Why is Arabic or Hebrew Written From Right to Left? [Good Idea Series]

Hebrew Calligraphy

One of the reason comes from our brain. Our brain is divided into two parts, left-hemisphere and right-hemisphere.

The left hemisphere handles what is said (text); the right hemisphere focuses on how it's said (context)- the nonverbal, often emotional cues delivered through gaze, facial expression, and intonation.

Robert Ornstein

The text/context distinction, originally put forward by Robert Ornstein, apllies more broadly. For instance, certain written languanges depend heavily on context. Languanges such as Arabic and Hebrew are often written only in consonants, which means the reader must figure out what the vowel (a,i,u,e,&o) is by the surrounding concepts and ideas. [1]

In those langaunges, if you read the equivalent of "stmp n th bg", you'd fill in different vowels depending on whether the phrase appeared in pest control manual ("stomp on the bug") or short story about a trip to the post office ("stamp in the bag"). Unlike English, languanges that require the reader to supply the vowels by discerning the context are usually written from right to left. [2]

As we know, moving one's eyes in that direction (right to left) depends on the brain's right hemisphere.

Cheers,

Albert


References:
[1] Pink, Daniel H. The Whole New Mind. New York: Penguin. 1989, Chap.1
[2] Ornstein, Robert. The Right Mind: Making Sense of the Hemisphere. California: Harcourt Brace & Company. 1997, p.37.

A young woman practicing kanji.
Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Yōshū Chikanobu, 1897

Another example: "Japanese use both a phonetic script (kana) and a pictographic script (kanji). Research shows that kana is better processed in the left hemisphere, while kanji is better handled by the right." See Reference [2] Ornstein, p.41