> ho de Ioannes Haimatikos egraphe:
>
> >Canadian Syllabics (also in 3.0) they're totally systematic: the vowel
> >is shown by rotating the glyph, and if there's no vowel, the glyph is
> >written as a superscript.
>
> Sounds vaguely familiar to anyone who has acquainted Brahmi or Tibetan.
> Superscripting is somehow more logical than subscripting, since it is the
> bottommost glyph which kinda "holds" the vowel. Two questions, tho:
>
> (1) Which vowel is inherent in the form of the glyphs that is used as
> superscript?
There is not just one Cree script or Canadian script. In some scripts the
superscripts have a different form. Take a look at
http://www.storm.ca/~jspence/3PAR.htm
In others they have the same form:
www.canarie.ca/eng/outreach/publications/press/inuk.html
>
> (2) Do there occur large stacks of glyphs as in Tibetan? (When Sanskrit
is
> written in Tibetan script the stacks can get truly monstrous, as
>
> I
> krt
> s
> n
> y
>
> for _krItsnya_!)
>
> kai ho men Phabianos:
>
> >Tengwar could be regarded as alphabetic when used in English or Sindarin
> >mode, Abugida when used in Quenya mode. I had thought they could be
> >considered Abjad, but those vowel diacritics aren't really optional,
except
> >for the "a" diacritic, and not always for that one - it can only be
omitted
> >when teh meaning remains obvious.
> >
>
> Actually Tolkien devised and used both alphabetic and Abugida modes for
> Sindarin and English (even several alphabetic ones!). AFAIK there is no
> known example of alphabetic Quenya by Tolkien himself. Yours truly has
> however used an adaptation of the alphabetic Sindarin mode found in "The
> King's Letter" to cram some Quenya text into a very narrow space. I
guess
> others, including JRRT, might have taken that expediency too. BTW there
is
> one example of Abjad Tengwar: the _l-nd-l_ used as a monogram for
_Elendil_.
>
> WRT Abjad scripts: I know of at least four more still in use beside
Arabic
> and Hebrew, namely Syriac (two versions there), Samaritan, Mandaean and
> Pitman's shorthand(!) I don't know if Tifinagh is Abjad or alphabetic,
nor
> if it is still in use, but being derived from Carthaginian Phoenician it
is
> at least an Abjad candidate (altho late Carthaginian Phoenician wasn't
> itself Abjad: the dialect had lost the laryngeal and pharyngeal sounds
and
> used those letters as vowels on the Greek model -- probably a conscious
> adaptation.) There is also at least one cursive form of Devanagari
> (Kaithi) that is Abjad, since no vowel diacritics are used. I don't know
> if there aren't any, or if they are just mostly left out. In principle I
> suspect the usual Devanagari ones could have been adopted.
>
> BTW: Sanskrit was and is written in several different Indic script, but
is
> nowadays mostly *printed* in Devanagari. Only in the Tamil country was
> there a special Sanskrit script (Grantha) distinct from the one used for
> the vernacular. The first printed books in Sanskrit were printed in
> Grantha by the Jesuits.
>
>
> /BP
>
> B.Philip Jonsson <bpj@...> <melroch@...>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__
> Anant' avanaute quettalmar! \ \
> __ ____ ____ _____________ ___ __ __ __ / /
> \ \/___ \\__ \ /___ _____/\ \\__ \\ \ \ \\ \ / /
> / / / / / \ / /Melroch\ \_/ // / / // / / /
> / /___/ /_ / /\ \ / /Melarocco\_ // /__/ // /__/ /
> /_________//_/ \_\/ /Eowine__ / / \___/\_\\___/\_\
> I neer Pityancalimeo\ \_____/ /ar/ /_atar Mercasso naan
> ~~~~~~~~~Cuinondil~~~\_______/~~~\__/~~~Noolendur~~~~~~
> || Lenda lenda pellalenda pellatellenda cuivie aiya! ||
> "A coincidence, as we say in Middle-Earth" (JRR Tolkien)