--- In
Nostratica@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...>
wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Jun 2003 23:26:18 +0000, Gerry <waluk@...> wrote:
> >> The Sumerians were, as far as we know, the first people to
device a
> >writing
> >> system for their language. It was emphatically *not* an
alphabet.
> >> Sumerian writing is logographic, as is well known.
> >
> >Yes, the earliest writing in Mesopotamia was a picture writing
> >invented by the Sumerians who wrote on clay tablets using long
reeds.
> >The script the Sumerians invented and handed down to the Semitic
> >peoples who conquered Mesopotamia in later centuries, is called
> >cuneiform, which is derived from two Latin words: cuneus , which
> >means "wedge," and forma , which means "shape." This picture
> >language, similar to but more abstract than Egyptian
hieroglyphics,
> >eventually developed into a syllabic alphabet
>
> There you go again. There's no such thing as a "syllabic
alphabet".
>
> There are logographic/logosyllabic, syllabic and alphabetic
writing systems
> (the latter can be subdivided, using Peter Daniels' terminology,
into
> abjads [consonantal alphabets such as Phoenician], abugidas [where
the
> characters denote consonants with a designated inherent vowel, and
other
> vowels are denoted by diacritics on the basic consonant symbols:
e.g.
> Ethiopic, Indic] and alphabets proper [with both vowels and
consonants:
> e.g. Greek]). The only thing that might be called a "syllabic
alphabet"
> (or an "alphabetic syllabary") is a mixed system such as Iberian
writing,
> which consists of alphabetic symbols for vowels and
sonorants/fricatives,
> and syllabic signs for stop+vowel combinations (TA, TE, TI, TO, TU
etc.).
The term syllabic alphabet is used at www.omniglot.com for abugidas,
so Gerry's not alone in using this term. Incidentally, do abugidas
have to have inherent vowels? Fully pointed Arabic doesn't have
inherent vowels.
However, cuneiform is a logosyllabic mess, not an abugida, so I'm
afraid Gerry is still wrong.
Does ancient Egyptian fit into this classificatory scheme? It seems
to be a mix of logographic and abjad.
Richard.