Re: Toy Alphabet

Barry Garcia wrote:

> Thanks! Though the symbols of similar sounds look
> generally the same, there's randomness to how I picked
> how the actual shapes would be. I dont like to plan
> down to the detail how these things should look (for
> this, such would be too ordered).
Yes. That would mean having the same problem as the now
infamous dyslectic elves having to learn to differ between
the *way* to similar letters of the tengwar.

Anyway. At a lecture this evening (which got out of hand
due to wild discussions -- although the subject was such
a "calm" one: male and female ways of talking ;) I doodled
a bit with your alphabet (or rather syllabary). Btw, could
anyone tell me how you actually spell that word, and also
how you're supposed to pronounce it.

This might be to bring too much logic into the system,
but I felt I needed logic in that lecture room. As I
can see it, there are three main places of articulation:
Dental; Alveolar; Velar. These can be divided into three
columns.

The Dental column is based on one vertical line. The Alveolar
column is based on a zig-zag line. The Velar column is based
on two vertical lines. Now, according to your scheme /j/
belongs to the Velar row and /S/ belongs to the Alveolar
column. The only apparent break to these rules above are the
letters for /f/ and /v/. These look like they belong to the
Alveolar column, rather than the Labial column. /f/ and /v/
should rather look something like
_
 |
 |

and

_|
 |

*if* one was to bring logic into the system. One could also
imagine the "underscore" line |_| marking voice and those
shorter dashes |-| marking ways of articulation, like
having it in the middle would be nasal, and the "down"
position would be fricative, etc. This would mean that /p/
and /b/ would swap letters: | being /p/ and |_ /b/ for
instance.

I hope you don't mind my doodling with your toy alphabet.
I'm in the process of creating conlangs for an online-rpg site
("this is not even in the beginning of the beginning" to
paraphrase that British dude with the two sprawling fingers
constantly in the air ;) and the Elvish language will certainly
need a syllabary since it's going to be basically CV. Would
you mind if I used your alphabet as a base for that Elvish
syllabary? The phonology and phonotax your alphabet is
created for suits the Elvish ditos almost freakishly well.

A more cursive and slim style would look awsome I think.

||| daniel

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