Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Of unknown extraction, Sumerian is considered to be the first language ever written. Having its origin in impressions on T okens and S eals , Sumerian writing was always on clay. It evolved gradually in the fourth millennium bce from pictorial representations of objects which were recorded for mnemonic and bookkeeping purposes. While clearly serving the function of record keeping, the most ancient Sumerian inscriptions cannot be ‘read’ in the usual sense of the word, since no firm relationship between sign and language had been established. Pictorial images are not the only source of the Sumerian writing system. Among the earliest signs were numerals, such as the round and semi-spherical impressions on the clay tablet shown in Figure 18 which dates from about 3300 bce . While pictorial signs came to be associated with words, the graphic signs were increasingly stylized in form ( table 12 ). Curved lines were straightened and broken down into parts. From about 3000 bce each of these parts was impressed into the wet clay by means of a triangularly shaped stylus, leaving a wedge-shaped mark. Cuneiform writing had thus come into existence. Like ancient Chinese, Sumerian words were largely monosyllabic with many homonyms. It is thought that extensive homonymy made early Sumerian scribes recognize the possibility of rebus writing which led to P honetization . From about the middle ... log in or subscribe to read full text