Communication
is primarily a matter of sound. As human populations emerged round the world,
the sounds made by the various individuals within a particular group to
communicate with each other, and therefore, by some common consent referred to
specific objects or ideas, became that groups language. Over a period of time
various group languages developed, becoming more refined, sophisticated and
subtle. As these groups encountered each other and began to interact, it became
apparent that the same objects and ideas were being referenced by different
sounds. Translation was possible. Individuals could learn each other’s sounds. It
also became apparent that due to separations, migrations and movements of certain
individuals from one group, some languages were more closely related or had
similar roots, and nearly similar sounds were made to indicate the same things.
Hence English - dog or hound, German - hund, Danish - hund, Dutch - hond, Swedish – hund, Norwegian – hund, or Latin – canis, Italian - cane, Spanish - can,
Portuguese - cão, Romanian – câine.
Still
nothing changes the fact that the sounds made to name things, were entirely
arbitrary, and arrived at by some common consent in order to facilitate
communication within a group. As groups became more complex and interactive,
various forms of writing developed.
Writing involved a far less arbitrary
approach. Writing of necessity involved reading. Writing, when read would have
to produce the necessary sounds in order to be understood. It had to produce
the phonetics and structure with the same efficacy as the spoken word, and as a
result various alphabets developed in order to reproduce the sounds of the
language being written. Some languages adopted a pictorial or logographic approach,
some used syllabaries and still others used phonemic
orthography, or some combination of writing systems. Whatever system was used
it had to reflect the sounds of the language.
