Re: Optimum number of symbols

On Thu, 23 May 2002 21:48:24 +0100 Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>
writes:
> >Everything else being equal, wouldn't
> >you have to agree that such a script is improved by marking
> vowels?
> It depends on the language, I think.  It would be interesting to
> learn the
> observation of our Hebrew speakers on this list (and, indeed,
> Arabic speakers if we have any).
> Ray.
-

I'm not sure...
If the idea is to make the vowel markings in abjads mandatory, i don't
think that it's an improvement.  Sometimes it can be useful, and i've
seen many cases of unmarked texts in Hebrew or Arabic putting a vowel in
an important ambiguous word just to make sure that it's read correctly;
but in general, cluttering up the text space by filling in all the
diacritics makes things *harder* to read, in my experience.  The visual
focus gets lost among all the little dots and smitchiks.  In unvocalized
texts, there is less to see, and since your brain fills in whatever you
need anyway, it works fine.


-Stephen (Steg)
 "liquor?  i hardly know 'er!"

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