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Re: Orthography Question

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Wednesday, November 11, 1998, 6:09
Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> Only a century later, men created another syllabary (I think they > were bored of writing ideograms) from a different set of ideograms.
Actually, katakana was used to indicate the pronunciation of certain words in Buddhist texts, since it was believed to be important to pronounce those words just right. I think that it was originally used like _furigana_ today (hiragana placed above an unfamiliar kanji to indicate pronunciation). -- "It has occured to me more than once that holy boredom is good and sufficient reason for the invention of free will." - "Lord Leto II" (Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert) http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files/ ICQ #: 18656696 AOL screen-name: NikTailor