East Asia Writing Systems and Cultural Cohesion

Characters

Symbols or ideographs representing ideas or words.

Syllables

Combination of consonant and vowel sounds.

Alphabet

System using consonants or vowels individually.

Cultural Cohesion

Unifying characteristics across writing systems.

Kanji

Characters borrowed from the Chinese writing system.

Hiragana

Japanese syllabary for native words and grammar.

Katakana

Japanese syllabary for foreign words and names.

Hangeul

Korean alphabet invented by King Sejong.

Alphabetic System

Each symbol represents a distinct sound.

Language Diversity

Variety of spoken languages in East Asia.

Ideographic Writing

Symbols represent ideas, not sounds.

Oracle Bone Script

Ancient Chinese writing dating back 3000 years.

Zodiac Animals

Twelve symbolic animals in Chinese astrology.

Written Language

Unifies diverse spoken languages in East Asia.

Linguistic Zones

Regions with distinct languages related to Mandarin.

Chinese Characters

Thousands of symbols needed for literacy.

Geography in Chinese

Written as 土, 也, 王, 里.

Disadvantage of Chinese Writing

Difficult to learn due to character memorization.

Advantage of Chinese Writing

Facilitates communication across different languages.

Cantonese

One of the major Chinese languages.

Mandarin

Most widely spoken Chinese language.

Ethnic Han

93 percent of China's population belongs to this group.