: Each character represents an entire syllable (like "ma" or "ke"). Examples include Cherokee and the Japanese Kana .
: Symbols represent entire words or concepts rather than individual sounds. Chinese characters (Hanzi) are the most well-known modern example. Ancient Origins The worldКјs writing systems
: These systems primarily record consonants, leaving vowels to be inferred by the reader. Arabic and Hebrew are classic examples. : Each character represents an entire syllable (like
Historians believe writing was independently "invented from scratch" in at least four places: The World's Writing Systems The worldКјs writing systems
: Consonants are the primary characters, but they have built-in vowel marks that are modified with small strokes. Many South Asian scripts like Devanagari follow this pattern.