Re: Second invention of the alphabet?

At 16:51 -0400 2004-05-27, cowan@... wrote:

>But the actual structure of the orthography is not much like German
>at all. If it were, we'd see things like samech + khaf instead of
>shin. Even alef ornans

Shtumer alef is how I learned it.

>reflects a vowel no longer pronounced.

Or the Anlaut glottal stop, which is *not* marked in German orthography.

>I should rather say that the Yiddish letters a and o are vowels with
>vowel points under them.

And the RAFE over VEYZ and FEY, and the SIN DOT in SIN, and the
DAGESH in TOF and PEY and TOF, and the HIRIQ used with YOD, and the
DAGESH used with VOV, and the PATAH used with double YOD in EY.
--
Michael Everson * * Everson Typography * * http://www.evertype.com