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Ask for help > Writing and Civilization
Writing and Civilization
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Glamorous
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Writing and Civilization
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I am doing my college research and I want your help
My topic is " Is writing necessary for any civilization or it �s not essential?"
Is there any successful civilization which did not have some form of writing?
I can �t find any person " thinker" who said that there were some successful civilizations which didn �t have any form of writing.
My point is that there aren �t any successful civilizations which did not have some form of writing
I want sources about the idea, some thinkers � names
Please help me because I am running out of time. |
21 Jul 2013
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almaz
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It depends what you mean by �writing system �: there are plenty of historical instances of what �s known as �proto-writing � (which didn �t necessarily tick all the linguistic boxes associated with the usual definition of a writing system). It also depends on what you mean by �successful � civilizations. As far as I �m aware, the Incas of South America didn �t possess a writing system as such (they had a communication system - a form of proto-writing, if you like - called quipus) and they were relatively �successful � - at least until the Spanish arrived. |
21 Jul 2013
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anitarobi
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I googled sth, so I �m posting it here in hope it helps... Best of luck Anita |
21 Jul 2013
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alien boy
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G �day
You may want to investigate North American Indian cultures & histories. If I remember correctly (I read this in an amazing history of the indigenous people of the Americas many years ago) , the Sioux Nation only developed a writing system in the 19th century...
Here �s a wikipedia link about them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sioux_language
I think there are 2 important things you need to define:
1) What is a written language?
2) What is a civilization?
The indigenous peoples of AUstralia weren �t declared as possessing a civilization when Australia was colonised by the British. They declared Australia �terra nullious � according to their law at that time, which meant that no native rights were recognised in the colonies at that time. It �s taken until the 1990 �s for land rights to be recognised. Would you say that indigenous peoples had a civilization or just a culture with established customs & mores?
Just a few thoughts...
Good luck!
AB
edit: p.s. You may want to define what you mean by successful, too!
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21 Jul 2013
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