> From: suzmccarth [mailto:suzmccarth@...]

> (there isn't any script for which neither
> > phonemes nor syllables are relevant),
>
> Why should there be? It should be either one or the other, or both.
> I am not sure I understood this comment.

If you create two independent axes of binary classification, then there
are four combinations, one of which is the negative value for both axes.
But if we organized in such a way, that (-,-) pigeonhole would be empty,
and that tells me something's askew.

> However, Tamil is not an alphasyllabary in the same way that Korean
> is. (Is what you call Korean?)

Whatever label is given, according to the definition I gave for the
category in question, both Tamil and Korean could be considered members.
That doesn't mean that there might not be interesting differences
between them.

Of course, not everyone accepts the same categories (with their
corresponding definitions) that I listed, or the classifications that I
suggested.


Peter Constable