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Tawaaf, a Punjabi language novel by Baldev Singh Greval,
was recently transcribed and launched by Saanjh Publications. Image: Provided
It started with pictography. Script evolved gradually and consisted initially of whole words. Later those were broken into alphabets. Still, in many languages, one has to memorise the word shapes in the Mandarin or Chinese, for example. We too don’t analyse the spellings but pronounce the whole words as we recognise them without breaking them into alphabets.
Various scripts have been adopted and developed over the centuries in different parts of the world. Many ancient languages have died, yet the scholars have managed to decipher some of them just as the cuneiform script and, later, with the help of Rosetta stone the Egyptian script were deciphered. It is hoped that the pictographic script from Indus Valley steatite seals too will be decoded one day.