Monday, 25 April 2016
Thursday, 14 April 2016
The history of Written Medium
The history of Written Medium
The earliest writing we know of dates back to around 3,000 BC
and was invented by the Sumerians. Temple officials needed to
keep records of the grain, sheep and cattle entering or leaving their stores and
farms and it became impossible to rely on memory. So, an alternative method was
required and the very earliest texts were pictures of the items scribes needed
to record (known as pictographs).
These texts were drawn on damp clay tablets using a pointed
tool. The scribes realised it was quicker and easier to produce
representations of things as animals, rather than naturalistic impressions
of them. They began to draw marks in the clay to make up signs, which were
standardised so they could be recognised by many people. A wedge-shaped instrument (usually a cut reed) was used to
press the signs into soft clay. This gave the writing system its name,
'cuneiform', meaning wedge-shaped. cuneiform signs were put together and developed to represent sounds, so they
could be used to record spoken language.
Once this was achieved, ideas and
concepts could be expressed and communicated in writing e.g. letters enclosed in
clay envelopes, as well as works of literature.
Written mediums also developed in Egypt. The most well-known script used for writing the Egyptian language was in the
form of a series of small signs, or hieroglyphs.
Some signs are pictures of real-world objects, while others are
representations of spoken sounds. Some signs write one letter, some more, while others write whole words.
Occupational Language
Language in Law-
The interactions between lawyers is typically through spoken language if within the same chambers, or email. In these interactions, much lexical jargon is used due to the shared knowledge within the discourse community.One example of this is in criminal law the terms 'mens rea' and 'actus reus', legal terms meaning 'guilty mind' and 'guilty act'. These terms are used to distinguish between what an offender has done and their thoughts/motive behind it.
Another example is used by judges or legal advisors within the courts to interpret statutes and laws. One term is 'ejusdem generis', meaning to draw meaning of other words from what is already known, and 'expression unius est exlussio alterus' meaning that expressed meaning of one word excludes others.
- Jurisdiction - the power to sentence a criminal
- Perjury - deliberately making material false or misleading statements while under oath
- Res Ipsa Loquiter - 'the thing speaks for itself'
- Aquittal - when the defendant is found not guilty
- Case
- Charge
- Plea
- Breach
- Witnesses
- Evidence
- Prosecution
- Jury
- Bail
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