Re: Script type

At 8:06 AM +0200 05/27/02, Maarten van Beek wrote:
>Hi everybody,
>
>I have been following the discussion on alphabets, syllabaries etc. and I
>was wondering: one of my languages uses a script that is somewhere in
>between an alphabet and a syllabary (but more towards an alphabet, I think).
>The basis of the system are the vowels, which are at the center of each
>syllable. To this core symbol, you may add up to two additional symbols that
>indicate the caput and coda of the syllable. These consist of a consonant or
>consonant cluster. Many ligatures exist of common caput/coda combinations,
>in which only the central vowel differs.
Huh. About six years ago I came up with a similar scheme for Tepa
(this was before I realized that Tepa was spoken by a preliterate
society). I used four basic shapes as frames: an almond shape for
/i/, a circle for /u/, a semicircle for /1/ and a square for /a/. The
consonants were indicated by marks contained within this frame, and
long vowels were marked by horizontally elongating the frame itself.

I really like the system, but I don't use it for anything in particular now.

>My question: How would such a writing system be classified? Are there any
>nat- or conlangs which use a similar system, and if so, does anyone know
>where I can get more info on this subject?
I always considered my system to be an alpha-syllabary, since each
frame enclosed a syllable, but each frame was also decomposable into
segments.

Dirk
--
Dirk Elzinga                  Dirk_Elzinga@byu.edu

Man deth swa he byth thonne he mot swa he wile.
'A man does as he is when he can do what he wants.'

- Old English Proverb