Writing is not so simple to define. If we ask a set of people to define writing we may hear different responses. All these responses can be summarized in one statement: writing is communication.
The word communicate comes from the Latin term “communicare” . to communicate means to convey knowledge or information about a given subject to others.
The origins of writing support the idea that writing is communication. When our ancestors needed a way to distinguish one person’s livestock or produce from another’s, they developed metal tags on which they inscribed symbols similar to brands used today to mark cattle. The purpose of this early form writing was to communication, to convey an idea across time and space.
Writing still serves this function today. In fact it often seems that communication is writing’s only function. Journalists write to tell us what is happening in the northern part of the island, historians write to inform us of their discoveries, and we all write to tell one another what we know or have experienced.