Re: I was wondering...

CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU writes:
>to design the script you have to concern both
>clearness and simplicity. It is a balance. So I prefer
>not to use circle, for turning circle is meaningless.
>A bar can turn 45 degree each time to create four
>different symbols. If we put a sign on one end of the
>bar, like T or i, we may get eight symbols by turning.
>If we put a small bar on one end, one side of the bar,
>like L or J we may get 16 symbols. When writing them,
>it could be just one stroke for all of these symbols,
>yet they are clear. It is a bit like Isaac Pitman
>Shorthand writing.
Yes, but hell for dyslexic readers. You also ignored the fact that the OP
wants a SEAsian-like script.

If you are going for a SEAsian inspired script, take a look at the scripts
of the area, to get a feel for how the letter shapes generally are. They
are usually rounded because most of the SEA countries wrote on palm
leaves, and a pointed stylus dragging along the veins of palm leaves in
straight angular lines rip them easily. In bugis and massakarese (I think,
Roger?), the glyphs are angular because they write on bark paper, which
eliminates the need for curved lines. Similar with Hanunoo in the
Philippines where the writing material is a knife and bamboo slats (easier
to just carve straight lines into the bamboo)

What I did for Kuraw, which is the same idea you are looking for, i looked
at the scripts of both South India and South East Asia for shape
inspiration, and drew up a bunch of different glyphs. I narrowed them down
to glyphs that I liked. Also, try writing the shapes fairly quickly. If
you have trouble making a shape with fairly quick writing, it may not be
the best shape. Of course, aesthetics often rule here (Many Malayalam and
Tamil shapes are so not conducive to very quick writing). It took me a
while to get shapes i was pleased with. Try not to get too fancy, or
letters can start to blend when written in a text (Javanese is a good
example). You want a nice blend between distinctness and beauty.

Since I assume you are doing an Indic style script, here's a key to the
placement of diacritics (that i garnered from a discussion of indic
scripts on this list last year):

- All consonant glyphs have an inherent vowel (whether that's /@/, /O/,
/a/, /o/)

- /e/ - the diacritic is usually under the glyph

- /i/ - the diacritic is usually over the glyph

- /o/ - the diacritic "circumfixes" around the glyph,  and usually
includes the diacritic for e, and long a

- /u/ the diacritic goes under the glyph.

- /aj/ - the diacritic is a doubling of the diacritic for /e/. It can
either go under or circumfix the glyph.

- /au/ - the diacritic is similar for /o/, but the diacritic for long a is
modified a bit.

In Kuraw since it never inherited the glyphs from any other indic script,
the "long a" diacritic i mentioned is meaningless (you really dont need to
have to explain why the glyphs look as they do, but this is all what i had
gathered from the discussion).

For other diphthongs, i had to create my own:

- /oy/ - i created a wholly new diacritic that goes beside the glyph

- /ej/ - for this one, i simply took the "long a diacritic" for /o/, and
flipped it upside down.


That's basically it, other than trying to keep glyphs from looking the
same, or mostly appearing as mirror images of eachother.


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