Re: Optimum number of symbols

I'm new to the list, btw-- I've been lurking for about a week on the yahoo!
groups, felt like an idiot, subscribed here, and will now subject you all to
my amateurity (I have no idea whether or not that's a word, likewise.) I
hope I'm not breaking any sort of secret rules that I didn't see by posting
or something, but this is really interesting, even though I know nothing.
Hi! :)

> Uatakassi uses a slightly modified syllabry.  What I mean by slightly
> modified is that there are characters for V, CV and CLV, as well as for
> L by itself (due to historical reasons; there's no special phonetic
> quality of that l), plus diacritics for the codas -s, -z, -f, -v, -n,
> and gemination.  Combinations of Ci + V characters are used for CyV and
> Cu + V for CwV.  There are also a set of ligatures used to indicate
> syllables that have developed fairly recently, when /tS/ /dZ/ and /C/
> split off as distinct phonemes from their original phonemes /t/ /d/ and
> /k/.  /ti/ /di/ and /ki/ are now contrasting with /tSi/ /dZi/ and /Ci/
> (they're usually realized as [tsi] [dzi] and [ki]), ligatures of the -a
> set of those consonants plus _i_.
The idea of diacritics for something other than vowels interests me! I
probably never would have thought of that on my own. Do any ('natural')
systems use something like that? (I can only write fictional ones, which
might be the source of my problem.)

Also, Is there any evidence that syllabic writing systems might be more
intuitive to create?
I say this mostly because the roman alphabet is named (ay, bee, see, dee,
ee, eff, gee, etc...)
I would agree that syllabic systems are easier to learn (i've retained a
remarkable amount of Hiragana and Katakana and can read it somewhat, despite
having never actually used it,) though cumbersome when 'importing' words...
The more vowels I have to learn, the more confused I become. My friend
Jeff's alphabet, Tiri'n, has ten vowels and a handful of dipthongs (it's
used for writing English, btw,) and I have a lot of trouble using the right
vowel, since english vowels vary so much, esp. considering dialects, my
friend on the east coast generally uses different vowels than Jeff and I
would use...
Though I suppose all that wouldn't be a problem with conlangs, since you'd
probably develop a standard spelling, even with a phonemic alphabet. :)

-Kendra
http://www.refrigeratedcake.com
http://www.refrigeratedcake.com/other/theatre -- Vade Mecum (comic)

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