Suzanne McC. wrote:

"I have to say that the inherent vowel is not a problem for computer input
but the non-linearity and reshaping are really a problem when it comes to
keyboarding a script. Somehow this non-linearity has to be dealt with - it
cannot be ignored. It has to be considered as a feature of the script that
is an issue for input. Input of abstract phonemic units manipulated
mentally is not going to work."

Suzanne's last sentence could offer a clue to the future, when voice input
becomes more workable. I would expect that progressively-greater speaker
independence will develop, so that spoken input will eventiually need
less, or maybe even no training.
Work done by the Japanese on the Fifth Generation Project might apply,
here, offering contextual and cultural help.

(Speech input, as probably many Qalamites know, seems generally to be
subdivided into speaker-independent and speaker-dependent categories. The
former, as I understand it, is either restricted to a much smaller
vocabulary, or else becomes much more difficult to do. The latter requires
the software to "learn" from a long sample, spoken by a specific user.)

Nevertheless, for the near future, keying surely will remain all but
indispensable.

--
Nicholas Bodley /*|*\ Waltham, Mass.
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