tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 23 20:35:52 2009
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Re: Klingon orthography (was: Okrand at qep'a')
On Jun 23, 2009, at 7:20 PM, Michael Everson wrote:
>> If you want it to be more "readable", I think you're trying to solve
>> something which is not a problem, and I think your proposed
>> solutions are counterproductive.
>
> "Counterproductive" to what?
Counterproductive to readability. Using unfamiliar characters seems
a lot more off-putting to most people than using familiar characters
in novel arrangements.
> I will ask you again, however, to look at the different oiptions
> posted, and indicate which look "better" and which look "worse".
They all look "different". The ones with lots of diacritic-style
marks on the letters look unpalatable to me. The ones that use the
letters I see on my keyboard look much more approachable.
You didn't give any examples of *completely* different alphabets,
such as Hebrew or Tengwar or the pseudo-pIqaD sometimes used for
Klingon. I'm not sure if that would change my opinion of the ones
you did give.
>> I also strongly disagree with your statement that mutable case can
>> "make any text easier to read", though I don't consider it important
>> enough to debate.
>
> That's why all Latin orthographies make use of case. If it were not
> useful, it would be abandoned. I see that you use it when you write
> English.
I'm a great fan of lowercase. I'm not a great fan of using uppercase
willy-nilly. I follow the standard usage, both in English and in
{tlhIngan Hol}, though I'd have no problem if capital letters were to
vanish from English.
-- ghunchu'wI'