John Cowan wrote:

>
> Lars Marius Garshol scripsit:
>
> > | Not really; the pointings merely changed from optional to
> > | obligatory.
> >
> > They did, and to me that means that it became an alphabet. If a script
> > consistently denotes the vowels, how can be it said to be an abjad? I
> > realize that the vowels are written with diacritical marks, but even
> > so.
>
> Well, that's an issue. What is Tengwar? Structurally, it is an abjad,
> but in most modes, vowel points are mandatory not optional. In standard
> Quenya orthography, you can omit the a-diacritic, which makes it look like
> an abugida (as JRRT notes, "clm" = "calma", because "cl-" is impossible
> and "-m" is impossible; "calama" is a possible but nonexistent reading).
> There are also plene modes that are fully alphabetic.

Perhaps Tolkien was thinking of the Etruscan and Venetic use of dots
w.r.t. syllables.

> Returning to the Real World, is Yiddish orthography still an abjad,
> or has it too become alphabetic?

Why would you suggest that Yiddish isn't an alphabet?
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...