What did the development of the alphabet mean for civilization and progress?

Answer 1

Alphabetic writing systems are vastly easier to learn than hieroglyphics or syllable-based systems as the number of symbols is much more limited. If the language has a consistent spelling system, like Spanish or Finnish, then learning to read and write is even easier.

As for civilization and progress, one has to remember the alphabet was first used for keeping inventory and for commercial records. This has an obvious relationship with the development of complex systems of trade. As well as for monetary purposes, a simplified alphabet allowed communication between civilizations. The Rosetta Stone is a perfect example of that.

Answer 2

The real answer:

The history of the alphabet started in ancient Egypt. By 2700 BCE Egyptian writing had a set of some 24 hieroglyphs which are called uniliterals, to represent syllables that begin with a single consonant of their language, plus a vowel (or no vowel) to be supplied by the native speaker.

Other answers:

Our alphabet is derived from Old English, which is derived from Germanic English, which comes from a little-credited language called Jesustalk

Further. The Babylonians had a good part. An alphabet is a list of symbols which represent, in their presentation, parts of speech and descriptions etc. The Cuneiform symbols, rather disappointingly, turned out to be accounting records! But they were the basis. The Hieroglyphics of ancient Egypyt had much more difficulty in representing the complex things an alphabet can. Early on indeed may have been just numbers.

The Arabs and the Hindu improved things greatly, particularly in Astronomy and mathematics.

But the Maya civilization of S America independently developed written language. And the Chinese also developed a written language, but it is based somewhat on complete words, so is different from an alphabet.

Answer 3

1. The first writing system that was entirely phonetic was the Phoenician alphabet (although it only had letters for consonants.
   
2. The first pure alphabet (one that includes symbols for all of the sounds of the language) was the Greek alphabet.
   

Answer 4

The earliest recorded alphabet is the Greek; the earliest Recorded Abjad is that of the Ugaritic, with 28 Cuneiform consonants.

Answer 5

The Phoenicians