Re: Optimum number of symbols

"Mike S." wrote:
> I am relatively unfamiliar with Japanese script, but I have studied
> enough Japanese grammar to know that, while the syllable structure
> is simple, it's not that simple.  There are more than 46 syllables.
Correct.  There is also a voicing diacritic (which, due to historical
sound changes, also has the odd property of changing /h/ to /b/) and a
marker for gemination, as well as a system of combining characters to
create CyV (specifically, Ci + smaller yV), however, by "learning
hiragana", I do mean learning to read it, with those additional
complications.

The Japanese script, in fact, could be more accurately described as
"moraic", since, for the most part, it indicates _moras_ rather than
_syllables_, e.g., _yokatta_ is written yo-ka-t-ta, each character
representing a single mora, a single unit of time, another example,
_ookii_ (big) is written o-o-ki-i, again, each character representing
one unit of time, or _onna_ (woman) written o-n-na, once again, each
unit pronounced in equal time.

The voicing diacritic, I suspect, evolved not as a way of reducing the
number of required characters but simply as a way of reflecting a
regular process in Japanese wherein, in compound words, the initial
consonant of the second component will sometimes voice, e.g., ao- (stem
of aoi, "blue") + sora (sky) = aozora; or hira (stem of hirai "plain") +
kana (syllabry) = hiragana.

> So how do you know that, were the Japanese to adopt an alphabet,
> Japanese children wouldn't learn how to read and write even faster?
I admit your point, it does tend to be a matter of personal opinion
backed by little or no research.  My experiences with constructed
alphabets and syllabries has been that syllabic characters are easier to
learn, but I admit the possibility that that's because of my bias
towards syllabries, I tend to concentrate on those syllables more.

--
"There's no such thing as 'cool'.  Everyone's just a big dork or nerd,
you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." -
overheard
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42

Reply