Re: made-to-order alphabets
From: | Christophe Grandsire <grandsir@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, September 28, 1999, 7:12 |
Adam Parrish wrote:
>
> Quick question on ordering schemes for alphabets: is it
> necessary to have one? For some reason it strikes me that the Talin (the
> writing system for Doraya) doesn't really have any particular "order,"
> and that the thought of sequencing them would seem odd to the speakers
> of Doraya. Is it a required thing for alphabetic systems to have a
> perceived "order"? Does something similar happen in other writing
> systems (e.g., syllabaries)?
>
Well, an order can be useful for dictionnaries and indexes, as well as
for libraries, and a common order is better in that case than defining
an order for each book released (it saves time). That's the only reason
for having a perceived order (simply a common order used by everyone).
As for other writing systems, I know that syllabaries are generally
also ordered in a way or another, and that Chinese ideograms are at
least ordered by number of strokes and by keys I think. I don't know how
this order works exactly though.
--
Christophe Grandsire
Philips Research Laboratories -- Building WB 145
Prof. Holstlaan 4
5656 AA Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Phone: +31-40-27-45006
E-mail: grandsir@natlab.research.philips.com