--- In Nostratica@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:

> On Tue, 17 Jun 2003 23:26:18 +0000, Gerry <waluk@...> wrote:
>
> >They shouldn't be. The reason they were included in this blurb

was

> >simply as a way to show that a person could change from one

religious

> >faith and in turn embrace two others. In traditional linguistics
> >studies, it is usually assumed that one person speaks only one
> >language.
>
> I don't think that's assumed at all.

Great! Then please explain how traditional linguistics deals with a
single person and the language(s) he/she speaks.

> >> 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.).

I give up. We simply cannot agree upon words. If we are unable to
reach that level, there there is no reason to proceed.

Gerry