Review Article: The Mother of Writing: The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script
Author(s):
Ferguson, Charles A
Format:
Book review
Citation:
Word, Volume 46, Issue 1 (1995-04). pp. 75-88.
Language:
English
Abstract:
A review of William A. Smalley's, Chia Koua Vang's, & Gnia Yee Yang's The Mother of Writing: The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script (Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1990 [see listing in IRPL, this issue]). The creation of a writing system for the language of Hmong by an illiterate rice farmer in the northwest mountains of Vietnam in 1959 through messianic intervention is chronicled. Various interpretations of these events are presented, as well as information on the creator's life & assassination. This case of stimulus diffusion in the creation of a writing system is examined. The relation of linguistic, particularly phonological, structure to writing systems, societal changes influenced by the introduction of literacy into a previously illiterate community, & the role of religion in the creation of writing systems are explored. 11 References. M. Gordon