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63 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Rosetta Stone
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- most famous inscription in the world (Robinson)
- Napoleon in Egypt - French scholars part of the exhibition found it - decree of Ptolemy (king) - texts in 3 languages: hieroglyphic Egyptian, demotic Egyptian, Greek |
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Horapollo
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- author of treatise on Egyptian hieroglyphs
- treatise composed in Greek during 4th century AD or later - his readings of hieroglyphs were a combination of the fictitious and genuine - Discovered on a Greek island in 1419, published in 1505. |
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obelisk
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- Egyptian monuments with hieroglyphs written on them
- six ancient Egyptian obelisks re-sited or re-erected in Rome between 1582 and 1589 - caused by the Renaissance revival of classical learning (belief in Egyptian hieroglyphic wisdom) - ancient temple-frieze in Rome (not Egyptian but represented hieroglyphs) that all artists copied in their sketchbooks. |
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Kircher
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- Jesuit priest and most famous early interpreter of Egyptian hieroglyphs
- entrusted with publication of a hieroglyphic inscription on a Roman obelisk in 1666 - result of translation was mixture of brilliance and fallacy (but more of the latter) - assisted in the rescue of Coptic |
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cartouche
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- small group of hieroglyphs in an inscription enclosed by an oval outline
- usually used for the names of important people (kings, etc.) - term coined by French soldiers in Egypt who were part of Napoleon's invasion force in 1798 - found on the Rosetta Stone |
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Thomas Young
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- English linguist, physician, physicist
- began decipherment of Rosetta Stone in 1814 - concluded that the demotic script was an alphabet-hieroglyph mixture - concluded that the name "Ptolemy" was spelled phonetically |
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Francois Champollion
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- credited with the full decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs
- first believed that the hieroglyphs were ideograms until his own research showed that the script was mostly phonetic - used Coptic to figure out some words in the hieroglyphic writing - found that some of the signs were used phonetically, and used them to try and figure out other words in a kind of substitution puzzle |
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Ptolemy
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- king of Egypt
- decree of Ptolemy was the subject of the 3 Rosetta Stone texts - name was written in a cartouche on the Rosetta Stone - his name was written phonetically in hieroglyphs, which allowed for the decipherment of the rest of the hieroglyphs |
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Arthur Evans
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- dug up and reconstructed the 'great city' of Knossos in 1900
- discovered what he believed to be the palace of King Minos - discovered tablets containing an unknown script (now known as Linear B) - tried to decipher Linear B but failed |
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Knossos
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- great city where King Minos lived
- home of the Minotaur - was dug up and reconstructed by Evans - contained tablets that had Linear B written on them |
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Linear A
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- one of three scripts in existence in ancient Crete
- found inscribed on clay tablets - find mainly at Minoan palace in the south of Crete - related to Linear B but contains many unknown signs - today, it still remains undeciphered |
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Linear B
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- one of three scripts found in ancient Crete
- initially discovered at Knossos - later discovered in mainland Greece (Pylos) - deciphered by Ventris in 1952 (Evans attempted decipherment, but failed) |
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Minoan
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- Crete
- King Minos & Minotaur - Linear A discovered in Crete - Evans believed Minoan language was related to Linear B |
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Cypriot script
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- dialect script
- appeared in bilingual inscriptions - signs appeared similar to Linear B signs, but this script had been deciphered - Evans believed that this script was derived from Linear B |
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Alice Kober
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- American classical scholar
- Kober's triplets - suggested declension - initiated idea of phonetic grid - did not fully decipher Linear B, but contributed greatly |
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Michael Ventris
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- deciphered Linear B
- compiled a Linear B syllabic grid - identified certain triplets that contained Cretan place names - suggested that Linear B was an early/archaic form of Greek |
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Pylos
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- located in mainland Greece
- large cache of Linear B found here in 1939 - Evans believed Linear B should only be found in Crete - tablet found in 1953 that supported Ventris' decipherment of Linear B |
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glyph
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- Mayan writing
- Knorosov claimed some were phonetic - Thompson claimed that they were only logographic - it is now believed the signs are both logographic and phonetic |
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Landa
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- Spanish inquisitor in Yucatan
- "Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan" contains Mayan alphabet - his alphabet proved to be the key to deciphering Mayan glyphs in 20th century - assumed the Maya used an alphabet, but did not include enough syllabic signs (though he did include some) |
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Knorosov
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- Russian scholar who proposed that some Mayan glyphs were phonetic
- used glyphs from Dresden Codex to illustrate his points - his arguments were ridiculed by Thompson - his ideas were expanded upon once Thompson died |
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calendar round
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- 365-day Mayan calendar
- used 2 interlocking wheels with dates and names in Yucatan Mayan - "Great Cycle" - begins at 0, ends 23/12/2012 - 18 months; 17 of 20 days duration; 1 of 5 days duration |
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phonetic complement
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- glottalic consonants that differentiate words
- ex. kab' = earth, k'ab' = hand - found in Mayan writing - glottalized = based on whether or not the throat is constricted |
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Cholan
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- modern Mayan language
- considered to be the closest to ancient Mayan writing - monumental texts at Copan and Palenque in this language (2 of greatest cities of ancient Maya) - influence can be detected in Dresden Codex |
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Dresden Codex
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- Mayan almanac for divination
- each day is given astronomical significance - each god and goddess is named with a glyph written above their portrait - Europeans destroyed all but 4 |
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Zapotec(an)
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- undeciphered Mesoamerican script
- inscriptions at Monte Alban assumed to be ancestor of modern Zapotec family languages - earliest known c. 600 BC - script & language partially knowns |
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Epi-Olmec (La Mojarra, (Mixe-)
Zoquean, Isthmian) |
- Mesoamerican inscriptions
- La Venta inscriptions: - Olmec "duck man" - La Mojarra - Epi-Olmec (aka La Mojarra, Isthimian) - not as old as Maya or Zapotec; there are only 9 |
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Olmec
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- Mesoamerican script
- "duck man" - one of La Venta inscriptions - not as old as Mayan inscriptions |
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Etruscan
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- northern Italy
- language not related to any other known language - gave Greek alphabet to Latins - script known, language unknown |
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Meroë
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- where Meroitic inscriptions found
- rules from here also ruled in Egypt - modern Sudan - 300 inscriptions found |
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Meroïtic
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- class III decipherment
- alphabet & alphasyllabary (mixed phonetic system) - 2 versions of letters: formal & handwritten (formal from Egyptian hieroglyphics) - from modern Sudan |
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Rongorongo
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- script from Easter Island
- not ancient - date to last 200 years - appears related to Rapanui (Polynesian language) - written in reverse boustrophedon |
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Polynesian
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- language family
- includes Rapanui, which appears to be related to Rongorongo |
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Rapanui
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- Polynesian language
- appears to be related to Rongorongo |
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Cretan hieroglyphic
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- found on seal stones and sealings
- older than Linear A - one of 2 scripts found in Knossos by Evans - Linear A probably evolved from this script |
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Phaistos disc
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- discovered in 1908 in Crete
- made of baked clay and contains inscriptions on both sides - "world's first typewritten document" - signs impressed into wet clay with a punch or stamp - language behind script is unknown |
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Indus Valley symbols
(Harappan symbols) |
- level IV decipherment
- area of modern day Pakistan & India - inscriptions typically have 4-6 characters (most has 25) - perhaps related to Dravidian languages |
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Dravidian
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- Indian languages that preceded Sanskrit (spoken in south India)
- perhaps related to Indus Valley / Harappan symbols - if they are related, may be possible to use Tamil to help decipherment |
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orthography
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deep orthography
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spelling conservatism
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nonphonemic information
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ghoti
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onset
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coda
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rime
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Old English/Anglo-Saxon
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Middle English
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Modern English
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great English vowel shift
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spelling reform
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William Caxton
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Samuel Johnson
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Noah Webster
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literacy programs
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mental lexicon
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letterbox region
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"bottom-up" processing
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"top-down" processing
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saccade
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"whole word" approach
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phonics approach
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alexia
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literary thesis
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