Alphabet Effect
Encyclopedia
The alphabet effect is a group of hypotheses in communication theory
arguing that phonetic
writing
, and alphabetic scripts
in particular, have served to promote and encourage the cognitive skills of abstraction
, analysis, coding, decoding, and classification. Promoters of these hypotheses are associated with the Toronto School of Communication, such as Marshall McLuhan
, Harold Innis
, Walter Ong and more recently Robert K. Logan
; the term "alphabet effect" comes from Logan's 1986 work (see the bibliography below which references the 2004 second edition).
s in alphabetic systems; and this abstraction and the analytic skills needed to interpret phonemic symbols in turn has contributed to the cognitive development of its users. Proponents of this theory hold that the development of phonetic writing and the alphabet in particular (as distinct to other types of writing systems) has made a significant impact on Western
thinking and development precisely because it introduced a new level of abstraction, analysis, coding, decoding and classification. McLuhan and Logan (1977) while not suggesting a direct causal connection nevertheless suggest that, as a result of these skills, the use of the alphabet created an environment conducive to the development of codified law, monotheism
, abstract science
, deductive logic, objective history
, and individualism
. According to Logan, "All of these innovations, including the alphabet, arose within the very narrow geographic zone between the Tigris-Euphrates river system and the Aegean Sea
, and within the very narrow time frame between 2000 B.C. and 500 B.C." (Logan 2004). The emergence of codified law in Sumer
as exemplified by the Hammurabic code actually coincided with the reform of the Akkadian
syllabic
system and is not directly influenced by the alphabet per se but rather by a phonetic writing system consisting of only sixty signs. Also it has to be pointed out that there was a robust scientific tradition in China
but that science as practised in ancient China was not abstract but concrete and practical. In fact the impetus for formulating the alphabet effect was to explain why abstract science began in the West and not China despite the long list of invention
s and technology
that first appeared in China as documented by Joseph Needham
in his book The Grand Titration (Needham 1969). The Alphabet Effect provides an alternative explanation to what is known as Needham's Grand Question, namely why China had been overshot by the West in science and technology, despite its earlier successes.
Another impact of alphabetic writing was that it led to the invention of zero, the place number system
, negative numbers, and algebra
by Hindu
and Buddhist mathematician
s in India 2000 years ago (Logan 2004). These ideas were picked up by Arab
mathematicians and scientists and eventually made their way to Europe 1400 years later.
Paul Levinson
supporting the "Alphabet Effect" hypothesis points out in his 1997 book, The Soft Edge, that the alphabet facilitated the rise and dissemination of monotheism, by providing an easy way to write about a deity
that is omnipotent, omnipresent, yet invisible. In contrast, monotheism did not succeed when Akhenaten
attempted to promulgate it via hieroglyphics in Ancient Egypt
, nor did it even arise in places such as China, which relied on an ideographic
writing system.
Prior to the written word there was a monopoly of knowledge by priests. (Innes: 1991, p. 4) This was because literacy was seen to be very time consuming. Therefore all literacy was left in the hands of priests. With the priests monopolizing the content of religious texts there would be little or no dissention among the public. Thus the introduction of the alphabet substantially limited the power of the priests and religious texts were now open to society for questioning.
A social ramification of the introduction of the alphabet was the creation of social distinctions within society. Scholar Andrew Robinson supports this point by stating that those who are illiterate within society are seen as being deficient and ‘backward’ (Robinson: 1995, p. 215). Consequently, the development of the alphabet allowed for distinctions to be formed within society between the literate upper class and the illiterate lower class.
The development of the alphabet and hence the written word has also affected the impact of emotion. This point is also shared by Marshall McLuhan who believes that to translate a beautiful picture into words would be to deprive it of correctly articulating its best qualities (McLuhan: 1964, p. 83). Therefore the written word has deprived both images and beautiful objects of the correct level of emotion with which to express their exact appearance.
The fact that the alphabet introduced the idea that a person’s writing could live on long after they died was another social ramification of the alphabet. This argument is also shared by Andrew Robinson. Robinson believes that the need for ‘immortality’ has always been of extreme importance for many authors. (Robinson: 2006, p. 83) As a result, the development of the written word allowed for the ‘immortality’ of authors and their written works.
suggests the use of the term semasiographic rather than logographic, because the idea of Chinese characters as pictorial in nature is only partially true. From Dominic Yu's account:
Communication theory
Communication theory is a field of information and mathematics that studies the technical process of information and the human process of human communication.- History :- Origins :...
arguing that phonetic
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
writing
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
, and alphabetic scripts
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
in particular, have served to promote and encourage the cognitive skills of abstraction
Abstraction
Abstraction is a process by which higher concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal concepts, first principles, or other methods....
, analysis, coding, decoding, and classification. Promoters of these hypotheses are associated with the Toronto School of Communication, such as Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan
Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist...
, Harold Innis
Harold Innis
Harold Adams Innis was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory and Canadian economic history. The affiliated Innis College at the University of Toronto is named for him...
, Walter Ong and more recently Robert K. Logan
Robert K. Logan
__notoc__Robert K. Logan , originally trained as a physicist, is a media ecologist. He received a BS and PhD from MIT in 1961 and 1965, respectively...
; the term "alphabet effect" comes from Logan's 1986 work (see the bibliography below which references the 2004 second edition).
Overview
The theory claims that a greater level of abstraction is required due to the greater economy of symbolSymbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
s in alphabetic systems; and this abstraction and the analytic skills needed to interpret phonemic symbols in turn has contributed to the cognitive development of its users. Proponents of this theory hold that the development of phonetic writing and the alphabet in particular (as distinct to other types of writing systems) has made a significant impact on Western
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
thinking and development precisely because it introduced a new level of abstraction, analysis, coding, decoding and classification. McLuhan and Logan (1977) while not suggesting a direct causal connection nevertheless suggest that, as a result of these skills, the use of the alphabet created an environment conducive to the development of codified law, monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
, abstract science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, deductive logic, objective history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, and individualism
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
. According to Logan, "All of these innovations, including the alphabet, arose within the very narrow geographic zone between the Tigris-Euphrates river system and the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
, and within the very narrow time frame between 2000 B.C. and 500 B.C." (Logan 2004). The emergence of codified law in Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
as exemplified by the Hammurabic code actually coincided with the reform of the Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
syllabic
Syllabic
Syllabic may refer to:*Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages.*Syllabary, writing system using symbols for syllables...
system and is not directly influenced by the alphabet per se but rather by a phonetic writing system consisting of only sixty signs. Also it has to be pointed out that there was a robust scientific tradition in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
but that science as practised in ancient China was not abstract but concrete and practical. In fact the impetus for formulating the alphabet effect was to explain why abstract science began in the West and not China despite the long list of invention
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
s and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
that first appeared in China as documented by Joseph Needham
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
in his book The Grand Titration (Needham 1969). The Alphabet Effect provides an alternative explanation to what is known as Needham's Grand Question, namely why China had been overshot by the West in science and technology, despite its earlier successes.
Another impact of alphabetic writing was that it led to the invention of zero, the place number system
Positional notation
Positional notation or place-value notation is a method of representing or encoding numbers. Positional notation is distinguished from other notations for its use of the same symbol for the different orders of magnitude...
, negative numbers, and algebra
Algebra
Algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning the study of the rules of operations and relations, and the constructions and concepts arising from them, including terms, polynomials, equations and algebraic structures...
by Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
and Buddhist mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
s in India 2000 years ago (Logan 2004). These ideas were picked up by Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
mathematicians and scientists and eventually made their way to Europe 1400 years later.
Paul Levinson
Paul Levinson
Paul Levinson is an American author and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York City. Levinson's novels, short fiction, and non-fiction works have been translated into twelve languages....
supporting the "Alphabet Effect" hypothesis points out in his 1997 book, The Soft Edge, that the alphabet facilitated the rise and dissemination of monotheism, by providing an easy way to write about a deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
that is omnipotent, omnipresent, yet invisible. In contrast, monotheism did not succeed when Akhenaten
Akhenaten
Akhenaten also spelled Echnaton,Ikhnaton,and Khuenaten;meaning "living spirit of Aten") known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV , was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC...
attempted to promulgate it via hieroglyphics in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, nor did it even arise in places such as China, which relied on an ideographic
Ideogram
An ideogram or ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiarity with prior convention; others convey their meaning through pictorial resemblance to a physical object, and thus may also be referred to as pictograms.Examples of...
writing system.
Prior to the written word there was a monopoly of knowledge by priests. (Innes: 1991, p. 4) This was because literacy was seen to be very time consuming. Therefore all literacy was left in the hands of priests. With the priests monopolizing the content of religious texts there would be little or no dissention among the public. Thus the introduction of the alphabet substantially limited the power of the priests and religious texts were now open to society for questioning.
A social ramification of the introduction of the alphabet was the creation of social distinctions within society. Scholar Andrew Robinson supports this point by stating that those who are illiterate within society are seen as being deficient and ‘backward’ (Robinson: 1995, p. 215). Consequently, the development of the alphabet allowed for distinctions to be formed within society between the literate upper class and the illiterate lower class.
The development of the alphabet and hence the written word has also affected the impact of emotion. This point is also shared by Marshall McLuhan who believes that to translate a beautiful picture into words would be to deprive it of correctly articulating its best qualities (McLuhan: 1964, p. 83). Therefore the written word has deprived both images and beautiful objects of the correct level of emotion with which to express their exact appearance.
The fact that the alphabet introduced the idea that a person’s writing could live on long after they died was another social ramification of the alphabet. This argument is also shared by Andrew Robinson. Robinson believes that the need for ‘immortality’ has always been of extreme importance for many authors. (Robinson: 2006, p. 83) As a result, the development of the written word allowed for the ‘immortality’ of authors and their written works.
Criticism of the theory as ethnocentric
Grosswiler (2004) points out many scholars (including former adherents of the theory such as Goody) have pointed out that the theory is based on a particular Hellenocentic account of science, which neglects how different cultures have had hegemony scientifically irrespective of writing systemCriticism of the theory's account of Chinese writing
Several scholars have pointed out that the logographic account of Chinese writing is obsolete and incorrect. John DeFrancisJohn DeFrancis
John DeFrancis was an American linguist, sinologist, author of Chinese language textbooks, lexicographer of Chinese dictionaries, and Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa....
suggests the use of the term semasiographic rather than logographic, because the idea of Chinese characters as pictorial in nature is only partially true. From Dominic Yu's account:
- Take, for example, the character 他, representing the third person singular pronoun "tā". The left hand component, the "person" radical, indicates that this character vaguely has something to do with a person or people. I say "vaguely" because this is a very common radical is also used in characters such as 份, 假, and 做, meaning, "portion," "fake," and "to do," respectively. The right side is a phonetic component indicating that (at some earlier stage of Chinese), this character rhymed with 也, now pronounced "yě." Nothing in this character indicates the idea of "third person singular pronoun." From this example, we can see that Chinese characters mainly represent sounds, and only represent ideas in a rather insignificant way. Thus, Logan's claim that Chinese characters represent the "idea of a word" is baseless.