Visible Speech is an attempt to set the record straight about the
nature of writing. John DeFrancis, a noted specialist in the
Chinese language, shows that writing can be based only upon a sound
system and not upon any other linguistic level. He corrects the
erroneous views of Chinese writing as pictographic, ideographic,
logographic, or morphemic, and defends his conclusion that because
of these misrepresentations, the nature of all writing continues to
be misunderstood. Using the writing systems of Sumerian, Egyptian,
Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Mayan, and English, among others,
to illustrate his points, Dr. DeFrancis stresses their basic
identity as representatives of visible speech, while noting their
secondary differences as manifested in their diverse script forms.
He proposes a new classification of writing systems based on this
theme of diversity and oneness, and makes an impassioned case for
the essential phonetic component of all writing. This book reflects
the author's sound scholarship and novel insights, which place it
in the forefront with such classics on writing as those by Gelb,
Diringer, Cohen, Fevrier, and Jensen. The readable style aims at a
general audience interested in understanding the nature of the
symbols that first strike the eye, while the academic research
involved makes it an indispensable work for scholars in the many
fields related to language and linguistics.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
