--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...>
wrote:

>
> suzmccarth wrote:
> > No, I was thinking of how Phags-pa was associated with the
>*intent*
> > of Kubilai Khan's government to establish literacy
>
> Do you have a source for that intent, or is it _you_ speculating?

Morris Rossabi

"Since it emphasized and was derived from the colloquial version of
the Mongol language, it blended well with Khubilai's endeavor to
encourage the employment of the colloquial in writing - even, for
example, the use of colloquial Chinese for offical government
documents in China. In short, the 'Phags-pa alphabet appeared
ideally suited to transcribe the languages, those with alphabets and
those with characters, in Khubilai's domain, to serve as a universal
script, and to contribute to the unification of the frequently
antagonisitc peoples under Mongol rule. ...

He founded academies expressly for the propagation of the new
script ..(several pages about his efforts).. Khubilai's scheme can
be judged a failure. Yet it manifests his concern for a universal
script and for a written language that reflected the colloquial
language of his time." p. 161

Interesting, however, that Rossabi continues,

"In 1269, Khubilai founded a special office to print books under
official sponsorship, and by 1286, land was assigned to academies
that used the income to print texts. The growth in printed texts
offered more access to books and initiated the rise in literacy
characteristic of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties." p. 163

Morris Rossabi. Khubilai Khan. 1988.

Lots more about the use of the vernacular in literature, etc. etc.
but the connection to Phags-pa script is purely incidental. It
didn't exactly go over with either Mongols or Chinese. So this is
speculation on my part. Nevertheless, in 1269, Khubilai Khan unveils
and new script and offers incentives to printing. I guess he was a
bit of a dreamer.

> Phags pa inherits reversals from Tibetan, which used it for some
> Sanskrit sounds not occurring in Tibetan. I've never come across a
> mention of reversing vowels.

Four-fifths of the way down this page under the title "The Reversed
Letters"

http://www.babelstone.co.uk/Phags-pa/Description.html

Suzanne