Writing

Writing is a system of visible signs used to represent language or convey information. It preserves messages across distance and time.

Writing system: A conventional set of signs and rules for representing language in visible form. Writing takes distinct forms depending on how a writing system maps signs to language.
Encoding: The representation of information in a chosen system of symbols. Writing encodes linguistic or other information as visible signs.
Cuneiform: A wedge-shaped script first used in ancient Mesopotamia for several languages. Cuneiform is among the earliest known systems developed for writing.
Literacy: The ability to read and write, shaped by social practices and institutions. Writing becomes socially powerful when people can produce and interpret it.
Speech: The production and use of spoken language through vocal sounds. Speech unfolds in sound, while writing uses visible signs that can persist.
Grapheme: A minimal unit of a writing system that distinguishes meaning or pronunciation. Graphemes are the basic units from which written words are assembled.
Decipherment: The recovery of a message from an unfamiliar or concealed system of signs. Readers must interpret marks through shared conventions, or decipher them when those conventions are lost.
Egyptian hieroglyphs: The formal writing system of ancient Egypt, combining signs for sounds and meanings. Egyptian hieroglyphs provide an early, distinct example of writing in use.
Book: A collection of written or printed pages bound or assembled as a single work. Books make extended writing portable and reproducible.
Sign language: A natural language expressed through visual-manual signs and perceived through sight. Sign languages are complete languages, not simply writing systems or transcriptions of speech.

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