Re: Divergent Scripts

Barbara Barrett scripsit:

> The ancient inhabitants of India came closest to independently inventing
> an alphabet, but end up with a compromise.
Brahmi script, the original Indic script from which all the others
descend, is clearly itself derived from some form of the basic Semitic abjad.

> These are not "true"
> syllabaries (ie where every "letter" is different and unrelated in shape
> to any other) and are called "syllabets" by scriptologists.
Peter Daniels coined the useful word "abugida" (parallel with "alphabet"
and "abjad") for these.  It's still an open question whether there is
a direct connection between Ethiopic and Indic writing.

> > How do you type Chinese characters? What are the fonts like?
Chinese fonts are very large, of course, but otherwise not too strange.
There are several methods of keyboarding Chinese: one is to type pinyin
and push a key (often Space) which presents alternative characters to
choose from.  Other methods are shape-based and involve memorizing
codes for various character parts.

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