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Re: Not phonetic but IN CONCLUSION

From:Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...>
Date:Saturday, April 17, 2004, 23:30
--- And Rosta <a.rosta@...> wrote:
> Gary Shannon:
<snip>
> The spelling could at least be regularized. IMO the > main desideratum is that the orthography should > facilitate the process of learning to read,
I will respectfully disagree. The native English speaker spends perhaps two or three years learning to read and then another seventy to eighty years or more actually reading. From my perspective the principle goal should be to make each word as quickly and easily distinguishable as possible for the experienced reader, even if that requires a bit more effort at the outset to learn. I'm reminded of some old illustrated manuscripts in Latin which, when viewed from more than 6 inches away, look like endless repetition of the same letter. There is very little to give each word a distinctive shape. I'm trying to design a non-roman alphabet (originally my idea was non-phonemic as well, see the "alphagraphic" thread) which has letter shapes that blend together into word shapes that maximize distinctiveness-at-a-glance. If two words cannot be told apart contaminated with ink spatters and viewed through frosted glass then they are too similar in shape and the alphabet needs more work. --gary

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And Rosta <a.rosta@...>