This chapter was about the ancient alphabet and the history of alphabets all around the world. The earliest form of the alphabet was cuneiform, hieroglyphics, and Chinese calligraphy. However, these forms of written communication didn't last long because they were so time consuming and difficult to master. From there, other forms were born.
Simply put, the alphabet is a set of visual symbols (in English, called letters) used to represent the sounds of spoken language. The Greek alphabet has really laid the groundwork for making them one of the most powerful empires in the western world through their accomplishments in science, philosophy, and the democratic government.
Examples:
The iPhone has really revolutionized the way people communicate with each other. Text messages are the most used form of written communication on a day to day basis. Along with the iPhone comes emojis. When reading this chapter I was struck by the comparison in my mind of things like hieroglyphics to emoticons. You can tell a whole story with emojis, without any written letters and still get the point across, which reminds me a lot of hieroglyphics because they are also pictures.
Another modern day example that we all see day to day are greek letters with sororities and fraternities. I can't go anywhere without seeing someone wearing greek letters on their shirt, car, backpack, even their laptops. These combination of 3 greek letters communicate to all of us that they are a member of a sorority or a fraternity, which is much different than what they communicated in the past.
Critique:
This chapter was very informative and interesting. I never think about where the alphabet originated, it's just something that has always been there in my mind. This makes me think very differently even as I type this about all the ways letters have had to evolve in order to have me typing on this computer right now. Without the alphabet, society as we know it would be far less developed.
You have made a good point. It is interesting that the iPhone, a revolutionary piece of technology, has completely devolved our writing. The iPhone, among other devices, has allowed people to revert to rudimentary forms of communication, involving pictures rather than words. I am a major contributor to this myself. Rather than spelling full words out, I can easily use a cute emoticon to get my point across. Greek fraternities are another nice example of this. We use Greek letters to represent exclusive membership to a particular society. While my knowledge of the Greek alphabet is already very limited, I would know virtually nothing about it without the implementation of fraternities on campus. It is interesting how these symbols mean something completely different to me than it would anyone with extensive knowledge of their alphabet.
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