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Re: Cyrillic letters for /T/ and /D/

From:Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>
Date:Friday, February 22, 2008, 9:12
On 22/02/08 18:53:25, Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
> How would you all react to a (non-Slavic) Cyrillic-based > alphabet using upside-down Cyrillic {s} and {z} for /T/ and > /D/? The idea is that a 19th century alphabet maker was able > to turn existing lead types upside down to create new > symbols, but not to add diacritics or wholly new shapes.
Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to use Greek letters? Possibly reviving fita but more likely just using large and small caps Greek theta. Delta is a bit harder as in both caps and lowercase it would've looked too much like the Cyrillic D/Д. (You might take, say, psi and say the alphabet designer had made a mistake adopting letters from an unfamiliar alphabet.) In any case, I thought it was a long-standing and continuing tradition for new Cyrillic-based alphabets to create new letterforms for new sounds (or even when creating Latin-based alphabets in Cyrillic- dominant areas, like the letter gha (U+01A2/3 LATIN CAPITAL/SMALL LETTER OI)). Is there any particular reason for your reluctance? (As for the aesthetics of the matter, I dislike upside-down letters; they never look right unless a new character is designed for the purpose anyway, a la Gentium.) -- Tristan.

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Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>