Posted on 04/05/2024 6:53:06 AM PDT by Cronos
The Korean alphabet, hangul, is “the most scientific writing system.” One often hears that in South Korea, a society that has taken to heart Asia scholar Edwin O. Reischauer’s description of hangul as “perhaps the most scientific system of writing in general use in any country.” But whatever their scientific credentials, all the other writing systems in use (and indeed out of use) have fascinating qualities of their own, a range of which are explained in the UsefulCharts video above on the writing systems of the world — not just the alphabets of the world, mind you, but also the abjads, the syllabaries, the logo-syllabaries, and the abugidas.
The symbols used in an abjad, like that of Hebrew or Arabic (or ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs), represent only consonants; as for vowels, “the readers are expected to add them in on their own, based on context.” In a syllabary, like the hiragana and katakana used in Japanese, each character represents a syllable: に for “ni,” ほ for “ho,” ん for “n” (though linguists no doubt argue about whether that last should really count as a syllable).
But most of the Japanese writing is adapted from the Chinese one, a logo-syllabary in which “a single character can stand for a unique syllable or an entire word or idea,” which results in “thousands of characters that need to be learned for basic literacy.”
Abugidas, primarily used in Indian and southeast Asian languages (but also to write Amharic, the language of Ethiopia), “have unique characters both for vowels and for consonants. However, these vowel letters are generally only used in situations where a word begins with a vowel.” Otherwise, a “small change” made to a consonant character indicates which vowel follows. However mechanically or aesthetically diverse they may appear, none of these writing systems (all pictured on a poster from UsefulCharts, available for $19.95 USD) are so fundamentally different that they can’t be mastered by a non-native with time and effort. Not that they’re all as easy as hangul, which — as its commissioner King Sejong the Great put it, in another quotable quote — a wise man can learn before the morning is over, and a stupid man can learn in ten days.
later
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[[ん for “n” (though linguists no doubt argue about whether that last should really count as a syllable).]]
Oh I’ve argued that for years... jk. I haven’t got a clue about any of it.
My nephew however will be interested in this stuff- I’ll pass it along
Mark
Thanks Cronos.
I heard a joke once where this Eastern European man was asked why his native language didn’t contain (m)any vowels. “The French stole them all.” was his answer.
This is all Greek to me...
Our alphabet is simple compared with other languages.
. To the glory of God. And God manifestly made writing His most-reliable means of authoritative preservation, and supreme substantive standard on Divine Truth.
There was a character in the old DC Superman comic books who had a name similar to the one you posted.
Actually I find the abugida system as used in Sanskrit to be far more useful than the Latin script. You have consonants and add specific Marks to specify vowels linked to the consonants.
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