Peter_Constable@... wrote:

>
> On 11/11/2001 04:35:50 PM "Peter T. Daniels" wrote:
>
> >> 23 Modern syriac,
> >> 37 Thaana,
>
> >Doubtful: 23 and 37 (both the same; would Bill call them
> >alphasyllabaries?)
>
> Syriac and Thaana are not the same.

Of course they are. When I got this ancient man who had brought his
metal types (and press?) when he emigrated from Iraq to Chicago to
typeset the text sample in the first edition of my Bergstraesser
translation, he couldn't even comprehend that I wanted it to be done
without the vowels (as it appeared in the source Bergstraesser had taken
it from).

Vowels are not optional in "Modern Syriac" or in Divehi. That's why
they're alphabetlike (but because the letterforms differ qualitatively,
they're not _really_ alphabets).
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...