Have you ever wondered how writing began? Words, alphabets, numbers? Most epigraphers and paleographers agree that the historical evolution of writing occurred essentially in four stages: 1. Ideographic 2. Logographic 3. Syllabic 4. Alphabetical. Writing development is unidirectional. This means that it will go through the four stages above in this order and in no other. No writing system can begin naturally with the syllabic stage or the alphabetic stage. No writing system ever studied has skipped a step. The ideographic stage is essentially made up of easily designed images and symbols to make the message obvious. This state indicates that there is no relationship between what is written and how the word is actually spoken. At the logographic stage, each written sign represents an actual word in the spoken language, fundamentally maintaining a one-to-one relationship with the spoken words. If one wanted to say "tree", an image or symbol of a tree would suffice. Now we come to the next big step: the syllabic. This vital step occurred when complex words were “pronounced” using distinct signs. At this point, each sign represents a single-syllable consonant sound followed by vowel sounds and sometimes ending with another consonant sound. Final alphabetical stage of writing. It is the Greeks who deserve the credit for the invention of a real alphabet. Since adding a few extra signs that represent the true vowel sounds, which allowed them to follow each initial consonant sound with the appropriate vowel sound, thus achieving the end result of a unique character for each sound, here is the definition of a true alphabet.The earliest forms of writing are the result of ancient Sumerian and Egyptian civilization...... middle of paper ......and, any word can be communicated by writing. We can decide our own thoughts and how we communicate, but everything we can do comes from the imagination of the Sumerians, Canaanites, Phoenicians and Greeks. Cedric Leonard “The Evolution of Writing” http://www.atlantisquest.com/evolution.htmlSenner, Wayne, Ed. The Origins of Writing. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989. Ullman, BJ Ancient Writing and Its Influence: Our Debt to Greece and Rome. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1963. Woodard, Roger D. The Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer: A Linguistic Interpretation of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and the Continuity of Ancient Greek Literacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Peters, John P. “Notes on Recent Theories of the Origin of the Alphabet.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 1901