Scripts of the World on the Olin Library Plaza
The scripts engraved on the Olin Library plaza represent the diversity of symbols for recording language. In alphabetic scripts such as Latin and Cyrillic, a letter symbol corresponds to a sound. In syllabic alphabets such as Devanagari and Gurmukhi and in syllabaries such as Cherokee, Ethiopic, and Vai, a symbol represents a syllable. In logographic scripts such as Chinese, a symbol may stand for a part of a word, a whole word, a whole idea, or it may represent or hint at the meaning of the symbol.
The scripts also symbolize the dynamic and complex relationship between languages and societies through history. For example, Kashmiri, written in Kashmiri script, is also comprehensible to Kashmiri speakers when written in the Arabic and Devanagari scripts. Some scripts were intentionally designed, such as the script for the Cherokee language developed in 1821. Some scripts were wholly adopted, such as the Latinic script officially adopted for modern Turkish by the Republic of Turkey in 1928. Some scripts like Nushu and Coptic are dying out as their populations of users decreases. Scripts continue to evolve. For example, many characters in Chinese were simplified for the computer keyboard. (see Unicode Character Code Charts By Script)
Use the location guide and key to locate the scripts on the plaza. The table below lists languages which use the scripts depicted and the primary places where those languages are spoken.
| # | Script | Language(s) | Spoken where? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Arabic | Arabic Persian Urdu |
Near East, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa |
| 2. | Armenian | Armenian | Armenia, Iran, Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan |
| 3. | Bengali | Bengali Assamese Manipuri Garo Mundari |
Bangladesh and in the Indian state of West Bengal; Bengali script used for Assamese and Manipuri in the Indian states of Assam and Manipur; Garo in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam; Mundari, mainly in Bihar India |
| 4. | Berber | Berber | Spoken in scattered areas throughout northern Africa from Egypt westward to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Niger River northward to the Mediterranean |
| 5. | Cherokee | Cherokee | 22,000 speakers, primarily in Oklahoma and North Carolina |
| 6. | Chinese | Chinese Tibetan Wu Burmese |
China, Burma, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia |
| 7. | Coptic | Coptic | Liturgical language in the Coptic Church in Egypt |
| 8. | Cree | Ojibwa | Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba; US states of MI, WI, MN, MT, ND |
| 9. | Cyrillic | Russian Bulgarian Serbian Macedonian |
Eastern Slavs: Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarusian |
| 10. | Devanagari | Hindi Sanskrit Nepali |
Hindi in Indian states Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, northern Bihar; also Bangladesh; Nepali in Nepal |
| 11. | Ethiopic | Amharic Tigrinya Tigre |
Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia; Tigrinya and Tigre in Eritrea, Ethiopia |
| 12. | Georgian | Georgian | Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran |
| 13. | Greek | Greek | Greece, Cyprus |
| 14. | Gujarati | Gujarati Kachchi |
Gujarati in the Indian state of Gujarat; Kachchi in India, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Tanzania |
| 15. | Gurmukhi | Punjabi | Panjabi or Punjabi in the Indian state of Panjab; Pakistan (written with a version of the Arabic script) |
| 16. | Hebrew | Hebrew | Israel |
| 17. | Japanese | Japanese | Japan, USA, Brazil, Peru |
| 18. | Kannada | Kannada Tulu |
Kannada or Canarese in the Indian state of Karnataka |
| 19. | Kashmiri | Kashmiri | India, Pakistan |
| 20. | Korean | Korean | South Korea, North Korea, China, Japan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia |
| 21. | Malay-alam | Malay-alam | Indian state of Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands India, Singapore, Malaysia (where written by Muslims with a version of the Arabic script) |
| 22. | Nushu | Hunan dialects |
Script developed in secret by and for women in Hunan Province of China |
| 23. | Oriya | Oriya | Indian state of Orissa |
| 24. | Roman | French English German Spanish Portuguese |
Countries of the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Turkey; former colonies of those countries |
| 25. | Sinhala | Sinhala Pali Sanskrit |
Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand; Sinhala script is also used to write Pali and Sanskrit in Sri Lanka |
| 26. | Tamil | Tamil | Indian state of Tamilnadu, north-eastern Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore |
| 27. | Telugu | Telugu | Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and in neighboring states |
| 28. | Tibetan | Tibetan | Tibet, China, Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh, Nepal |
| 29. | Vai | Vai | Liberia |
Originally published as a print brochure, May 2004. Written by Charmaine Scott.