On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 09:49:29 +0100, Marco Cimarosti
<marco.cimarosti@...> wrote:

> Donald Z. Osborn wrote:
>> If you were designing a spelling system from scratch, what would you do?
>> What would you choose?

Dilettante here, hoping not to be annoying. I am quite concerned about
spelling. Seems to this amateur that some systems (do I want to say
orthographies, btw?) are phonetic, with a close correspondence between
spoken and written (Finnish and Hungarian?); some used to be, maybe
(Tibetan?), while others (English, probably French, Irish?) seem to be a
combination of phonetic, historic, and personal ("...ough") favorites by
influential people.

Hate to say this, but practical evidence seems to indicate that languages
of the last-mentioned category require either a photographic memory for
word appearances (I seem to have one, only recently realized that) or
quite a decent education, something better than what most of us receive.
(Can't speak for French or Irish.) I think it's easier to learn to
transcribe spoken language into written form when they have a close
correspondence; perhaps it takes a higher level of skill to spell English
really well. (Snob alarm is very loud! :) I'm trying not to be...)

[As to Irish (any Gaelic, for that matter), only recently did I learn that
it has its own, different rules. Should have known that, long ago, such as
when I saw how "synthesizer" is spelled. I have long known better than to
try to attempt pronouncing written words until I'm better educated in it,
if ever :(.
I do love to "read" Gaelics, even when I understand very little of them,
if any. Also love to "read" other languages I don't understand. Mario Pei
was one inspiration, long ago.

At the risk of hurting some feelings, it seems to me that those who learn
English as a second language spell it better than many native speakers, at
least in the USA, and, sorry to say, to some degree, the U.K.

Shucks, the length of a word doesn't matter; the words "too" and "off" may
be obsolete spellings in a century! Too difficult to spell correctly! (I
hope to put up a Web site before too long, about observed trends in
current usage, such as swapping "chose" and "choose", "loose" instead of
"lose", "breath" as verb, and many others.)

[Marco]

> I would choose whatever writing system is used in the sacred book(s) of
> the religion practiced by the majority of the community.
> If the community is atheistic, I'd choose the script in which the
> minutes of the latest Presidium of their Supreme Soviet meeting are
> written...

As to choice of writing systems, several nations (Turkey and iirc
Azerbaijan, and maybe Malta come to mind) have made major changes in their
writing systems, although most, afaik, were (loosely) alphabetic. I think
the Azeris used Arabic, cyrillic, and (slightly-extended) latin.

(Then, you have the Japanese kanas, a different and "progressive" story...)

I do hope I've not typed too much nonsense (not worried :) ), and as an
amateur and even dilettante, welcome some reality checks, but am not
requesting them. That's true for more than just this message, too.

My best to all,
--
Nicholas Bodley /*|*\ Waltham, Mass.
The curious hermit -- autodidact and polymath
Freedom from hypocrisy is a very good idea.