Re: Optimum number of symbols

Jesse Bangs Writes:

> Furthermore, any syllabary will fall apart as the language changes, as
>the syllabary will be unable to handle new syllables.
Welllll...in Kuraw (the Saalangal script) due to the influence of certain
borrowed words beginning in /dZ/, the Saalangals added an additional
stroke to the character for /tS/ to get /dZ/. It's something of an anomaly
since it could have been accomplished using conjuncts (it is thought that
the addition of /dZ/ came sometime not long after Kuraw had been invented,
when conventions for new sounds were varied*). Further, the sound /S/ has
been creeping into the language and to handle this, they write it as sa +
ya which makes the conjunct character "sya". So, my brother's name, "Sean"
would be written as: "Sya+n".

* There really isnt a strict rule about how to handle new sounds. Usually
a similar sounding character is modified, or conjuncts are used, mainly
conjuncts. I suspect though that in the future similar sounding characters
for new sounds will be used. So "sya" may be replaced with a modified "sa"
glyph.


I also on my own tried to modify kuraw to be able to represent the sounds
of Sanskrit. It actually worked quite well.