suzmccarth wrote:

> I also wanted to ask why sorting by column was considered
> the "inherent" sort order for Vai. I do see that once all the rows are
> completed there are similarities down the columns, but I wondered if
> there was any 'native speaker' reason for columns being the inherent
> sort order. Anyway, just interested - I think Cherokee may have also
> optionally used columns - I forget the details.

Sequoyah's order for Cherokee is quite random (see WWS), likely
reflecting the order he happened to invent the symbols in. The standard
syllabary chart (does it go back to Samuel Worcester?) is simply in the
order of the roman alphabet, consonants vertical, vowels horizontal.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...