. Print.

Saenger, Paul. Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. 1-17. Print.

Ware, Timothy. The Orthodox Church. New York: Penguin Books, 1991. Print.