Editing Writing (section)

{{Short description|Persistent representation of language}}
{{Redirect|Write}}
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[[File:Rosetta Stone.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[Rosetta Stone]] (196&nbsp;BC) bears writing in three different scripts: [[hieroglyphs]] (top) and [[Demotic script|Demotic]] (middle) record the same text in the [[Egyptian language]], while an equivalent passage in [[Greek language|Greek]] uses the [[Greek alphabet]] (bottom). These correspondences were key to the [[decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs]] in the early 19th century.]]

'''Writing''' is the act of creating a persistent representation of [[language]]. A [[writing system]] includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every [[written language]] arises from a corresponding spoken language; while the use of language is universal across human societies, most spoken languages are not written.{{sfnp|Harris|2000|p=185}}

Writing is a [[cognitive]] and [[social]] activity involving [[neuropsychological]] and [[Writing process|physical processes]]. The outcome of this activity, also called ''writing'' (or a ''[[Text (literary theory)|text]]'') is a series of [[Handwriting|physically inscribed]], [[Printing press|mechanically transferred]], or [[Digital data|digitally represented]] symbols. [[Reading]] is the corresponding process of interpreting a written text, with the interpreter referred to as a ''reader''.{{sfnp|Smith|2005|pp=[https://archive.org/details/institutionaleth0000smit/page/105 105–108]}}

In general, writing systems do not constitute languages in and of themselves, but rather a means of encoding language such that it can be read by others across time and space.{{sfnp|Ong|1982}}{{sfnp|Haas|1996}} While not all languages use a writing system, those that do can complement and extend the capacities of [[spoken language]] by creating durable forms of language that can be transmitted across space (e.g. [[Letter (message)|written correspondence]]) and stored over time (e.g. [[libraries]]).{{sfnp|Schmandt-Besserat|Erard|2007|p=21}} Writing can also impact what knowledge people acquire, since it allows humans to externalize their thinking in forms that are easier to reflect on, elaborate on, reconsider, and revise.{{sfnp|Emig|1994}}{{sfnp|Adler-Kassner|Wardle|2015}}{{sfnp|Winsor|1994|pp=227–250}}