£76.00

University of Chicago Press Mother of Writing: The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script

Price data last checked 72 day(s) ago - refreshing...

View at Amazon

We'll watch every seller, every day. One email when your price arrives.

It has never been this cheap. We have no record of a lower price.

£76 today · cheaper than every other day in the last 3 months

NEW HERE?

Amazon shows you one price. We show you all of them.

Tosheroon watches Amazon prices so you don't have to. Every product on Amazon has a price history — we make it visible. Set the price you'd actually pay, and we'll email you the second it gets there. No app, no account, one email.

WHAT'S ON THIS PAGE

↓ Price chart
when this has been cheap or pricey
↓ Forecast
where the price is heading next
↓ Statistics
all-time high & low, recent range
↑ Price alert
name your number, we'll email you

Price History & Forecast

Grey patches = out of stock. Cheaper = lower on the chart. Hover for exact prices.

Last 19 days • 19 data points (No recent data available)

Historical
Generating forecast...
£99.69 £73.63 £79.32 £85.00 £90.69 £96.37 £102.06 12 March 2026 16 March 2026 21 March 2026 25 March 2026 30 March 2026

Price Distribution

Price distribution over 19 days • 2 price levels

Days at Price
Current Price
7 days · current 12 days 0 3 6 9 12 £76 £100 Days at Price

Price Analysis

Most common price: £100 (12 days, 63.2%)

Price range: £76 - £100

Price levels: 2 different prices over 19 days

Description

In February of 1971, in the Laotian village of Nam Chia, a forty-one year old farmer named Shong Lue Yang was assassinated by government soldiers. Shong Lue claimed to have been descended of God and given the mission of delivering the first true Hmong alphabet. Many believed him to be the Hmong people's long-awaited messiah, and his thousands of followers knew him as "Mother (Source) of Writing." An anthropological linguist who has worked among the Hmong, William A. Smalley joins Shong Lue's chief disciple, Chia Koua Vang, and one of his associates, to tell the fascinating story of how the previously unschooled farmer developed his remarkable writing system through four stages of increasing sophistication. The uniqueness of Shong Lue's achievement is highlighted by a comparison of Shong Lue's writing system to other known Hmong systems and to the history of writing as a whole. In addition to a nontechnical linguistic analysis of the script and a survey of its current use, Mother of Writing provides an intriguing cultural account of Shong Lue's life. The book traces the twenty-year-long struggle to disseminate the script after Shong Lue's death, first by handwriting, then by primitive moveable type, an abortive attempt to design a wooden typewriter, and finally by modern wordprocessing. In a moving concluding chapter, Smalley discusses his own complex feelings about his coauthors' story.

Product Specifications

Format
hardcover
Domain
Amazon UK
Release Date
01 June 1990
Listed Since
07 February 2007

Barcode

No barcode data available

Similar Products You Might Like

The World's Writing Systems
94% match

The World's Writing Systems

Oxford University Press

£160.00 13 Jan 2026
The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets
94% match

The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets

Routledge

£140.00 08 Apr 2026
Writing as Technology and Cultural Ecology: Explorations of the Human Mind at the Dawn of History: 82 (DASK – Duisburger Arbeiten zur Sprach- und ... Papers on Research in Language and Culture)
94% match

Writing as Technology and Cultural Ecology: Explorations of the Human Mind at the Dawn of History: 82 (DASK – Duisburger Arbeiten zur Sprach- und ... Papers on Research in Language and Culture)

Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften

£63.10 10 Apr 2026
Multilingualism in China: The Politics of Writing Reforms for Minority Languages 1949-2002: 89 (Contributions to the Sociology of Language [CSL], 89)
94% match

Multilingualism in China: The Politics of Writing Reforms for Minority Languages 1949-2002: 89 (Contributions to the Sociology of Language [CSL], 89)

De Gruyter Mouton

£132.69 02 Mar 2026
Philosophie der Schrift: 285 (Reihe Germanistische Linguistik)
94% match

Philosophie der Schrift: 285 (Reihe Germanistische Linguistik)

De Gruyter

£101.37 08 Mar 2026
Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization
94% match

Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization

Wiley-Blackwell

£77.49 06 Mar 2026
The Materiality of Writing: A Trace Making Perspective (Routledge Studies in Multimodality)
94% match

The Materiality of Writing: A Trace Making Perspective (Routledge Studies in Multimodality)

Routledge

£125.00 14 Jan 2026
Inventing Slavonic: Cultures of Writing Between Rome and Constantinople (Oxford Studies in Byzantium)
94% match

Inventing Slavonic: Cultures of Writing Between Rome and Constantinople (Oxford Studies in Byzantium)

Oxford University Press

£88.42 14 Jan 2026
Writing Systems and Cognition: Perspectives from Psychology, Physiology, Linguistics, and Semiotics: 6 (Neuropsychology and Cognition, 6)
94% match

Writing Systems and Cognition: Perspectives from Psychology, Physiology, Linguistics, and Semiotics: 6 (Neuropsychology and Cognition, 6)

Springer

£150.34 19 Dec 2025
WRITING SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD (The Language Library)
94% match

WRITING SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD (The Language Library)

Wiley-Blackwell

£44.66 07 Jan 2026
More Than Words: Transforming Script, Agency, and Collective Life in Bali
94% match

More Than Words: Transforming Script, Agency, and Collective Life in Bali

Cornell University Press

£85.10 16 Mar 2026
Geschichte des Schreibens, Band 1, Von der Antike bis zum Buchdruck
94% match

Geschichte des Schreibens, Band 1, Von der Antike bis zum Buchdruck

De Gruyter

£171.38 09 Mar 2026
Reclaiming Writing: Composing Spaces for Identities, Relationships, and Actions
94% match

Reclaiming Writing: Composing Spaces for Identities, Relationships, and Actions

Routledge

£120.00 22 Feb 2026
Literacy, Narrative and Culture (World of Writing)
94% match

Literacy, Narrative and Culture (World of Writing)

Routledge

£127.67 11 Jan 2026
Literacy, Narrative and Culture (World of Writing)
94% match

Literacy, Narrative and Culture (World of Writing)

Routledge

£49.99 07 Mar 2026
The Anthropology of Writing: Understanding Textually-Mediated Worlds
94% match

The Anthropology of Writing: Understanding Textually-Mediated Worlds

Bloomsbury

£128.70 13 Jan 2026
Teacher's Guide 4 (Happy Handwriting)
94% match

Teacher's Guide 4 (Happy Handwriting)

Collins

£52.36 26 Jan 2026
Writing and Society: An Introduction (Key Topics in Sociolinguistics)
94% match

Writing and Society: An Introduction (Key Topics in Sociolinguistics)

Cambridge University Press

£49.99 15 Apr 2026
Signs of Writing
94% match

Signs of Writing

Routledge

£140.51 02 Mar 2026
Planning Chinese Characters: Reaction, Evolution or Revolution?: 9 (Language Policy, 9)
94% match

Planning Chinese Characters: Reaction, Evolution or Revolution?: 9 (Language Policy, 9)

Springer

£99.99 08 Mar 2026
Writing from Invention to Decipherment
94% match

Writing from Invention to Decipherment

£106.92 25 Jan 2026
MDI - Bien écrire à l'école maternelle
94% match

MDI - Bien écrire à l'école maternelle

£52.65 06 Jan 2026
Teacher's Guide 6 (Happy Handwriting)
94% match

Teacher's Guide 6 (Happy Handwriting)

Collins

£52.40 07 Feb 2026
John Willheim: War of Whispers: Inside the CIA's Secret War
94% match

John Willheim: War of Whispers: Inside the CIA's Secret War

HARTMANN H

£50.00 11 Feb 2026