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tually changed the direction of their orthography
from the left to the right, but only after
they added vowels to their original model).
The choice of direction depends on
whether the reading process is based on combining
letters by context (leftward) or stringing
them in sequence (rightward).The brain
recognizes configurations faster in the left
visual field, while it detects sequences faster
in the right visual field (the change of direction
in the Greek script happened soon after
a full complement of vowels was added to the
exclusively consonantal orthography of
Phoenician; vowels turned the quasi stenographicsystem
of Phoenician into the fullyexplicit
sequence of Greek letters).
There is a feed-back effect on the kind
of processing by the brain to read and write a
given orthography which models the script
accordingly (the emphasis
on sequential processing in
early Greek and Roman
writing was reflected by
their writing styles which
were rigourously continuous
without blanks or interruptions
for words, sentences
or even paragraphs;
this was called by the
Romans scriplio continua),
The fact that our alphabet changed
direction as soon as it achieved its full elaboration
with the addition of vowels supports
my hypothesis that it puts pressure on our
brain to emphasize its sequencing and "timeordered"
processing abilities. Since literacy is
generally acquired at an early formative age
and since it affects the organization of language,
our most integral information-processing
system, there are good reasons to suspect
that the alphabet also affects the organization
of our thought. Language is the software
that drives the human organism.
Anything that affects language in a significant
way is likely to also affect behavior at the
physical, emotional and mental levels. The
alphabet is a program which combines
power, precision, versatility and comprehensiveness,
qualities required to run the most
powerful instrument in existence: man himself.
Indeed, there is no need to rely on
genetic explanation for the differences of
mentalities between East and West. The
alphabet is the difference. The alphabet created
two revolutions, one in the brain, and the
other, in the world.
THE REVOLUTION IN THE BRAIN.
It is quite possible that we write to the right
not only because that is how we have been
taught to do it, but principally because that is
how our brain and our muscular system want
us to do it. Figure 1 shows how the visual system
works in the brain. What most people do
not know is that we do not only have two
eyes, but four half-eyes, two halves for the left
and two halves for the right. As you can see,
the left halves are governed by the right side
of the brain, while the right halves are ruled
by the left side.
This is of the utmost relevance to the
question of the direction of orthographies.
Clinical research shows that we do not see
the same way to the left and to the right.
What we see to the left is literally "comprehended",
that is, taken all at once. But what
we see to the right is analyzed bit-by-bit. In
effect, the work of our eyes is divided like the
work of our hands. The two left halves seize
the world, and the two right halves cut it for
us into its component parts. How relevant is
this to the question of the alphabet? To read
any writing system, you have to do two
things:
recognize the shape of the symbols
analyze the sequence of symbols.
Depending upon which is most urgent,
FIGURE i. THE OPTIC CHIASM
the shape or the sequence, the writing system
will go left or right. If you have to guess and
cross-check the writing, it is important to see
the shape first. Because they have to guess the
value of their unwritten vowels, Arabic and
Hebraic readers have to cross-check their
texts. To survey the whole field at once, our
visual system works faster and better in the
left field of vision. On the contrary, when we
P a 1 o m a r
read German or English, we need first and
foremost to see the order of the letters one
after the other. This is done faster and better
in the right visual field. That is why our
alphabet which is a linear, sequential system
of coding information is written to the right.
That is my primary hypothesis.
My secondary hypothesis is that there
must be a formidable feed-back loop effect of
the alphabet on the brain.The alphabet trains
the brain, not only to read, but also to think
in terms of bits and pieces in proper
sequence. Indeed, the big issue here is thinking.
The real nature of thinking is speaking
inside the mind without being interrupted by
reality. To be able to think one must separate
words from life, deal with the meanings of
experience without having to go through the
experience itself. It is also the alphabet which
L - hemisphere - R *
has taught us to separate thinking from direct
experience. Even as we learn to cut speech
into its basic elements, and. to put them back
together again when we read, we are training
our brain to do exactly that with life itself.We
think in words and concepts arranged in logical
sequences grammatically structured to
represent and organize reality itself. We have
invented and refined linear history, geogra-
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