ASIAN 208

Writing Systems in East Asian Cultures


Please note: this is archived course information from 2017 for ASIAN 208.

Description

The East Asian region contains three scripts that derive from the shared written tradition of ancient China but which operate on quite distinct principles. Chinese characters show clear similarities in their development and use with historical scripts like Egyptian hieroglyphs or Sumerian/Akkadian cuneiform; Japanese shows a complex mixture of Chinese characters used for lexical items and the kana syllabary used for grammatical endings; while the Korean han’gul is a unique example of a featural script whose graphs are modelled on the shape of the articulatory organs. But apart from their sheer linguistic significance, writing systems in these countries have always attracted the interest of scholars and artists, as shown by the high rank given to calligraphy as an artform, as well as being implicated in discourses of nationalism and cultural distinctiveness, particularly in contrast to Western alphabets.

This course examines the development of Chinese characters, their use in Korea and Japan, and the appearance of new scripts to supplement or replace them. It also examines the principles behind each script and the role they play in defining national identity.

No previous knowledge of Asian languages required.

Availability 2017

Not taught in 2017

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Dr Wayne Lawrence

Assessment

Coursework + exam

Points

ASIAN 208: 15 points

Prerequisites

45 points at Stage I in BA courses

Restrictions

ASIAN 308