Segmental script and Syllabary

We whatched character's appearance.These characters are calld Phonogram.One glyph has one pronunciation.

Phonogram is divided to segmental and Syllabary.It is difficult to understand difference between these.But we have to learn this to know history of writing.

▲Phonogram is divided to segmental and Syllabary.

What is segmental?

Segmental is something that has one phoneme.Phoneme is pronouncing minimum unit.This is discussed for many years but for example,in Japanese 、when we say「学校」,phoneme are /g/・/a/...of 「/gaQkoh/」（/Q/ is elongation）.The alphabet is the typical character of phoneme characters. A concrete segmental are Romanization of Japanese,Latin alphabet,Arabic alphabet and Devanagari alphabet.

History of Segmental script

In B.C. 3000, the hieroglyph was born in Egypt. 7、800years passed,hieroglyph have letter which express consonant and vowel.This let people write a borrowed word and proper name.This is when Segmental script begins.

Around B.C. 1400,Proto-Canaanite alphabet appeared.This is hieroglyph by origin and had 22 kinds of characters.（The time wichi is until then are un-known）。Proto-Canaanite alphabet became a prototype of the alphabet. History of alphabet started then.

Proto-Canaanite alphabet turned into Phoenician alphabet in 11th cencury.This is easier to write than Proto-Canaanite alphabet.Now,let's see Phoenician alphabet,Greek characters and Latin alphabet.

Phoenician alphabet	Greek character	Latin alphabet
	A	A
	B	B
	G	C,G
	D	D
	E	E
	U	F,U,V,W,Y
	H	H
	I	I,J
	K	K
	L	L
	M	M
	N	N
	O	O
	P	P
	※	Q
	R	R
	S	S
	T	T
	X	X
	Z	Z

▲The conversion table

So,alphabet we are using is simirar to Phoenician alphabet in 11th cencury.And we can know modern alphabet is An ultimate omitted type .In so doing,Segmental script became alphabet we use now.

What is Syllabary?

Syllabary has one syllabic sound.A syllabic sound is confusion,so we can only say "syllabic sound is phrase which can be heard one block."For exsample,「りんご」is 3 syllabic,「り」「ん」「ご」 in Japanese.In English if you can say "computer",the word have 3 syllabics as 'com''pu''ter'.In conclusion it is a pronouncing block.

History of Syllabary

Linear B was used in Crete in about B.C.1450.This character was completely forgotten by people but it was decoded in recent years and it turned out to be that it was Syllabary.However details about Linear B is un-known and secret.

▲The map of Crete

Hiragana and Katakana are typical Syllabary.Kanji is introduced by China in Heian era and it was improved to simple and phonogram.This is Kana and has changed little.

▲Hiragana and Katakana are alike.

The kind of a syllabic character is overwhelmingly fewer than a phoneme character.Hiragana we are familiar with is one of the particular kind in history of writing.

Other Syllabary：Yi script（China）・Nushu script（China）・Vai syllabary（West Africa）・Cherokee syllabary（USA） and so on.