Mark E. Shoulson scripsit:

> >Most modern Arabic and Hebrew texts, however, are neither fully pointed
> >nor fully unpointed: rather, they are strategically pointed with matres
> >lectionis.
> >
> Even worse, they are strategically pointed with occasional actual
> vowel-points and not matres.

That's what I meant, but I see that what I wrote is ambiguous. I should
have written "they are strategically pointed, and use matres lectionis
as well."

> Is the inherent vowel so crucial and novel a feature that it's worth
> inventing an entire category for it?

I think so, yes. Note that even Quenya, which is on the border between
alphabet and abjad, can be written in abugida style when you leave out the
a-vowel-sign.

--
John Cowan jcowan@... www.ccil.org/~cowan www.reutershealth.com
The penguin geeks is happy / As under the waves they lark
The closed-source geeks ain't happy / They sad cause they in the dark
But geeks in the dark is lucky / They in for a worser treat
One day when the Borg go belly-up / Guess who wind up on the street.