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Speaking has been around for 100,000 years. It is obvious that speaking came before writing. Languages existed long before the written word.
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The oldest recording system dates back to 9300 BC. From this discovery, scientists have concluded that the development of written language is based on the domestication of plants and animals by pre-historic hunter-gatherers.
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The earliest evidence of written language dates back to the 4th millennium. Cuneiform was the system of writing in Mesopotamia. Pictograms were pictures or symbols used similarly to hieroglyphs. Pictograms, cuneiform, and hieroglyphics were all carved into soapstone, clay, and limestone. -
The Luwian Hieroglyphic script was discovered in the early 19th century. While it was only fully deciphered in the 1970s, it was found to be the official script of the Bronze Age during the Empire Era. It is said to be one of the oldest Indo-European languages.
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After hieroglyphics became popular, the public could write to each other. Before, this luxury was only for royals. At about this time, people were able to communicate stories, such as the well-known Epic of Gilgamesh.
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Around 700 BC, the Greeks created an alphabetical system containing 24 characters. After this, the surfaces that were used to write on also expanded. From writing on clay tablets, called Egyptian papyrus, to paper, invented by the Chinese.
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Spaces in between words were invented and became the normal stand for writing. Spaces and punctuation were added around the same time. Before this, people did not feel the need to separate words because we did not separate them while we spoke. The written word back then was meant to be read aloud, even if the reader is alone.
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After the invention of spaces and punctuation came formatting. Sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and fonts were brought into play.
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The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s. After that, newspapers and books were on the rise.
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Although the written word was on the rise, the worlds literacy rate in 1900 was only 21%.
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Modern reading and writing have been evolving for the past 200 years. Today we have books, newspapers, magazines, text messaging, emailing, and other types of writing down our modern-day language. Our literacy rate today is around 86%.