1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778714803321

Autore

Woodard Roger D

Titolo

Greek writing from Knossos to Homer : a linguistic interpretation of the origin of the Greek alphabet and the continuity of ancient Greek literacy / / Roger D. Woodard

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Oxford University Press, , 1997

ISBN

0-19-770466-2

1-280-45272-2

0-19-535566-0

0-585-38144-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (302 pages)

Disciplina

481/.1

Soggetti

Greek language - Alphabet

Greek language - Writing

Greek language - Written Greek

Language and culture - Greece - History

Literacy - Greece - History

Written communication - Greece - History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 268-278) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Abbreviations; 1 Introduction; 2 The Syllabaries; 3 Syllable-Dependent Approaches; 4 Non-Syllable-Dependent Approaches; 5 The Hierarchy of Orthographic Strength; 6 The Alphabet; 7 Cyprus and Beyond; 8 Conclusions; Phonetic Glossary; Symbols; References; Index

Sommario/riassunto

Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer examines the origin of the Greek alphabet. Departing from previous accounts, Roger Woodard places the advent of the alphabet within an unbroken continuum of Greek literacy beginning in the Mycenean era. He argues that the creators of the Greek alphabet, who adapted the Phoenician consonantal script, were scribes accustomed to writing Greek with the syllabic script of Cyprus. Certain characteristic features of the Cypriot script--for example, its strategy for representing consonant sequences and elements of Cypriot Greek phonology--were transferred to the new