typological differences in linked writing of cursives
DESCRIPTION
Presented at the 9th International Workshop of Writing Systems and LiteracyTRANSCRIPT
Typological Differencesin the
Linked Writing of CursivesOKADA Kazuhiro
(Hokkaido University, Japan)
Summary
• This is an attempt at a typological analysis of writing systems, based on their graphical nature
• In cursive scripts letters are often linked (joined) together
• Cursives give rise to numerous scripts (e.g. Western Alphabets, Arabic, and Hiragana)
• Such cursives differ in terms of the degree of linkage between individual graphemes
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Summary
• Linkage degree will capture typological differences in the nature of cursives
• This naturally requires that such linkage is encoded in orthographic databases, noting in what manner they are linked, e.g., merged or not
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Some Terminology
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Some Terminology
• Cursive: More than one part of a letter is made in a single stroke, cf. Calligraphic scripts in which individual letters or parts of a letter are formed separately (Lowe 2006)
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Some Terminology
• Cursive: More than one part of a letter is made in a single stroke, cf. Calligraphic scripts in which individual letters or parts of a letter are formed separately (Lowe 2006)
• Linked writing: A manner in which graphemes are linked (joined) to one another
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Some Terminology
• Cursive: More than one part of a letter is made in a single stroke, cf. Calligraphic scripts in which individual letters or parts of a letter are formed separately (Lowe 2006)
• Linked writing: A manner in which graphemes are linked (joined) to one another
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An example
Some Terminology
• Cursive: More than one part of a letter is made in a single stroke, cf. Calligraphic scripts in which individual letters or parts of a letter are formed separately (Lowe 2006)
• Linked writing: A manner in which graphemes are linked (joined) to one another
• Linkage degree: Degree of linkage between individual graphemes
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An example
Starting Point
• ‘[C]ursive writing was the key to changes in scripts through the centuries’ (Bischoff 1990)
• Problems in changes in cursive:
• “More than one part of a letter is made in a single stroke” is not done by simple smoothing
• Cursive generation model using a certain smoothing method usually fails
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Starting Point
• Cursives are important not only in the Latin alphabet, but also in every other script
• However its details are elaborated independently
• Can we grasp the cursive phenomenon generally?
• An important common feature is linked writing
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Cursives and Linked Writing
• Cursives do often possess linked writing
• e.g. The ‘Uyghur’ Sogdian script (right; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Bugut.jpg, by Yastanovog)
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Cursives and Linked Writing
• Cursives do not necessarily have linked writing: e.g. Uncial script (right), Modern Hiragana (あいう)
• i.e. no linkage degree
• Depends on writing material and tools, purpose, beauty, etc.
Book of Kells, 8c8
Cursives and Linked Writing
• Linkage degree can be illustrated in terms of graphic cohesion and the motivation of allographs
• Graphic cohesion is the degree to which graphemes are linked
• involving merger of graphemes?
• linkage related to word units?
• Motivation of allographs is related to how allographs are moulded in a script (not necessarily related to linked writing)
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Cursives and Linked Writing
• These two concepts will help in capturing the nature of cursives
• I will investigate and compare three cases with regard to graphic cohesion and motivation of allographs
• Latin alphabet, Arabic, Hiragana (Jpn)
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Latin Alphabet
• Contemporary Latin cursive usually links all the letters within a word
• Linkage even enables word unit recognition with narrow spaces between words
• Ligature use is limited (esp. in printing); though historically copious
• Some letters and diacritics which originate from ligatures, e.g. &, æ, ¨ (umlaut), å, and so on
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Latin Alphabet
Development of Ampersandfrom left to right: Old Roman Cursive [1], New Roman Cursive [2–3], to Carolingian minuscule [6]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Historical_ampersand_evolution.svg by Alatius
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Latin Alphabet
The ing
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Latin Alphabet
• Contemporary Latin cursive relies heavily on linked writing to show word units, but mergers of graphemes are rare
• In addition, linked writing triggered many ligatures which are still used today
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Arabic
• Letters within a word are linked except after several letters (a, d, ḍ, r, z, w: e.g. الرسول al-rswl, ‘messenger’)
• Letters change shape depending on its position in a linkage: beginning, middle or end, or isolated
• Ligature use depends on style: widely used in handwriting, but limited use in printing
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Arabic
A Summary Explanation of the Pronouncements of the Scholars and Theologianshttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:A_Summary_Explanation_of_the_Pronouncements_of_the_Scholars_and_Theologians_WDL31.jpg
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Arabic
• Arabic relies on, but not entirely, linked writing to show word units. In addition, mergers of graphemes are common
• Bauer (1996) says ‘[w]ords are set apart by greater spaces [rather than by not-linking letters]’
• By contrast Arabic linked writing triggers contextual allographs, and in handwriting, ligatures
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Hiragana
• Contemporary Hiragana lost linked writing except calligraphic writing
• Older writing possesses extensive linkage (right, Kokin wakashū Kōya copy)
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Hiragana
• Old Hiragana has linked writing, and linkage is usually limited within phrase
• number of linked graphemes are often no larger than 4
• It has few ligatures: merger of grapheme does not remain stative (cf. Okada, 2013) (right, Ōtsubo, 1977)
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Hiragana
• It has copious allographs: for 47 basic categories, one source gives two or three possible allographs for each
• Figure shows characters with their source kanji characters (right, Aston, 1872)
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Hiragana
Chinese Cursives
• Hiragana is developed from the script on the right
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Hiragana
• Old Hiragana does not rely on linked writing or word spacing to show word units — determined by context
• Mergers of graphemes also limited
• It has few ligatures, with too many allographs to establish combinations of letters
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Comparison: Graphic Cohesion
Arabic
Latin
Hiragana
Merger
Word Unit
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Comparison: Motivation of Allograph
• Relationship between linked writing and the motivation of allographs tells us about the history and current structure of each script
• Allographs in Latin Alphabet and Arabic correspond to linked writing
• Allographs in Hiragana correspond to diversity of source characters
• Can this be applied to other scripts?24
Linkage and Database
• What is required for a typologically conscious orthographic database of cursives? What should be annotated?
• Grapheme is linked or not to neighbouring ones
• Allograph and ligature
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Cursive and Database
• Okada (2013) created a small diachronic corpus of hiragana graphemes, arguing that allographs in cursive can be distinguished by number, order, movement, etc. of strokes
• In this way, manner of linkage can be elaborated further than in this attempt
• Annotated database would help such an endeavour
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Conclusion
• Cursives can be categorised in terms of linked writing
• Linked writing can be illustrated in terms of linkage degree
• Latin alphabet, Arabic, and Hiragana differ in terms of linkage degree
• More detailed and comprehensive discussion would benefit from annotated databases
• correspondence: [email protected]
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Reference
• Aston, W. G. 1872. A Grammar of the Japanese Written Language with a short chrestomathy. Privately printed• Bauer, T. 1996. Arabic writing. In P. T. Daniels, W. Bright Eds. The world’s writing systems. OUP• Bischoff, B. 1990. Latin palaeography: Antiquity and the middle ages. Tr. D. Ó Cróinín, and D. Ganz. CUP• Diringer, D. 1968. The Alphabet: A key to the history of mankind 3e. Rev. R. Regensburger. London: Hutchinson• Lowe, K. A. 2006. Paleography, Greek and Latin. Encyclopedia of language and linguistics 2e. Elsevier• Nakata, H. & Kano, H. 2003. Generation of Japanese cursive sentences using optimal smoothing Splines. IPSJ Journal 44 (1)• Naveh, J. 1982. Early history of the alphabet: An introduction to west semitic epigraphy and palaeography. Jerusalem:
Magnes Press, The Hebrew U; Brill • Okada, K. 2013. For diachronic corpus of hiragana grapheme. Presented at the 24th Research Seminar on Computing in
Oriental Studies, Kyoto University• Ōtsubo, H. 1977. Katakana, Hiragana [Katakana and Hiragana]. Iwanami kōza Nihongo 8 [Iwanami lectures on the Japanese
language]. Tokyo: Iwanami• Takashina, Y. 2001. Arabia moji [Arabic script]. In Kōno R., Chino E., Nishida T. Eds. Gengogaku daijiten 7 [The Sanseido
encyclopaedia of linguistics] Sekai moji jiten [‘Scripts and writing systems of the World’]. Tokyo: Sanseidō• Tuttle, E. 1996. Romance languages (A subsection of Section 57 ‘Adaptations of the Roman Alphabet’). In P. T. Daniels, W.
Bright Eds. The world’s writing systems. OUP• Wang, F.-Y. 1958. Chinese cursive script: An introduction to handwriting in Chinese. Yale UP
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