Re: Hmong and semi-syllabic writing

dirk elzinga wrote:
>
>I've always thought that having separate characters for onset
>and rhyme was an interesting compromise between an alphabet and
>a syllabary. This kind of system would be useful for a language
>which allowed onset clusters, like Hmong, but nevertheless had a
>fairly limited range of syllable types. I'm trying to develop
>something similar to it for my new project, Shemspreg.
This is sorta like how the Boreanesian script works. Its ultimately=20
of Indic origin, closely related to the Kavi script of ancient=20
Southeast Asia. Hence it is a syllabic alphabet. But two kinds of=20
characters have evolved. One type, which evolved from the aksara=20
characters, represents onsets or minor C@ syllable. Another type,=20
which evolved from diacritics representing vowels, represents only=20
rhymes. A development of an Indic type script parallel to the=20
Dehong script of Yunnan province in Southern China.

An interesting consequence of this development is that each=20
Boreanesian character represents a mora, much like Japanese=20
katakana and hiragana scripts.

BTW, roman letters were experimented in the past with the Dehong=20
script to represent tones. Now they use Western diacritics instead.

-kristian- 8)