The Alphabet

Author(s): David Sacks

Cultural Studies

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.

45.00 NZD

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Product Information

General Fields

  • : 9780091795061
  • : 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