The Alphabet
Author(s): David Sacks
A uniquely entertaining and informative piece of linguistic and cultural archaeology- which unlocks the mysteries of the 26 letters that comprise the English alphabet. There is a story behind each letter of the alphabet. Why is X the Unknown or shorthand for a kiss? Which letter came last, historically, in the alphabet? (J). How did a few squiggles, invented a thousand years ago to denote sounds of a now vanished Semitic language, survive to become our letters today? While China and Japan rely mainly on scripts of ideograms, three-quarters of humanity uses some kind of alphabet. Chinese writing requires 2000 basic symbols (but there's no language barrier), where an alphabet needs typically less than 30. From A-Z, David Sacks provides answers to the most fascinating questions about the way we talk, write and think in a book which will also be illustrated graphically throughout - not just with variations of individual letters but with maps, charts and general narrative images.
Product Information
General Fields
- :
- : Arrow Books Ltd
- : Hutchinson
- : 0.563
- : November 2003
- : 223mm X 144mm
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Special Fields
- : David Sacks
- : Hardback
- : illustrated edition
- : 421.109
- : 420
- : illustrations, maps, charts