Lanna script; observation on ".l" in Pyuu script

Bhante,

Re: Lanna script & the rosetta stone ...

I will (eventually) create a file showing the differences (and
similarities) for the Lanna, Lao, and Burmese scripts.  I will
probably create a separate page for Lao-Pali resources --and I think
that the only printed resources explaining how the various scripts
used for Pali on this span of the earth (from Sipsongpanna &
Shan-Burma to Cambodia, with Lao & Lanna in the middle) are obscure
Thai publications.

One of the reasons that I intend to do this is with the hope of
influencing font & typeface designers ... sadly, most of the Lanna &
Lao-Dhamma type that now exists incorporates simplifications from the
late 19th century.

To return to a question that the list mused about some weeks ago:

   I note that the Pyuu script has very closely related orthography for
".d", "d", and ".l" --it seems that the three are all variations on a
single glyph (whereas the aspirates ".dh" & "dh" are not so similar
...).  What is especially interesting is that the figure for ".l"
alone remains unchanged into much later (Lao) scripts --while ".d" &
"d" are very much transformed with the passage of time.  The
resemblance of these three in modern standard Burmese-Pali seems to be
because the three Pyuu glyphs were consistently rendered into the
modern script by adding a semi-circle to the top portion --but the
bottom half of each of these still resembles the old Pyuu somewhat.
   In any case, this is consistent with my earlier observations about
various Khmer scripts ... it often seems that the orthography for ".l"
was created by a modification of either "d" or ".d".  This is very
clear in old Pyuu --and, most likely because the ".l" had no
vernacular equivalent, we still find roughly the Pyuu ".l" in various
Lao/Lanna scripts.

E.M.