Conlang Spelling Conventions (was: OFF: More Pinyin reform...)

On Thu, 24 Feb 2000 13:02:12 -0500 Vasiliy Chernov <bc_@...> writes:
> The authors of Pinyin had the concern than *handwritten* _n_ and _u_
> look
> alike, and tried to avoid using _u_ where a confusion was possible.
> Kinda parallel to English spellings like _some_, _world_, _money_,
> etc.
> Are spelling rules of anybody's conlang influenced by this type of
> concerns, I wonder?
> Basilius
.

Well, in Rokbeigalmki "cursive" script, the letters /m/ and /o/ can be
confused when they're next to eachother:
/m/ looks like a curved {w}
/o/ looks like a curved {v}

So, something that looks like {vvv} can be either /mo/ (as in _semoz_,
"sun") or /om/ (as in _sejom_ "sixes").

In order to disambiguate, a circle is written above the /o/ {v}.
In the "older" forms of the alphabet, the basic shape of the /o/ was what
looks like a circle on two parallel stilts.  In the cursive and then
"modern" forms, the circle is normally dropped.


-Stephen (Steg)
 "A stone's throw from Jerusalem / I walked a million miles in the
moonlight..."