this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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Linguistics

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Why was writing invented so few times throughout history? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 2 years ago by Kaladin_Stormblessed@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/linguistics@lemmy.ml
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From what I’ve seen, writing was independently invented somewhere between 3 to 6 times. With so many languages and linguistic communities, why have so few independently invented writing?

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[–] UlfKirsten@feddit.de 4 points 2 years ago

I’m sorry I can’t answer you, because I don’t know. But I love the question and have several more myself.

Do we know every invention of writing or just the surviving ones? What is writing? Are hieroglyphs writing? Where do hieroglyphs end and cave paintings start?