Re: Announcement: New auxlang "Choton"

On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 15:00:58 -0400, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...>
> Poster:       "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
> Subject:      Re: Announcement: New auxlang "Choton"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mon, Oct 04, 2004 at 02:25:26PM -0400, Pascal A. Kramm wrote:
> > I know that they're hardly written in current Hebrew - your point being?
> > How would that explain how they are supposed to become "swooshes"?
When people write quickly they will often create ligatures or make a
complex letter much more simplified. For instance, when I write the
capital letter E out, I don't draw all four lines, I use the cursive
variant (like a backwards 3). The problem with the Hebrew points is
that when someone is writing fast, the various dots will get turned
into lines. That's what people are saying when they mention they will
become swooshes, they will get simplified. Especially for a script
like yours where there are a lot of dots. People will come to find it
tedious to carefully write them all out.

When I created the quick version of Kuraw, I did make the various
vowel diacritics into "swooshes" because I knew that's how they'd end
up in a fast script. I came across one problem with two of the
swooshes, the diacritic for e and u in the quick version looked the
same. In the "normal" handwritten version there was no problem, as e
resembled a "curved 7"  and u was a vertical line. But reducing e to a
line created a vertical line. Solution? Angling the e to the left and
u to the right.

I also suspect that the curves in your characters will get reduced,
such as those on the final row of consonants.


From a design aspect, I'd avoid the use of letters that look very much
the same in base form. Yes, the dots do distinguish them, but it can
get to the point where people start to see them all "blend at the
seams". It's like the criticism of tengwar. It looks pretty, but it
would be a nightmare for those with reading problems like Dyslexia.

Besides, it would also avoid the picket fence look (no, i'm not saying
they look like sticks, that saying is in reference to a repetition of
the same form). For ease of recognizeability, its easier on the eye if
each glyph is distinct. It looks like you're going for either
something tengwar (form, repetition) and hangul (use of the same base
form for the articulation of the letter) inspired. Or at least if you
want the same form, give a general form, but alter it enough each
glyph looks distinct.

Of course if you have a script that has no use except just to be cool,
you can be as unpractical as you'd like (such as my leaf script).