[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [lojban] A suggestion for new hànzì-base writing system



On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 2:01 AM, gleki <gleki.is.my.name@gmail.com> wrote:
The number of Esperanto speakers has dropped in China considerably in the last decades.
Esperanto leaders say it's all because it's hard for native Chinese speakers to learn Latin alphabet and understand that each symbol doesn't represent any semantic element but rather just a (usually) meaningless sound.

That's why I'm happy that Lojban doesn't have any official writing system.

Yes it does. It's called the "standard orthography". CLL 3.1

We just also happen to have alternative orthographies for those so inclined. I even made a katakana-based orthography some ways back.
 
Here is a draft of hànzì (Chinese symbol)-based Lojbanic writing method.

1. Every gismu and it's corresponding rafsi are represented using one symbol usually taken from hànzì table.
e.g. {melbi} is 美  (pronounced as melbi, but in the original Chinese script it's mei3 that means "beautiful")
更 - zmadu (in hanzi it means "more" or "to change")
1a. Rafsi are written with exactly the same symbols but may be pronounced in a short form (not only {melb}, but {mle}, {mle} too)
2. Lujvo are written by joining several gismu together using simple character. For now I suggest caret (^) but it might be changed.
e.g. 
美^更 - mlemau
3. Personal names are written using jbopomofo or standard Chinese methods (using rare symbols with predefined sounding to represent certain sounds instead of meaning)

Good luck with that, but it seems to me that that orthography would make Lojban even harder. The "this is a lujvo" marker is an interesting idea, but it breaks audio-visual isomorphism, which is one of the foundation stones of Lojban, as does using the same symbol for a word and it's rafsi. In order to have isomorphism, what is written must be able to be said, and vice versa, without any information being lost or required to be added.

--
mu'o mi'e .aionys.

.i.e'ucai ko cmima lo pilno be denpa bu .i doi.luk. mi patfu do zo'o
(Come to the Dot Side! Luke, I am your father. :D )

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "lojban" group.
To post to this group, send email to lojban@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to lojban+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lojban?hl=en.