Re: NATLANGS: What's that writing system?

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
wrote:
"
On 7/11/06, Paul Joseph Schleitwiler, FCM <pjschleitwilerfcm@...>
wrote: [about German "Thal"]
" The 'th' represents an aspirated t, not a Þ."

Is that what it is?
I thought the "h" in that context served to indicate that the vowel
was long (as "h" still often does in modern German when it follows a
vowel), though the placement before the vowel seems odd to someone
accustomed only to modern German spelling rules. I also thought the
"h" in "roth" (red), also long since abolished, was there for the same
reason."
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>

The aspirated consonants are retained in in the Northern and Western
dialects but have largely dropped from hochdeutsch and standard
German. The older orthography remains in place names and surnames. My
cousins in the Rheinland-Pfalz pronounce 'th' as 't_h' an my Austrian
cousins pronounce it as  't'. See for example the Scandinavian
pronunciations as in "Thor".
The 'h' after a vowel was originally an aspirate but has caused the
lengthening of the vowel or rounding.

This might be an interesting aspect in developing descendants of
conlangs and attendant con-scripts. Is there a method/algorithm to recreate partial and
conflicting shifts, as from the merger of dialects and the phenomenon of new
pronunciations based on imperfect readings of outdated orthography? Anyone
doing so, or have done so?
Gott segnt Sie immer, alle Wege,
Paul
 		
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