Heill Jón!

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "jonaegilsen
<jonaegilsen@...>" <jonaegilsen@...> wrote:
> Konrad, are you finishing soon? I think this is exellent. Also it
is very interesting. How about more runes? Writing? Thank you.

I mailed Haukur a draft for the vowel-system about 10 days ago. It
contains some modifications from the system I tried to describe -
the O-from-U characters are now punctuated inside the rune instead
of to the left side. This is the only substantial change. Besides
this, the punctuation is now in 1/6 rather than 1/4. Surprisingly, I
have received few recommendations after making these changes. Work
and music have been eating up much of my time of late, but the rest
of the system is in the works. Rather than try to describe all of
the details online, I have decided to draw sample texts in ON and
mail them for presentation. The texts will show the whole system of
vowels and consonants. Besides translating them on your own, you can
ask questions and make suggestions about the representation of the
language. Please bare in mind that the samples will be drafts for
the standard printed language - not the cumbersome academic variety
designed to show the whole history from Proto-Norse. It is designed
to be elegant, easily readable, and informative about the roots. The
endings, whether nominal or verbal, are presented without history -
exactly as in ON standardized to the language of the earlier skalds.
As the standard language is the one that truely counts, I am trying
to see to it that the roots are as fairly represented as possible. I
am sure that you will have a lot of questions once you see the text.
Look for a post from Haukur about the vowels after he receives them.
I welcome thoughtful consideration and recommendations.

Regards,
Konrad.



> --- 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.