Here's what Coulmas sensibly says in the Cambridge *Writing Systems*,
p.32:
"The Latin alphabet is not a writing system in a generic sense. The
rules governing its use in Latin and in English and other languages are
drastically different, so much so that Latin and English writing should
not be treated as writing systems of the same type. Hence, the
expression 'Latin alphabet' is ambiguous. The two meanings at issue can
be paraphrased as
"- the writing system of the Latin language, and
"- a set of 26 letters serving the writing systems of a great number of
languages.
"In the latter sense it is also referred to as 'Roman' or 'roman'. The
spelling with a small initial _r_ is indicative of the general
significance of this script which is no longer associated with a
particular language or culture. Cherokee, English and the IPA make use
of the same symbols, roman letters, but not only are their
interpretations disparate, the functions they serve are unrelated."
[I would deny that Cherokee has letters of the roman alphabet in it.]
--
Peter T. Daniels
grammatim@...