Written language is a trip
27 Jan 2022 12:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scantilyradThis is a little piece I wrote back in December that I thought I'd share with folks here. I might come back and edit this further the next time I read it. Also, my apologies if the device you're on doesn't recognize all the non-Latin symbols!
Perhaps you may have looked at a handwritten Chinese character and wondered, where do I start?! In Mandarin, the system of writing radicals or parts of characters is called 部首 (bùshǒu) and it dictates how and in what sequence each stroke is made.
Today I realized that though I've seen plenty of Hindi and Sanskrit text, I had no idea how it was actually written. My first stop down the rabbit hole was watching this video.
Hindi, Sanskrit, and several other languages are written in देवनागरी Devanāgarī script. And it turns out that the ledger line across the top शिरोरेखा (shirorekhā) is indeed the last mark made when writing a word. It effectively indicates where each word begins and ends. This is something I particularly enjoy about writing in cursive Roman or Cyrillic alphabets and find useful for language learning.
To me, one of the most amusing aspects of written language is noticing similar symbols between systems. Like, there area SO MANY permutations of strokes, but there's also ONLY so many, y'know? It seems that there are just some marks we humans like to make, no matter where (or when) we are on this globe!
Sometimes these symbols are obvious historical relatives, like letters in both Greek and Cyrillic alphabets, which I won't bother with here. But there are others that are from altogether disparate language family trees or branches.
It is worth mentioning that the Indo-European family of languages includes Slavic (i.e. Russian), Germanic (i.e. English), Celtic (i.e. Irish), Italic (i.e. Italian), Hellenic (Greek), and Indo-Iranian languages (i.e. Sanskrit and indeed Hindi). Despite undeniably common roots, they have diverged considerably over the centuries.
One fun difference is that most European languages in this family use some form of the word "alphabet" to refer to the canonical list of letters. This word clearly reflects that the first two letters of Greek are α (alpha) and β (beta). Similarly, the Hebrew letter list begins with the letters א (aleph) and ב (bet), and is called אָלֶפְבֵּית (alefbet).
But in Devanāgarī? The letters are organized in what's called वर्णमाला। (varṇamālā) or "garland of letters". How fitting considering that handy "string" along the tops of the letters!
On the other hand Korean (whose Hangul writing system is fairly modern after 19th century nationalistic reforms) is considered to be it's own language family, independent of the Sino-Tibetan family where Mandarin, Cantonese, and Thai live. I think that's a little suspect considering how similar the Mandarin words are for Korean written language 韩语 (hányǔ) and Chinese written language 汉语 (hànyǔ).
So, without further ado, here's some lookalike symbols I've found so far. Some of them even denote similar sounds!
Russian, Cyrillic letter - ч /che/
Hindi, Devanāgarī symbol - प /pah/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - ф /eff/
Hindi, Devanāgarī symbol - क /kah/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - ц /tse/
Mandarin, traditional radical - 凵 /kǎn/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - щ /shcha/
Mandarin, traditional radical - 山 /shān/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - л /ell/
Mandarin, traditional radical - 几 /jī/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - ю /yoo/
Korean, Hangul syllabic block - 어 /'eo/
Korean, Hangul letter - ㅎ /ha/
Hindi, Devanāgarī symbol - ठ /ṭha/
And just for fun: Doesn't the Cyrillic ж /zha/ look a whole lot like the Runic ᛯ (tvimadur or tvímaður) "Golden Number 18"?
Do you have any lookalikes to share? What are some fun incidental or false cognates you've encountered in your language learning?
Perhaps you may have looked at a handwritten Chinese character and wondered, where do I start?! In Mandarin, the system of writing radicals or parts of characters is called 部首 (bùshǒu) and it dictates how and in what sequence each stroke is made.
Today I realized that though I've seen plenty of Hindi and Sanskrit text, I had no idea how it was actually written. My first stop down the rabbit hole was watching this video.
Hindi, Sanskrit, and several other languages are written in देवनागरी Devanāgarī script. And it turns out that the ledger line across the top शिरोरेखा (shirorekhā) is indeed the last mark made when writing a word. It effectively indicates where each word begins and ends. This is something I particularly enjoy about writing in cursive Roman or Cyrillic alphabets and find useful for language learning.
To me, one of the most amusing aspects of written language is noticing similar symbols between systems. Like, there area SO MANY permutations of strokes, but there's also ONLY so many, y'know? It seems that there are just some marks we humans like to make, no matter where (or when) we are on this globe!
Sometimes these symbols are obvious historical relatives, like letters in both Greek and Cyrillic alphabets, which I won't bother with here. But there are others that are from altogether disparate language family trees or branches.
It is worth mentioning that the Indo-European family of languages includes Slavic (i.e. Russian), Germanic (i.e. English), Celtic (i.e. Irish), Italic (i.e. Italian), Hellenic (Greek), and Indo-Iranian languages (i.e. Sanskrit and indeed Hindi). Despite undeniably common roots, they have diverged considerably over the centuries.
One fun difference is that most European languages in this family use some form of the word "alphabet" to refer to the canonical list of letters. This word clearly reflects that the first two letters of Greek are α (alpha) and β (beta). Similarly, the Hebrew letter list begins with the letters א (aleph) and ב (bet), and is called אָלֶפְבֵּית (alefbet).
But in Devanāgarī? The letters are organized in what's called वर्णमाला। (varṇamālā) or "garland of letters". How fitting considering that handy "string" along the tops of the letters!
On the other hand Korean (whose Hangul writing system is fairly modern after 19th century nationalistic reforms) is considered to be it's own language family, independent of the Sino-Tibetan family where Mandarin, Cantonese, and Thai live. I think that's a little suspect considering how similar the Mandarin words are for Korean written language 韩语 (hányǔ) and Chinese written language 汉语 (hànyǔ).
So, without further ado, here's some lookalike symbols I've found so far. Some of them even denote similar sounds!
Russian, Cyrillic letter - ч /che/
Hindi, Devanāgarī symbol - प /pah/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - ф /eff/
Hindi, Devanāgarī symbol - क /kah/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - ц /tse/
Mandarin, traditional radical - 凵 /kǎn/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - щ /shcha/
Mandarin, traditional radical - 山 /shān/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - л /ell/
Mandarin, traditional radical - 几 /jī/
Russian, Cyrillic letter - ю /yoo/
Korean, Hangul syllabic block - 어 /'eo/
Korean, Hangul letter - ㅎ /ha/
Hindi, Devanāgarī symbol - ठ /ṭha/
And just for fun: Doesn't the Cyrillic ж /zha/ look a whole lot like the Runic ᛯ (tvimadur or tvímaður) "Golden Number 18"?
Do you have any lookalikes to share? What are some fun incidental or false cognates you've encountered in your language learning?