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Serious question about writing systems
Posted: 19 Jan 2024 14:45
by regenbogen9
If I make a language that has small units of meaning of one syllabe (for example, let's think that /ka/ means ''women''), and I create a syllabary type of writing system for it, supposing that the symbol ''O'' stands for /ka/, is it a syllabary or a logogram?
Re: Serious question about writing systems
Posted: 19 Jan 2024 14:51
by Arayaz
regenbogen9 wrote: ↑19 Jan 2024 14:45
If I make a language that has small units of meaning of one syllabe (for example, let's think that /ka/ means ''women''), and I create a syllabary type of writing system for it, supposing that the symbol ''O'' stands for /ka/, is it a syllabary or a logogram?
It depends. If /kati/ means "tea leaf," do you spell that with its own glyph or with "ka" + "ti"?
Re: Serious question about writing systems
Posted: 19 Jan 2024 15:06
by regenbogen9
Great question! I was thinking about it, but I hadn't thought to combine words like that yet. I think I would say ka + ti. Do logograms have a single symbol for every existing thing?
Re: Serious question about writing systems
Posted: 19 Jan 2024 17:08
by WeepingElf
Logographies don't have a single symbol for every existing thing; they have symbols for roots. Compounds are written with as many logograms as the word has members, and there are ways, usually by syllabic signs, to write affixes, particles and the like.