Re: Moraic writing system

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

> "William Poser (UPenn)
> "Phonological Writing and Phonological Representation"
> Abstract:

<Snip>

> "The improved typology simplifies the correspondance between phonology
> and writing and provides additional evidence for the notions mora,
> segment, rhyme, and head of syllable. The extreme rarity of
> syllabaries undermines arguments for the psychological atomicity of
> the syllable, and with them one source of resistance to the teaching
> of reading via phonics."

What's the 'head' of a syllable?

It seems to me that most 'moraic' systems are really writing (onset +
nucleus) + coda, but I'm not aware of a word for 'onset + nucleus'.

What writing systems actually work in terms of onset + rhyme? I can
only think of fundamentally segmental systems in which the rhyme has
become a unit because of sound changes, e.g. RP English h+igh, b+ask,
f+or, p+ark (perhaps all debatable except 'bask') and Burmese.

Richard.