From: Philippe Verdy (verdy_p@wanadoo.fr)
Date: Thu Jan 15 2004 - 19:45:45 EST
From: <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
> Philippe Verdy scripsit:
>
> > OK. Then don't say it's Breton: It may occur in any Latin language,
either
> > as a typo, or within specific technical usages such as variable names in
a C
> > or Java program where a space cannot be used to separate words; here
also
> > it's not the normal orthograph part of the language, but a notation to
allow
> > more descriptive identifiers.
>
> In Irish, however, initial digraphs like "tS" and "hO" and "gC" *are* a
standard
> part of the orthography, and constitute the normal capitalization
convention:
> words beginning thus are capitalized on the second letter, not the first.
Interesting. I did not know that of Irish... And amazing. Is this convention
still respected by modern writers?
I would have liked to see Michael exhibit this fact about Irish, a language
that he certainly better knows in his area of life.
It's a shame that Michael translated and commented a French book about The
Breton Grammar, and did not see that the "gW" occurence that he found in
some other Breton books may simply be a typo for the normal "Gw"
capitalization rule.
The Breton orthograph "seems" complex with its initial and final consonnant
mutations, but it better reflects the effective phonology and more simply
than the complex orthograph used in English and French whose orthograph are
very far from their actual pronunciation (probably with more variation in
English).
It's a quite near from other languages which also use prefix and suffix
mutations, notably in African languages which also seem to better and more
consistently respect their phonology in their written form, even if there
are exceptions... Could it be simply a basic property of spoken languages
where ellision, mutation, and contraction of phonemic letters is natural in
humane communication?
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