The Beginnings of Reading and Writing in Scotland

在现代教育几乎是苏格兰的同义词，但这一切是从哪里开始的呢？该项目将收集和评估苏格兰/北方不列颠最初几个世纪识字的材料和文本证据。其目的是解决有关识字程度（以及识字是否仅限于僧侣圈）、识字的性质和功能（包括使用铭文的条件）以及识字的“经济学”-实际上如何维持识字文化并为其提供资源-的关键问题。总体目标将是达到一个微妙的理解的影响，苏格兰的识字介绍中的第一个千年AD.有关苏格兰早期识字的证据已经深入研究，当然，为了解决语言和金石学问题，并帮助日期转换和基督教化的国家。然而，还有更广泛的社会和文化问题有待解决，这些问题与扫盲的程度、功能和经济“足迹”有关，需要调动有关的物质证据。这些问题将是该项目的一个主要关注点，并将涉及超越铭文本身，对作为物品的铭文物品进行全面审查。结合文本证据的敏感和密切的阅读，该项目旨在了解苏格兰阅读和写作作为一种社会，经济和文化现象的起源。该项目的关键方面将包括：（1）从幸存的纪念碑语料库中进行案例研究，着眼于它们显示/暗示了公开展示写作的价值和功能以及观众的接受和教育。文字的选择、纪念碑的形式、布局、语言的选择、文字的选择和“视觉冲击”（对象和观众之间的关系）的影响都值得考虑，因为这些因素可能揭示目标受众的情况，以及不同社会“登记册”对写作的接受情况，以及写作的产生/生产。(2)收集有关识字、识字程度和识字作用的文本提供的证据。这类证据数量惊人，尽管是零碎和不均衡的，例如关于国王/王子的识字程度以及书面证词相对于口头证词的功能和力量。虽然物质文化将是该项目的核心，但它的成功在很大程度上取决于根据当前的考据学标准对文本进行有效和复杂的整理。(3)对涂鸦、洞穴蚀刻画和刻有文字的便携式物品进行个案研究分析，或对此类“粗俗”的识字表现进行相关选择。在其他语境中，人们也考察了不同程度的写作的复杂性和复杂性，以寻找关于文学文化整体健康和活力的线索（例如沃德-帕金斯在古代晚期结束时关于“文明的终结”的著作）。此外，通过研究文本与对象的其他特征之间的关系，将文本在对象上的使用语境化（例如装饰），或者探索为什么有些物体被刻上文字，而另一些物体的形式相似（或来自同一网站）不是，或通过比较使用文本与使用其他通信技术（如符号），可能会导致更好地理解特定对象类型上的铭文的功能和识字的整体意义。(4)收集了与皮纸和墨水生产、个人笔、蜡板以及铭刻纪念碑的技术和技巧有关的证据，以反思识字的“经济学”--可以说，识字的“产业”在多大程度上创造了“脚”。

In modern times education is almost synonymous with Scottishness, but where did it all begin? This project would draw together and evaluate material and textual evidence of the first centuries of literacy in Scotland/northern Britain. Its aim would be to address key questions concerning the extent of literacy (and whether it was confined to monastic circles), the character and function of literacy (including conditions governing the use of inscriptions), and the 'economics' of literacy - how, in practical terms, a literate culture was maintained and resourced. The overarching aim would be to arrive at a nuanced understanding of the implications for Scotland of the introduction of literacy in the middle of the first millennium AD.The evidence relating to early literacy in Scotland has been intensively studied, of course, in order to address linguistic and epigraphic questions and to help date the conversion and christianization of the country. However, there are broader social and cultural questions yet to be addressed, which relate to, and require the mobilization of material evidence concerning the extent, the functions, and the economic 'footprint' of literacy. These questions would be a major concern of the project, and would involve going beyond inscriptions themselves to undertake holistic examination of inscribed objects as objects. Allied with sensitive and close reading of textual evidence, the project would aim to understand the beginnings of reading and writing in Scotland as a social, economic, and cultural phenomenon.Key aspects of the project would include:(1) case studies from the corpus of surviving inscribed monuments, with an eye for what they show/imply about the value and function(s) of public displays of writing and about audience reception and education. The implications of word choice, monumental form, layout, choice of language, choice of script and 'visual impact' (the relationship between object and viewer) would all merit consideration as factors which potentially reveal things about target audiences and the reception of writing in different social 'registers', as well as its generation/production.(2) drawing together the evidence provided by texts concerning literacy, its extent, and its role. There is a surprising amount of such evidence, albeit fragmentary and uneven, relating for example to the extent of literacy among kings/princes and the functions and power of written as against oral testimony. Although material culture would be central to the project, its success would depend in no small part on the effective and sophisticated marshalling of texts according to current standards of textual criticism.(3) case-study analysis of graffiti, cave etchings, and inscribed portable items, or a relevant selection of such 'vulgar' manifestations of literacy. Manifestations of writing at different levels of sophistication and complexity have been examined in other contexts for clues about the overall health and vitality of literate culture (for example Ward-Perkins's work on 'the end of civilization' at the close of late Antiquity). Moreover, contextualizing the use of text on objects by studying the relationship between it and objects' other features (e.g. decoration), or by exploring why some objects are inscribed and others of similar form (or from the same site) are not, or by comparing use of text with use of other technologies of communication (e.g. symbols), may lead to greater understanding of the function of inscriptions on particular object types and the overall significance of literacy.(4) drawing together evidence relating to vellum and ink production, individual styli, wax tablets, and the technology and techniques of inscribed monuments, in order to reflect on the 'economics' of literacy - the extent to which there was, as it were, a literacy 'industry' which made a 'foot