On 11/09/2001 11:12:13 AM "Peter T. Daniels" wrote:
>> >(I mean, obviously, it was only invented once.)
>>
>> So was the automobile, but that doesn't mean they're all the same.
People
>> who presume that primates evolved from a single source wouldn't say
>> they're all the same. To say that these are not different scripts in
need
>> of classification is simply silly.
>
>And in the classification system for "means of transport," you don't
>have classes for "raft, chariot, sailboat, steamboat, airplane, -- and
>Ford, Mercedes, and Toyota!" (or even sedan, coupe, and roadster, to use
>three words I "learned" from Hardy Boys stories without any hint of what
>they are).
Personally, I'm interstested in the diversity of the world's writing
systems. I had presumed that you were also, given the nature of the book
which you co-edited. In light of that diversity, it makes no more sense to
me to say that there is one alphabet than it does to say that in the
classification of languages there is one Indo-European language.
- Peter
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Constable
Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485
E-mail: <
peter_constable@...>