Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-246) and index.

"Writing systems and phonetics explains writing systems of the world. The book looks first at the spelling of English (how it arose and how it works today), the use of the Latin alphabet in Europe and then outside Europe. It subsequently moves on to the writing of the eastern Mediterranean, to Greek and its Cyrillic offshoot, and to Arabic and Hebrew. The journey continues into South and South-east Asia, to languages in northern India including Hindi, to languages in southern India including Tamil, and to Burmese and Thai. The journey finishes in East Asia; Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. A look at the past covers Sumerian, Egyptian, Linear B and Mayan. A final chapter sets out a typology of writing systems. All of these major languages are set forth with worked examples, and there are illustrations with road signs and personal names. There are descriptions of writing and phonetics in over 60 languages, half of which are given systematic and detailed coverage with tables and worked examples, together with illustrations from road signs and personal names. This book will be of interest to both undergraduate and graduate students interested in writing systems and how these systems connect with the phonetics of the languages they represent"--