LL-L "Orthography" 2002.03.04 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 04.MAR.2002 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: "Andy Eagle" <andy at scots-online.org>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2002.03.01 (04) [E]

Sandy Fleming wrote:

> Could you give me a rough idea of what such a programme of
> "small steps" would be like? How would you get from our sort
> of spellings to something that could be consistent as a
> result of being independent of English?

By doing away with the common assumption that the graphemes used have to
have the same perceived sound to letter correspondences as standard
English.
Using the graphemes diaphonemically when necessary instead of different
spellings for different dialects.

> The fact that such a reform might require a mass demand for
> it seems to matter little, considering there's no mass demand
> for any kind of writing in Scots.

There is some demand for writing in Scots though.

> I was originally talking about the idea of using a radical
> orthography in a small way (though of course, the larger
> the better) to see if people couldn't get used to seeing
> it and so come to accept it. One of my original suggestions
> to Ron was:
>
> <quote>
> The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the ScotsteXt
> "Original/Edited" toggle could be used to try and familiarise
> people with a "sensibly weird" Scots orthography. That is to
> say, I could present the original text with traditional spellings,
> but use a radical orthography for the edited texts (presently the
> "edited" texts only contain grammatical corrections).
> </quote>
>
> Do you think this idea could work?

As you've shown in other mails it would certainly be of use for (non
native
speaker) learning of correct pronunciation because it is simpler and
easer
to use than IPA as the symbols are already available on an 'English'
keyboard. Recoding keboards is not something everybody could be expected
to
do.

Sir James Wilson used a similar system in his books.

>From another posting

>I do feel an awful lot could be acheived very quickly in
>Scots orthography if the "recognisability" criterion could
>be dropped.

My concern is, if a consistant orthography was used, would people make
the e
ffert to familiarize themselves with it in order to read what is peing
presented. If only very few people bother is the effort worth it?

>From another posting

><o> /o(:)/

><y> /a:I/
><ey> /@i/ (this is Lorimer's way of distinguishing from /a:I/)
><ow> /Vu/
><ou> /u(:)/
><ee> /i(:)/
><ai> /e:/
><a> /a:/ and /Q:/ (this merge aids writing, I think
                   - or /Q/ could be written <au>)

><eukh> /jux/, /jVx/ (diaphonemic)
><euk> /juk/, /jVk/ (diaphonemic)
><ui> /ü/ &c (diaphonemic)

><th> /T/
><dh> /D/
><nk> /Nk/
><ng> /N/
><zh> /Z/
><sh> /S/
><ch> /tS/
><kh> /x/
><wh> /W/

That's getting nearer to what we often already use.
How about changing <kh> to <ch> and merging <th> an <dh> to <th> since
native speakers will know the difference.
Differ /a/ <a> from /Q/ <au> e.g. mat /maut. <au> is /a:/ in the north
east.
(If I've got your intention right)

Andy Eagle

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