Re: abugida vs abjad vs alphabet vs syllabary

Dirk Elzinga <Dirk_Elzinga@...>
Subject: Re: abugida vs abjad vs alphabet vs syllabary
>>>
>I call this an abugida, rather in the style of what I suppose should
>now be called "Dirk's abugida".  Each consonant series is associated
>with a different vowel type: front, back, or low; there is a *virama*
>(vowel-killer).
Cool. I get a type of writing system named after me.
<<<

Hehe, we only have to spread the term on other lists :-)
Dirk's abugida reminds me a bit of the khmer one: there are two series of
consonants and each vowel is read differently depending on the series that the
consonant is associated to (the series indic aspirated vs. the nonaspirated but
some indic aspirated write khmer consonants tha are not aspirated). for instance
the first vowel (the short leg to the right) is pronounced [a] with the
consonant <k> and [i@] with the aspirated consonant <kh>. the virama makes two
rounded vowels i don't know how to sampaize with my keyboard. the khmer system
is a pain.
i also had an abugida script for Tunu where |m| and |p| with no written vowel
are [mu] and [pu], |k| , |N| and [h] are [ka] and [ha], |l|, |n| |tS| and |t|
are [li], [ni], [tSi] and [ti]. the vowels stuck on the consonants are small
|m|, |N| and |n| for [u], [a] and [i], with a dot on |u| and |i| to make [o] and
[e]. free vowels were written as <p>, <k> and <t> with a stroke (for u, a, i) or
two strokes (for o, e) underneath. but i never use it: it's too confusing.

Mathias
http://takatunu.free.fr/tunugram.htm