LL-L "Orthography" 2003.09.19 (14) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 19.SEP.2003 (14) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Orthography"

> From: John Duckworth <jcduckworth2003 at yahoo.co.uk>
> Subject: "Orthography"
>
> Our great writer George Bernard Shaw was a passionate advocate of spelling
> reform for English, and even left provision in his will for an award for
> anyone who came up with a more appropriate orthography for the language, I
> don't believe anyone has won this yet, but the older I get, the more I

This prize was won, and the result was Shavian script, which has been
discussed on the list before (mainly a batch of messages featuring me
talking to myself, if I remember :)

You can download fonts for Shavian script from sites you can google for, as
well as various important literary works and assorted documentation in the
script.

It's really quite an ingenious script involving simple strokes and some
devices making similar sounds look similar on the paper, but it only really
works with certain types of English. When I tried to learn it I found it
impossible to know how to write anything because the mappings between vowels
and diphthongs as spoken and as represented in Shavian don't correspond to
anything in my Scottish dialect of English. I would have to learn to speak
in a plummy accent before I could write it! Or put it another way, the
highly-attuned phonetics of Shavian render it just another illogical
spelling system for the millions of people who don't happen to have the
right sort of accent.

I would say that the script was chosen for its internal ingenuity as an
abstract alphabet rather than for any didactic or unifying features. It
seems to me to stand as a warning against trying to make English writing
completely phonemic. - there is just too much variety amongst dialects.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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From: GaidhealdeAlba at aol.com <GaidhealdeAlba at aol.com>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2003.09.19 (08) [E]

Latha math, a Lowlanders;
John Duckworth said:


  Our great writer George Bernard Shaw was a passionate advocate of spelling
  reform for English, and even left provision in his will for an award for
  anyone who came up with a more appropriate orthography for the language, I
  don't believe anyone has won this yet, but the older I get, the more I
  wonder whether it might not be a very good idea to revise the spelling
  system
It actually was awarded; the creator's name is Kingsley Read. The alphabet
is called Shavian. In my opinion, it's quite pleasing aesthetically. Read
later revised it to the Read or Quikscript alphabet. Look for them on
Omniglot (http://www.omniglot.com/).

Beannachdan,
Uilleam Òg mhic Sheumais


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