Re: Introduction, and a Couple Questions

>MorphemeAddict@... wrote:
>I start with the English alphabet.  That gives me some basic sounds,
>and since I don't like diacritics, I make do with that.  So I guess
>I start with the phonology, too.
I don't like diacritics either.  Nor do I like digraphs.  But another
constraint I have is that I want to be able to write Senjecas in
cursive.  Fortunately, the Senjecan phonemic inventory is small, only
30 phonemes.  Still, I've had to borrow for some of the "non-English"
or non-available phonemes.  While I want there to be
some "recognizability," yet a bit of exoticness seemed in order.

1. One additional vowel needed for /O/.   O-with-stroke <ø> is
easily written in cursive.
2. I needed a grapheme for /m_0/.   The IPA m-with-hook <&#625;>
works
very well and is easily written in cursive using a descender as one
does for a <y>.
3. Thorn <þ> is a <p> with an ascender & a descender.
4. Eth <ð> is a <d> crossed.
5. L-with-stroke (/l_0/) is easy enough, but needs a bit of
care to distinguish it from <t>.
6. For some reason unknown to me I don't like the grapheme <k>.  I
wonder if it's a holdover from its use by the Orcs!  Still I needed
a grapheme for /c/.  I discovered the letter kra, formerly used with
Kallaalisut.  However, I use the standard <k> when writing cursive.
6. For /J\/ I use the Etruscan <q> with the descender in the center,
but still use the Latin <q> when writing in cursive.
7. I needed a grapheme for /j_0/.  I use h-with-stroke for a touch of
exoticness (exoticity?).  The ascender can be crossed in cursive as
is done with <t> and <ð>.
8. For /j/ I use yogh <&#541;>, but continue to use <j> in cursive.
9. I am having trouble with /dz/, however.  I have chosen ezh
<&#658;> to represent it, but I haven't yet figured out how to
differentiate it from <z> when writing in cursive.

Finally there are the three "weak" vowels: /I/, /@/ and /U/.  I use
the vowels <i>, <e>, and <u>, respectively with a diaresis, my only
concession to diacritics.  I'd like to use the dotless I and the
schwa <&#601;>, but I haven't yet found a  comparable grapheme
for /U/.

Charlie

Reply