Writing systems
Writing is a method used by human beings for communication purposes through the aid of arbitrary visual marks that form a system. Writing can be expressed in either a full or a limited system. An inadequate system is one whose primary purpose is keeping accounts, conveying significant facts, or recalling information. Comprehensive policies, on the other hand, are writing that can express any concept in language unambiguously. Writing systems are categorized into three and have evolved through human history; they consist of the logographic system, syllabic, and the alphabetic writing systems.
The Chinese use the writing system of logographic. This system of writing, just like many others has its cons and pros. The Logographic writing system compared to other simpler phonetic systems of the west has most drawbacks. The method for starters takes a lot of time for one to master and uses much effort. The characters of the system are involved, as some are even made up of up to twenty-five strokes. For one to be able to read simple texts, then they must master up to 2-3 thousand characters. This complexity of the writing system has proven to be a limitation in the learning institutions in China As the language developed over the history, its ability of memorization is put forefront rather than creativity talents of the learners. ON the benefits part, the chines writing system presents a vitality that is not present in the Latin alphabets. This is as a result of its complexity in characters and graphics. Any learner of the Chinese system of writing knows that the written words have a more precious substance and refined tones compared to the spoken words. In this case, the characters of the logographic writing system tend to lead themselves to a concise richness both in poetry and prose that other writing systems cannot possibly attain. The system also easily triumphs the differences between dialects and fundamental linguistic barriers.
The syllabic writing system, on the other hand, evolved to combat the limitations of the logographic system of the Chinese. It involved the use of symbols to represent sounds; words that the logographic system could be able to express. On the bright side, in the syllabic system, the reader does not have to interpret the logograms since they are written unambiguously in the phonetic script. ON the other hand, this form of writing takes up less space and time to write compared to the alphabetic system of writing. The disadvantaging factor about this stem s that it cannot be sued by people with poor memory, like the old or sick. This is because the system has more signs that need memorization for one to be comfortable in reading and writing the system. One, therefore, requires an excellent memory to enable memorization and remembrance.
The alphabetic system was the step towards the full alphabetical writing that consisted of separating the vowel and the consonant sounds. One of the benefits of this writing system is that it only requires the learner to learn a few symbols to be able to use the language, unlike the logographic system. On the other hand, the alphabetic system can be used in writing any communication as long as the language contains vowels and constants that exist on the alphabetic system. Besides, the tones and accents are able to be easily indicated by the use of distinctive marks by the writing system. The system, however, has a con. The system tends to take up more space and time compared to the syllabic writing system. For example, in writing the word “Marama,” the alphabetic system takes six signs, while the syllabic system takes three symbols for the same word.