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!