--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, Marco Cimarosti <marco.cimarosti@...>
wrote:

> By a similar reasoning, one could argue that the so-said Arabic

digits where

> derived from this basic 7-segments pattern:
>
> --
> | |
> --
> | |
> --

Very cute! The difference is that in this case we do, in fact, know
where these symbols come from. For Brahmi and Cree we don't know how
the system was thought up. I am not so much talking about the shapes
of the discreet units but the idea that there should be a series of
regular combinations which could be displayed in a matrix.

BTW, did you say that there was a syllable chart for Italian or was
it just a strategy to teach the syllables systematically. That I have
certainly seen used in French and SIL teaches it as a literacy
technique. I have no idea however, what the earliest instance of
arranging a writing system into a matrix would be and whether it
appeared independently in different lgs and cultures. I suppose CJK
have these charts also but where was it used first?

Have you published your article on the different scripts with the
English cognate word lists?

Suzanne

> --
> Marco