# Writing Systems

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Category: Languages
Slides: 31
Updated: 2026-05-15T22:18:31.462Z
Tags: languages, writing, systems

## Summary

Language is universal among humans; writing is not. Writing has been independently invented at most five times in the history of the species, and most peoples have lived and died without it. Key sections include: Writing Systems.; Opening The technology that made history.; Chapter I Cuneiform.; Chapter II Hieroglyphs.; Chapter III The Rosetta Stone.; Chapter IV The first alphabet.; Chapter V Adding vowels.; Chapter VI The Latin alphabet.; Chapter VII The longest tradition.; Chapter VIII Mesoamerican glyphs..

## Slide Outline

1. Writing Systems.
2. Opening The technology that made history.
3. Chapter I Cuneiform.
4. Chapter II Hieroglyphs.
5. Chapter III The Rosetta Stone.
6. Chapter IV The first alphabet.
7. Chapter V Adding vowels.
8. Chapter VI The Latin alphabet.
9. Chapter VII The longest tradition.
10. Chapter VIII Mesoamerican glyphs.
11. Chapter IX Ventris.
12. Chapter X The script designed by a king.
13. Chapter XI The abugida family.
14. Chapter XII The abjad.
15. Chapter XIII Slavic and beyond.
16. Chapter XIV The square script.
17. Chapter XV Three scripts at once.
18. Chapter XVI The undeciphered.
19. Chapter XVII Sequoyah's syllabary.
20. Chapter XVIII The numbers we use.
21. Chapter XIX Movable type.
22. Chapter XX Spelling and orthography.
23. Chapter XXI Encoding the world.
24. Chapter XXII Which way the script runs.
25. Chapter XXIII Writing as art.
26. Chapter XXIV Undeciphered scripts.
27. Chapter XXV Twenty essentials.
28. Chapter XXVI Watch & read.
29. Chapter XXVII The structural argument.
30. Chapter XXVIII Where scripts go.
31. The end of the deck.

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