Re: Abugidas (was: Chinese writing systems)

daniel andreasson scripsit:

> Each syllable consists of two "letters", with a bar on top
> of them, on which the vowel is written. If the vowel is /a/,
> then there's just the bar, no other sign. There is a "null
> sign" if the syllable is just a vowel. So,
This sounds more like a featural syllabary, like Hangul.  In traditional
abugidas, consonants not followed by vowels are attached to the following
consonant orthographically:  thus "Hindi" is orthographically
"hi-ndi:", even though the "n" is pronounced with the previous syllable.
(Since the Devanagari "i" (not "i:") is written physically to the left
of its consonant, the visual result is "ih-ndi:".)

Because abugidas were invented either only once or only twice (depending
on whether Ethiopic and Indic have a common parent or not), it's hard to
distinguish accidental from essential features.  The abjad was seemingly
invented only once, and the alphabet only once (with Mongolian script
a marginal second example).  Syllabaries and morpho-syllabaries (like
Han, or Egyptian or Maya hieroglyphics) have been invented repeatedly
and independently.

--
John Cowan <jcowan@...>     http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_