Re: abugida vs abjad vs alphabet vs syllabary

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
'In Quenya in which _a_ was very frequent, its vowel sign was often
omitted altogether. Thus for _calma_ 'lamp' _clm_ could be written...'
(LotR, p. 1095 ftn.)

Pavel
--
Pavel Iosad               pavel_iosad@mail.ru

'I am a philologist, and thus a misunderstood man'
                 --JRR Tolkien, _The Notion Club Papers_