Re: abugida vs abjad vs alphabet vs syllabary

At 9:25 am +0400 25/5/02, Pavel Iosad wrote:
>Hello,
>
>> The letters of an abugida represent syllables in which a consonant is
>> followed by a fixed vowel, called the implicit vowel.  Thus if /a/
>> is the implicit vowel, there will be letters for /ka/, /ta/, /la/,
>> etc.
>
>Which essentially makes the Quenya mode of the_tengwar_ a partial
>example. Am I right?
>
But the Tengwar don't have an implicit vowel, do they?  There seem to me
rather an abjad but, unusually for an abjad, vowels are always made
explicit.

I would be interested to read what John has to say on the matter.

Another thing I've wondered is whether "Dirk's syllabary" is really a
syllabary or an abugida or a 'modified abjad'.  Like an abugida, the
characters do contain an implicit vowel, what Dirk called the "resting
vowel", but unlike standard abigidas, this resting vowel is not the same
for all consonants; there is a difference between 'high vowel' syllabics
and 'low vowel' syllabics, thus:

High vowel     Low vowel
p = [p1]        b = [pa]
t = [t1]        d = [ta]
c = [c1]        j = [ca]
k = [k1]        g = [ka]
f = [f1]        v = [fa]
s = [s1]        z = [sa]
x = [x1]        h = [xa]
m = [m1]          -
n = [n1]          -
q = [N1]          -
   -            r = [ra]
   -            l = [la]

The implicit resting vowel is the one pronounced if no other indication is
given, e.g.
pghn = [p1kaxan1]
rgt = [rakat1]

Besides these abugida-like symbols, there are five true syllabics, namely:
u = [(w)u]      w = [wo]
i = [(j)i]      y = [je]
     -          a = [a]

The semivocalic glides are optional before the high vowels.
Now the rules is that syllables following {u} or {o} take high or low back
rounded vowels, instead of the resting vowel, and following a {i} or {e}
they become front unrounded, e.g.
wny = [wonufo]
upxz = [(w)upuxuso]
wnvypg = [wonufoyepike]

As, in fact, the consonants listed above can be followed by one of three
vowels which is determined by context and, therefore, need not be written
(indeed, must not be written), should we say they have the nature of an
abjad?

But just to add to the fun, there are two characters that are _silent_,
namely {e} and {o} which merely induce fronting or rounding respectively in
the syllables that follow then, e.g.
epgr = [pikere]
oklqejfs = [kuloNucefisi]

As I am contemplating something for BrScB, I would be interested to know
how John categorizes such a system.

Ray.



=======================================================
Speech is _poiesis_ and human linguistic articulation
is centrally creative.
                                 GEORGE STEINER.
=======================================================

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