Scripts and Writing Systems

In a time of increased transnational and transcultural communication, common scripts and standardized writing systems are essential features of global interaction. Yet this necessary standardization can be problematic. Writing systems are both functional, in that they provide a visual way to represent language and allow for communication across time and space, and symbolic, in that they reflect a people's identity and culture. Historically, scripts were tied to representations of important texts (notably “the scriptures,” such as the Qur'ān) and combine notions of aesthetics and craftsmanship on the one hand with notions of authority and heritage on the other. For most of human history, scripts and writing systems were closer to the seats of power and religion (often combined) and a matter of elites rather than a concern of the masses.

Only after the Gutenberg revolution in printing through moveable type took hold during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment periods did the commercial use of scripts and writing systems become dominant and functional elements prevail. What is more, the development of science and technology (including military needs) from the 19th century onward required internationally communicable and translatable scripts and writing systems. The emerging academic communities favored a smaller set of languages and scripts and types.

The globalization phases of the late 19th and 20th centuries, while primarily fueled by finance, were greatly aided by improvements in communication technology, which implied a need for efficient (i.e., less costly) and more effective (i.e., less ambiguous) writing systems. Example are the Morse code in the spread of telegraphy in the 19th century and the ASCII system and the preference for Courier fonts in the late 20th century as personal computers were first introduced.

Some observers note an increasing homogenization of writing systems for two main reasons: First, the emphasis on functionality in a globalizing world privileges fewer systems that are also versatile; second, the declining use and even distinction of many of the world's languages bring with it a loss of scripts and writing systems. Yet some of these same scholars observe trends away from homogenization. Here, too, two major trends seem at work: First, there is a greater diversification of types and scripts within one system, for example, through the wide availability of different fonts in word processing programs and downloadable applications. Second, there is the development of new scripts and writing systems in software technology that used to be rather technical machine code but that are moving more toward icon-based communication interfaces between computer and user.