- Jan 13, 2012
- 12:19 AM
Endangered Alphabets
Tim Brookes / The Platform
At its most abstract, the modernisation and globalisation of scripts removes not only evidence of a culture’s history, but also of its very humanity. Even mainstream scripts such as Chinese and Arabic, both of which were remarkable in showing their origins as brushstrokes or penstrokes, have recently been reformed to look simpler and more mechanical.
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Alphabets that do not make the transition to Internet addresses could see their declines accelerated in favor of English scripts. At issue with online addresses is the ability of users to navigate entirely in their own script, rather than resort to English at any point, for example in the use of top-level-domain extensions such as .com.
By necessity, internationalized domain names or IDNs limit script variations and therefore creativity.
Accelerated declines in Sindhi, Punjabi, Balochi and other South Asian languages can be expected as a result of being left out of the transition to the Internet. It is a transition no less remarkable, but occurring more rapidly, than previous transitions from orality to chirography and then from chirography to typography.
Memories of life and language use before the Internet will become more difficult to describe and record once transitions to entirely online-compatible scripts are complete. We have yet to grasp the significance of these transitions, or even catalog the languages and populations involved.
- A. Mitchell / 05:58 AM, Jan 23, 2012 Permalink