Classification of Writing Systems

Abstract Writing is only a secondary aspect of language, that is, it is only a means of symbolizing spoken languages, often a very imperfect means at that. How ever, since we are more frequently confronted with unfamiliar and exotic looking foreign scripts than actual foreign languages as they are spoken, and since we shall encounter several exotic scripts in the language sketches, it will not do to omit discussing the various scripts of the world. Here the emphasis will be on the typology of the writing systems that are currently in use rather than on the historical development of writing and the ancient scripts.