Re: Interesting Brain/Language Nugget of Info

Nik Taylor wrote:

>John Cowan wrote:
>> Right-handed writing
>> with a pen, though, is more easily done LTR, so that the letters are
>> not hidden or smudged.
>
>Right, but Arabic and Hebrew, to use two examples of RTL, have long=20
>used ink, forcing Arabs and Israelis to kind of "twist" their hand=20
>to prevent smudging.  So, surely, switching to LTR would be extremely=20
>useful for them.  So, why haven't they?  The left-brain/right-brain=20
>theory makes sense to me.
I don't think Arabs and Isrealis twist their hand. Rather, they=20
'twist' (rotate actually) the surface they write on. I have seen=20
children learning Arabic write Arabic _top to down_ but read it=20
_right to left_.

Also, consider many of the scripts in Central Asia that have descended=20
(either directly or indirectly) from Aramaic or Arabic writing like=20
Uighir, Sogdian, Mongolian, or Kalmyk. All of these are written from=20
_top to down_. I can imagine that this is so because some people=20
that were taught to write Aramaic or Arabic _top to down_ couldn't=20
see why it then should be read differently, that is _right to left_.

That's why! ;-)

-kristian- 8)