I-VIII -- Introduction -- Part One. Linguistic aspects of writing -- Determining the level of a script -- Writing systems and written language -- Double articulation in writing -- Writing system and morphology. Some orthographic regularities of German -- Part Two. Historical aspects of writing -- Literacy and achivement in the Ancient World -- Development of writing as social problem solving -- Decipherment of forgotten writing systems: Two different approaches -- Reconstructing the phonology of dead languages -- Autochthonous American writing systems: The Aztec and Maya examples -- Le développment d'un alphabet national dans une communauté multilingue -- Adult literacy in a context of cultural revolution: Structural parallels of the literacy process in sixteenth-century Germany and present-day Bénin -- Tradition and innovation in alphabet making -- Writing and literacy in China -- Part Three. Psychological aspects of writing -- The development of writing: Communication and cognition -- The development of literacy: A complex psychological problem -- Literacy and the comprehension and expression of literal meaning -- Teaching written language as a first language to a deaf boy -- The role of meaning and linearity in reading -- Polarization of reading performance -- Index of subjects -- Index of names