Re: Comments on Tokana Reference Grammar

On Fri, 11 Dec 1998, Kristian Jensen wrote:

> Matt wrote:
>
> >On Fri, 11 Dec 1998, John Cowan wrote:
> >
> >> romanization:  I think it would be less confusing overall if
> >> final "h" were retained, and it was simply a low-level
> >> phonological rule that it isn't pronounced (but still affects
> >> stress), rather than using the grave accent.
> >
> >Sorry, but in this case aesthetics wins hands down over
> >orthographic rationality.  For some obscure reason, I abhor final
> >V + "h" spellings (I use them on the net only because of the
> >unreliability of diacritics).
> >
> For me at least, it also makes the Roman transcription of Tokana
> seem more naturalistic. I'm reminded of Tagalog orthography: Word
> final /h/ and /?/ are never represented. Instead, diacritics are
> used. But Filipinos themselves often omit them in writing.
Right.  In my case, I can justify my choice by saying that I'm
following the conventions established by the Tokana writing system,
where word-final "h" is never written, but instead a diacritic is used.

(Ah conlanging, the only field where you can justify a decision
external to your invented world by appealing to a 'fact' which is
internal to your invented world...)

Matt.