Re: Un-neccesary letters (was: Re: New/revised language: Phonology)

Andrew Chaney <adchaney@...> wrote:

> ObConlang: If your language has a native alphabet, does it include archaic
> spellings and such like -ough, kn-, etc?
In Germanech, the letters <s> and <z> both have the same value, namely
/s/.  One could thus do away with <z> altogether, and this has indeed
been proposed several times.  The reason why there are two letters
for one phoneme is etymological.  The letter <z> is used to write
an /s/ that reflects a Latin /t/.  For example, the word /pfaser/
`father' is spelled <pfazer>, because it comes from Latin /pater/.
The diphthong /ts/ is always spelled <tz>, as it always results
from a Latin /t/, except in borrowings.

And if one takes words borrowed from Greek into account, it becomes
even more messy: Greek sigma, zeta and xi all surface as /s/ in
Germanech, and while sigma is represented by <s>, zeta becomes <z>,
and xi yet a third letter, <x>.  Words of Greek origin also feature
<y> for /y/, which is normally spelled <ü>, and <ph> for /f/
(normally <f>).  Example: <xylophon> /sylofon/, the normal spelling
would be **<sülofon>.

And then there is the usual context-dependence in the value of <c>
and <g>.  In Germanech, these are /S/ and /Z/ before <e>, <i> and <j>.

Jörg.