How to write sh-sound?

[Michael Everson]

On 19 Mar 2012, at 21:29, Kevin Behrens wrote:

> But most of the people learning Gothic know English at least at an intermediate level.

So?

> I see in "sh" an international sign for [ʃ] as seen in the intuitive way of the users.

There's nothing intuitive about any collection of graphemes. One learns that Greek γγ and Gothic 𐌲𐌲 are pronoununced like NG. 

> "𐍃𐌷" cannot stand for anything else,

It cans tand for the sequence [s] followed by [h], as in the word "householder". 

> but "si" or "sj" could have another reading [sj] and I think it is hard to always distinguish them intuitivly without having the distinction made in written language. 

But [s][j] is closer to [ʃ] than [s][h] is. The J palatalizes the S nicely; compare [sj] > [sʲ] > [ʃ]. 

> But why does we have to make it historically rationable here?

Because if you don't then it is just a ham-fisted pastiche, as opposed to an artistic reconstruction. 

> The Goths haven't had contact with English people as far as we know. The need for finding transcription ways are just of today and so we could use modern ways. 

But if we use ancient ways it is more authentic, and more fun. 

Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/

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