Re: Representing Boreanesian (was: Re: quantity triggered vs.

John Cowan wrote:

>Kristian Jensen wrote:
>
>> I have intended the script to be a modified syllabary like
>> Indic scripts, not a pure syllabary like Japanese or Ethiopian.
>> Each grapheme would therefore represent consonant with an
>> inherent vowel - a CV sound. For Boreanesia, it makes sense
>> that the inherent vowel would be /@/ since the only CV
>> syllables that occur in Boreanesia is phonemically C@.
>
>Hey, wonderful: a conscript that is Brahmic-style!  A nice change
>from boring alphabets and syllabaries.  It would be particularly
>nice to see some reordrant or surroundant vowel marks like
>Devanagari "i" or Bengali "o".
>
Wonderful indeed! Ever since became acquainted with Indic scripts
(the first of which was the now extinct Tagalog script of the
Philippines), I have fallen for them - totally! It also makes sense
for Boreanesia, historically speaking.

>> Since all the other vowels (/a//i//u/) only occur in major
>> syllables, it would make sense that a grapheme representing the
>> coda should have the honor of being the symbol that can alter
>> this inherent /@/ vowel. I have yet to work out the exact
>> details.
>
>Can the C in CVX be empty?  If so, you also need explicit vowel
>letters as well as signs.
>
C is never empty. Words in Boreanesian that sound like they start
with a vowel in European ears, actually start with the glottal stop
/?/. (Actually, I do believe that many Germanic langs do this -
perhaps also English to a limited extent). The script thus reflects
this. There is no need for an explicit vowel letter. Incidentally,
this also is the way the Buginese/Makassarese script works.

>Also, don't forget to allow for an explicit virama (inherent-
>vowel killer) as well as lots of excellently incomprehensible
>ligatures.
Like I said, I have yet to work out the details, but there wouldn't
be a need for a 'virama' either. Many of the languages that use
Indic scripts with a 'virama' allow numerous syllable final
consonants. Its these syllable final consonants that need a
'virama'. Since Boreanesian syllables allow a very small number of
syllable final consonants (only /N/, /l/, /y/, /w/, and length), the
Boreanesian script has evolved in such a way that these syllable
final consonants are by themselves legitimate letters. I call them
'coda letters' because they only occur at syllable codas. I'm sure
that these coda letters may have once been consonant letters with an
explicit 'virama' attached to them in ancient times. But since they
are so few consonant letters that would carry the 'virama', they
have lost this explicit attachment and evolved into entirely new
letters used only as syllable codas.

By tommorrow I'm sure I will have worked out the complete details of
the script. There are a few details that are still a bit shakey, but
I'm almost there. So when I'm done tomorrow (hopefully), I'll post
the complete details.

Time to meditate to the dimension where Boreanesia exists and
consult some more native speakers. Auuuummmmmmmmm... 8-)

Regards,
-Kristian- 8-)