Hello everyone!
We hope the end of your semester is going well and that you are not too
terribly weighted down with work. On Nov. 20th in KCB 101 at 7:00 we will
be having our big event for the semester, a lecture (sponsored by the
Linguistics Program, Department of Romance Studies; co-sponsored by the BU
Undergraduate Linguistics Association (BULA) and the BU Undergraduate
Classics Association) from a new member of the classics faculty, Sasha
Nikolaev. It is entitled "The Story of Writing Systems: The Origins and
Development of Writing Systems," and the abstract is as follows:
An overview of the major types of writing systems, their structure, and
their historical evolution. This lecture will focus on the history of
writing in the Mediterranean region, also briefly discussing several
writing systems used in East Asia. We will survey the Egyptian hieroglyphs,
the Sumerian Akkadian cuneiform, the Phoenician consonantal script (abjad),
and finally the Greek and Roman alphabets. To complement this historical
overview, a typology of writing systems will be presented; we will also
discuss the feasibility of a writing system completely devoid of any
reference to the phonological structure of a language. All those interested
in ancient languages and civilizations, historical linguistics, and
phonology are invited.
This event is a great opportunity to hear a lecture from a great, new
professor knowledgeable about both Classics and Linguistics, plus there
will be free refreshments available. We hope to see you there!
