LL-L "Orthography" 2003.09.25 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 25.SEP.2003 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Stan Levinson <stlev99 at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2003.09.24 (14) [E]

Folks,
I guess I haven't been following this entire thread
that closely, but I don't understand why the
orthography needs to be so slavishly influenced by
speech.  This is a very "alphabeto-centric" way of
thinking.  How about writing systems that are only
somewhat phonetic, like Chinese?  Or Arabic that tends
to omit short vowels and aims for a kind of artificial
version of the language in writing?
These systems work well to make people who speak quite
differently able to read one another's written word.
Not everyone needs this kind of ability, but those who
do seem to be able to acquire it.
Even in an alphabetic language like English, I find it
convenient to be able to read things written by people
from different parts of the U.S. as well as different
English speaking countries that avoid my dealing with
pronunciation differences.  Heck, maybe I couldn't
even understand people in Yorkshire (I've never been),
but I can read the writing.  I just have to acquire
vocabulary that is foreign.
What's wrong with the nifty little device of an
apostrophe that substitutes all kinds of body
language?
Just my 2 cents. (two, too, to, tu....)
Stan

> From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
> Subject: "Orthography"

> One rule of thumb should be that if something in an
> orthography isn't found
> in speech, gesture, tone, stress, or any other
> physical phenomenon in the
> production of the language, then there's no need to
> represent it in the
> orthography.
> ...
> I think it all adds up to the fact that you really
> don't need the
> apostrophes, you just need to adjust your writing
> style slightly to reflect
> the strateges of the spoken language better.
>
> I would think the same applies to capitals but not
> to commas, since they
> represent pauses. I'm not so sure of thinks like
> colons and semicolons - I
> could believe they represent special lengths or
> patterns of pauses used when
> itemising lists and suchlike in speech.

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From: GaidhealdeAlba at aol.com <GaidhealdeAlba at aol.com>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2003.09.24 (14) [E]

Latha math, a Lowlanders;

http://home.earthlink.net/~disembodiedbrain/eng.htm

This is the website for a reformed orthography of English based on Germanic
language orthographies. The information in the introduction is somewhat
incorrect, so I wouldn't doubt that it's got further incorrect information
in it; for example, it says that Latin has only 5 vowels. Of course, the
author is forgetting the five other vowel sounds, the long vowels, and the
two diphthongs, æ and œ. Nonetheless, I think it's worth a look in our
debate on orthographic reform. Also, a plus of it is that it's got Germanic
connections, which brings us back to Lowlandic in general.
As an aside, I'm not sure whether or not the author of this site is a sort
of pan-Germanic nationalist or an Ásatrúar or something… Some of his
comments seem to hint at this. But, it has no bearing on the actual
orthography.

For those with little time to peruse the website, I'll post an example in
normal orthography and the reformed 'Teutonic' one.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation."

"Wen in dhe Kors uv húmen events, it bekums nesesarí for wun pípel tú dizolv
dhe politikel bands witsh hav konekted dhem with anudher, and tú asúm amung
dhe Pauers uv dhe erth, dhe sepret and íkwel stäshen tú witsh dhe Lås uv
Nätsher and uv Nätsher's God entaitel dhem, a dísent ríspekt tú dhe opinyens
uv mankaind rekwairs dhat dhei shüd deklér dhe kåzes witsh impel dhem tú dhe
separäshen."

I would recommend a change — "Hwen" instead of "Wen", "Hwitsh" instead of
"Witsh". There are other changes I thought of, too, but I can't remember
them presently.

Beannachdan,
Uilleam Òg mhic Sheumais

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From: Wim <wkv at home.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2003.09.24 (14) [E]

Hi!

>>From wim verdoold  wkv at home.nl

About the way we spelling of words

All those young people  sending each other typed messages through the
phone, does that,,,type as few letters as possible...

So you get a lot of funny words, also in dutch, they copy american
examples usually.

Bye!

Wim.

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