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Re: Transcription/transliteration

From:Muke Tever <alrivera@...>
Date:Monday, May 14, 2001, 12:19
From: "BP Jonsson" <bpj@...>
> At 23:29 2001-05-13 -0500, Eric Christopherson wrote: > > (transliterate) > > > > TRANSITIVE VERB : > > Inflected forms: -at*ed, -at*ing, -ates > > To represent (letters or words) in the corresponding characters of another > > alphabet. > > > >It says "corresponding," but nothing about a *perfect* correspondence. > > Only because most "translitterations" cheat, giving greater or lesser > concessions to transcription.
In my mind I can call it a "transliteration" _if I know I can reverse it correctly_--that is, there needn't be a one-to-one correspondence so long as there aren't any conflicts. If I see <ng> in latinoalphabetized Greek, I know that's (always?)spelled <gamma-gamma> in hellenoalphabetized Greek. Same with double characters or syllable-final/syllabic <n> in Japanese. But I wouldn't, for example, call it a 'transliteration' of Greek that spelled most of the /i/ vowels as <i>... *Muke!

Replies

John Cowan <jcowan@...>
BP Jonsson <bpj@...>