--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "suzmccarth" <suzmccarth@...> wrote:

> The important thing is to recognize that there is a similarity
> between these systems. In fact, once the CV units have been

arranged

> together the unit can become more opaque over time. An abjad or
> alphabet cannot become more opaque because they are intrinsically
> segmental. An Indic script can since it has a syllabic unit.

A pure abjad may have this immunity. One with matres lectionis does
not. Think of Arabic lam-alif!

Are we overlooking another type of phonemically organised script, the
pointed abjad? At a general level, an abugida seems simply to be an
abjad with the optimisation that one particular vowel (originally the
commonest, obviously) is not marked.

Perhaps the critical thing about the most abugidas is that the vowel
marks' positions are usually scattered about the consonant. How does
the set of positions affect the cognitive processes?

I'm not sure that general Indic scripts are vulnerable to becoming
syllabaries. Tamil has the ability because it has abandoned
conjuncts and discarded about 70% of the orginal consonants.

Richard.