While speech and mode of writing are distinct and independent, the one of the other, the influence of language structure in the evolution of graphic systems is conspicuous. Thus a sentence of English speech might be expressed by Chinese characters or Egyptian hieroglyphics. In the Tel Armana tablets, more than one language appears in the cuneiform. We have seen how the so called Hittite characters were found on occasion yielding Greek words, and the use of the Roman alphabet for French, German, Italian and other languages, are every day examples.
The fact however remains, that in the process of the development of primitive systems of writing, before the use of an alphabet, the influence of language structure upon the systems of writing is an important factor in the case.
A curious phenomenon in the history of human speech is the preference shown by certain families of language for special combinations of vowels and consonants. The simplest combination is of a single vowel with a preceding consonant in the formation of syllables. For instance, such words as Ho-no-lu-lu, Mi-ka-do and others.
The Japanese form their syllables only in this way. The same is true of Polynesian dialects and also certain families of language in Africa south of the Equator.
Some distinguished philologists suggest this relation of consonant and vowel as survivals of the original elements of speech; an example, perhaps, in language, of “the line of least resistance.” It is easier to utter sa than as, ta than at, and so on. However this may be, it is a notable fact that certain families of speech form their syllables only in this way.
Again, the Semitic languages are alone in their use of three consonants in the formation of root words; three consonants with their complementary vowels and no more.
Other languages form their syllables with every possible combination of consonants and vowels, some showing a preference for the consonants, others for the vowels, while again others combine their syllables as the case may be, showing no decided preferences for special combinations of vowels and consonants.
These conditions have had their influence on the development of graphic systems. In the simplest combination of a consonant and vowel, as sa, se, si, so, su, if the combining power is only one way and never another, as as, es, is, os, us, the number of syllables that can be formed in such a language are few, and the number of signs to express these are consequently limited. But when the combining power is both ways, the number of possible syllables increases with every increase of these combinations of vowels and consonants, and the number of signs correspondingly.
The transmission of the Chinese system of writing to the Japanese, which occurred about the third century, B. C., indicates this influence of language structure towards simplicity. The Japanese language is polysyllabic. No syllable contains more than one vowel, with a single preceding consonant.
In the adoption by the Japanese of the Chinese characters in the Ka-ta-ka-na syllabary, a certain number of phonograms were selected which would give the sound of the unions of consonants and vowels in the Japanese language. As spoken, this includes five vowels and fifteen consonants. As these combine only in one way there are but seventy-five possible combinations of vowels and consonants in this language. As some of these possible combinations never occur, the use of forty-five of these syllabic signs are all that is necessary to form any word in the Japanese language, with the Ka-ta-ka-na syllabary.