Konrad, are you finishing soon? I think this is exellent. Also it is
very interesting. How about more runes? Writing? Thank you.

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "konrad_oddsson
<konrad_oddsson@...>" <konrad_oddsson@...> wrote:
> The rune Íss will be used for many different Old Norse sounds. In
> this post we will introduce the 4 most simple and common of these
> sounds. Draw a basic Íss-rune. This should consist of a single
line
> drawn from top to bottom between the bars - that is to say,
between
> the long horizontal lines between which the runes are written.
Your
> character should consist of a single line between 2 bars. It
should
> have the appearance of a Latin letter 'I', but with both of the 2
> capital bars extending indefinately to the right and left. These
are
> the 'bars' between which runes are written. Remember to space your
> bars widely enough apart to draw tall and skiny runes. The
character
> thus draw = short I, as in 'þistill'. Now place a dot 1/4 of the
way
> down the vertical line from the top. This dot should be
immeadiately
> to the LEFT side of the vertical line. It must not be on the line,
> but beside it. This character = long I (Í), as in 'Ísland'. Notice
> this dot, which elongates the vowel-grade, is placed toward the
top,
> as was also the case with when we elongated characters based on
the
> Ár- and ÚrR-runes. The difference is that the dot is placed to the
> LEFT of the vertical line (which forms the Íss-rune).
Modifications
> of the Íss-rune will always occur to the LEFT side of the rune.
The
> reason is one of elegance and clarity. When characters based on
the
> Íss-rune are combined with a following Á or Ú, we do NOT want to
see
> any dots belonging to the Íss-rune on the right side of the rune.
> This would be confusing and unattractive, as both Á and Ú can
occur
> with dots to the LEFT of their vertical lines. Writing IU could be
> especially confusing, as there might be dots in a common space
which
> belong to either rune and occur outside of parameters of the runes
> proper. Thus, the Íss-rune takes dots only to the LEFT of the
strait
> vertical line. We have now learned how to write I and Í, which are
> both inherited from Proto-Norse. Now draw a new Íss-rune. Now
place
> a dot 1/2 of the way down the vertical line from the top and on
the
> LEFT side, which is the only side we will be using. This character
=
> natural Proto-Norse E, as in 'ek' (I). This character will NOT be
> used where E is a mutation from Proto-Norse A (see previous posts
> about the Ár-rune). In the Proto-Norse period, this sound and its
> elongated grade were both represented by the 'M'-rune, which stood
> for the Latin letter 'E'. To form the long grade of this vowel, we
> will be placing a 2nd dot directly above the 1st one and 1/4 of
the
> way down from the top of the vertical line - that is to say, in
the
> same position as when writing 'Í' (the long of 'I'). Thus, both
the
> long of 'I' and 'E' take a dot in the same position: 1/4 of the
way
> down from the top of the vertical line on the LEFT side. Remember,
> the dot forming the character for short 'E' is placed 1/2 of the
way
> down from the top. The reason we are drawing tall runes should be
> clear by now. Interestingly enough, the oldest inscriptions in our
> 16-letter alphabet feature tall and skiny runes, despite the fact
> that no dots were used this early to modify their phonological
> values. We have now learned how to draw 4 characters: I, Í, E, É.
In
> posts to come, we will introduce further characters based on the
Íss-
> rune, including some additional simple diphthongs (see previous
post
> for basic diphthongs based on A + U). We will also discuss a group
> of characters base on the ÚrR-rune.
>
> Regards,
> Konrad.