Re: Adding a letter, was: Silent E

>===== Original Message From Constructed Languages List
>On Thu, 4 Oct 2001 22:54:03 EDT, David Peterson <DigitalScream@...>
>wrote:
>
>> I don't think a language
>>ever created an orthography with the intention of, say, adding a letter
>that
>>had a sound in some positions which would make no sound if you put after
>>another vowel but would change that vowel, like English's silent "e"; these
>>things just happen over time if your orthography doesn't keep up with the
>>sound changes.
>
>IIRC, the umlaut dots in German originate from superscript {e}, still
>earlier simply {e}, denoting the modified vowel quality.
Similarly ISTR the tilde is from a superscript {n}, and the cedilla from a
subscript {z}.

     *Muke!