* Lars Marius Garshol
|
| Another reason is that I am trying to learn more about scripts and
| how they work, and I am having a hard time understanding how to
| apply the definitions of the different script types. It seems that
| the line between alphabet and abjad, for example, is fairly subtle,
| and since nobody, to my knowledge, has made an authoritative list of
| the classifications of various scripts, I am reduced to finding the
| correct answers by asking people who know.
* Peter T. Daniels
|
| I really don't see anything unclear or inexplicit about "abjads
| denote consonants" and "alphabets denote consonants and vowels on an
| equal footing."
Nor do I. The problem is just that the last part of this requirement,
that consonants and vowels must be _on_an_equal_footing_ in an
alphabet does not appear in WWS, so I couldn't know that this was part
of the equation. And, of course, I have no guarantee that I've been
given the complete equation now. Looking at more examples may reveal
that there is more I don't know about.
The real problem, I guess, is that the only source of information I
have on this is WWS, and that devotes less than a page to the
explanation of these six terms, which are all fairly complex. That
just isn't enough for someone who's not already deeply into
grammatology. WWS is probably written for such an audience, so I have
no right to complain that it doesn't solve my problems, but this
really isn't as easy as you imply.