On 11/09/2001 08:23:17 AM Michael Everson wrote:

>Daniels means, I think that the alphabetic concept can be called "THE
>alphabet". This is different from how we think of it in encoding.

But the point is "alphabet" is the name for a class in a classification
system for "writing systems" (B&D's term, what you and I would, I think,
call scripts). The classification system is not described as being for
"families of writing systems" but "writing systems". Moreover, it would be
impossible to classify families of writing systems, as Marco (I think)
pointed out earlier: they have evolved. Latin is part of the same family
as Linear B. If we're going to classify families, then perhaps there are
*no* alphabets. That's just plain silly.



- Peter


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Peter Constable

Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485
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