Serious question about writing systems

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regenbogen9
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Serious question about writing systems

Post 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?
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Arayaz
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Re: Serious question about writing systems

Post 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"?
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regenbogen9
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Re: Serious question about writing systems

Post 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?
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Re: Serious question about writing systems

Post 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.
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