suzmccarth wrote:

>
> --- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...>
> wrote:
> > suzmccarth wrote:
> > >
> > > --- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...>
> > > wrote:
>
> >
> > ? What's what people call their system got to do with what it encodes?
>
> If people classify their own system then I would observe how mature
> and immature native speakers read and write and how they teach their
> children before I would reclassify it. A formal and historical
> perspective is a curiosity, trivia in comparison to a functional
> classification.

The Cree people don't "classify" their system; "syllabics" is simply an
English label for it. (A label that's not used for any other script --
English has the word "syllabary" for a type of script.)

> Western Cree encodes V and CV. Syllable final C are all
> continuants, and can be produced vocalically by the native speaker
> as syllables, even written with full syllabic characters (not
> reduced size superscript) when handwriting. (Word final k and n are
> also written but learned as a suffix). So the argument that Cree is
> a mixed system is not very convincing for Western Cree native
> writers. Chisasibi Cree has shifted and is a different case.
>
> However, the Cree have their system intact and can use or not use
> modern orthographic standards that would make them feel that they
> has a mixed system.

--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...