CS100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: 10Th Millennium Bc, Phoenician Alphabet, Mesolithic
Lecture 2
Communication, Signs, Symbols, and Representation
● Com: for the latin meaning “with” or “together with”
● Unio: for the latin meaning “union”
● Therefore communication is understood as “to union with” or “to union together with”
● Signs e.g. red = stop, green = go (we make them for certain purposes)
● Signs → direct or immediate representation (stop sign), symbol → more abstract (rose)
Communication in Pre-History
70 000 - 8000 BCE - ice age
30 000 - 10000 BCE - paleolithic
10000 - 8000 BCE - mesolithic
8000 - 3000 BCE - neolithic
*3000 BCE - development of writing
3000-300 BCE - ancient civilizations of mesopotamia, egypt and the aegean (greece)
Writing
8000 - 5000 BCE - clay tokens used by sumerians (early system of record keeping)
3100 BCE - cuneiform in mesopotamia ***
● Cuneus = wedge, forma = form
● Object > pictogram > sideways > cuneiform
● Pressing wedge into clay
● Developed by sumerians
● Demand for record keeping and information, pictographs become inefficient
3100 BCE - hieroglyphics in egypt ***
● Hieros = sacred, glyphein = carve
● Had to remember symbols
● Stone → papyrus
1000 BCE - phoenician alphabet
● Simple visual symbols that stand for elementary sounds, connected and combined
● Need for a more standardized language
730 BCE - greek alphabet
Rosetta Stone shows different scripts to allow for translation
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Com: for the latin meaning with or together with . Therefore communication is understood as to union with or to union together with . Signs e. g. red = stop, green = go (we make them for certain purposes) Signs direct or immediate representation (stop sign), symbol more abstract (rose) 70 000 - 8000 bce - ice age. 3000-300 bce - ancient civilizations of mesopotamia, egypt and the aegean (greece) 8000 - 5000 bce - clay tokens used by sumerians (early system of record keeping) Object > pictogram > sideways > cuneiform. Demand for record keeping and information, pictographs become inefficient. Simple visual symbols that stand for elementary sounds, connected and combined. Rosetta stone shows different scripts to allow for translation. Quipu: used before any kind of european settlers, separate system of communication that functioned in a very different way (notes on this in reading) Founding and important figure in communication studies (especially in canada)
