Syllabary
Syllabic scripts are phonographic " transcriptions ", in which the character ( grapheme ) with the pronunciation ( phonemes ) and not directly with meaning ( morpheme or lexeme ) correspond, while mainly for larger units are available as the letters of alphabet fonts which phonological segments ( ie consonants and vowels correlate C V).
The inventory of a syllabic script called syllabary and usually includes a few dozen to a few hundred characters, called Syllabogramme. Syllabic scripts are thus in visual complexity between alphabetic and Segmentalschriften morphographischen " Images Fonts ".
Shown is ever " syllabic signs " more than an entire speech syllable ( σ ), but often only parts of it that need to be combined. Most commonly, this CV Syllabogramme, ie combinations of initial sound and peaks ( ων ), rarely vice versa VC from summit and final position ( νκ ), both usually combined with " vowel signs " V for the Summit ( ν ) and, occasionally, individual " consonants " C.
Dissemination
Most of the in ancient times, but also to the middle modern times autonomously, ie without major impact to existing Verschriftungen, developed the so-called indigenous writing systems use solely or principally syllabic signs, which suggests that it may be this act to the intuitive approach of Verschriftung. Correspondingly high is the rich variety of syllabic writing. Due to the predominance of Segmentalschriften in Europe and the Middle East, and from there outgoing colonization and missionary work brought further parts of the earth, the Scripture also in hitherto unwritten cultures and in some places displaced existing writing traditions, the Latin alphabet, however, is prevalent today.
Phonographic properties
What kind of (partial) syllables Syllabogramme a syllabary can represent without detours, depends mainly on the phonological peculiarities of the language for which the font (originally ) was created. Some spoken languages have a relatively regular and limited syllable inventory, for example ( almost) ( ν / π ∨ / ) only from open or optimal syllables ( / ων / ) exists or (almost ) single consonants in the margins allowed ( / Cν /, / νC /, / CνC /, / ν / ). Since the required number can be kept low to Syllabogrammen by these restrictions of sound variety, these languages offer, unlike, say, the German with its consonant clusters as in hosiery, especially for syllable fonts. To write and irregular syllables or apply the font to a different language, orthographic rules that assign the combination of two syllabic signs a new articulation develop.
These rules can be simple to complex. Often, they say only that vowel or consonant is not spoken when two syllabic signs stand behind each other, resulting in a single syllable to pronounce. Thus, a simple covered syllable like / mi / type / be C1V1 / often written with a character ⟨ C1V1 ⟩, but they should be like / also closed with /, / C1V1C2 /, this may vary depending on type system or word with implicit Koda C1V1 ⟨ ∅⟩, a special (final) consonants ⟨ ⟩ C1V1C2, with mute vowel ⟨ ⟩ C1V1C2V2, vanishing echo vowel ⟨ ⟩ C1V1C2V1, with a merging coupling vowel ⟨ ⟩ C1V1V1C2 or with their own Syllabogramm ⟨ ⟩ C1V1C2 be realized.
In a society literalisierten the writing system used always has an impact on the phonological awareness.
Thus there are, for example, in the Japanese syllabic writing only a single explicit coda sign for a nasal degree ( / n, m, ŋ /, etc. ) is available and is usually transliterated as
Character types
The characters in synthetic syllable writings are partly motivated by repeating certain characteristics within a row or column, if one tabular sorted by vocalic nucleus and the start or end edge. The syllabary is also systematically when all phonetic segments correspond to graphical properties. Both come mainly in specifically developed modern syllabic scripts.
How could, for example, on the one hand, the syllabic signs for / ka / and / ku / in the same way similar to that for / ta / and / tu / and on the other hand might be those for / ka / and / ta /, and for / ku / and / tu / have a graphic community - or both. These systematic changes can be produced by adding Teilglyphen (eg Gə ʿ əz ) or by geometric translations such as rotating and mirroring (eg Cree ).
Other syllabic scripts use arbitrary Syllabogrammen each other with no apparent similarities and hot analytically (eg Kana ). These signs are often built up over time from logographic precursors by word characters only because of their pronunciation and no longer used for their significance and may have been graphically simplified.
In a true syllabary, each sign represents a syllable of the corresponding language (eg, Cherokee ), ie a real Syllabogramm covers all parts of a syllable from, so ( according to Western phonology ) initial sound, peaks and final position. Since both the start and the end edge, so the entire syllable shell, at least in some languages is optional, there are start- ων / β, core ν, end νκ / ρ and Vollsyllabogramme ωνκ / σ, with only simple in most syllabaries Start -CV and Kernsyllabogramme V are used.
In the spurious syllabaries which Syllabogramme must be partly combined to form a speech syllable, eg in the Japanese writing system
A syllabary is complete if it covers all possible syllables of a corresponding spoken language without the writing system to other graphematic rules have to be used. In practice this goal, which is similar to the flat alphabetic orthographies, never quite achieved.
Limiting cases
A small number of writings, such as the Korean Hangeul, although underlying segmental alphabets, but the segment characters are grouped syllables or morphemweise in frames, so that the reader is syllabic or morphemisch. They are counted among the syllabic scripts, if the term a functional and not an operational point of view is taken, without if the practical application of reading and writing rather than the theoretical basis for analysis is considered.
In many Indian scriptures ( Abugida ) although there are (often diacritics ) vowel signs, but the most common vowel ( usually / a / ) is not written with its own character, but there is on the contrary often a special character (eg Virama ), with can be suppressed to the inherent vowel. These fonts can be either classified as subtractive or additive syllabary as Segmentalschrift:
Many writing systems lettered fonts also have a small syllabic share, can by made at the syllabification with the only end of the line visible line separating only after full syllables or morphemes ( hyphenation ).
Examples
The following fonts are syllabic scripts:
- Vai script
- Cypro - Minoan script
- Cyprian writing
- Kpelle script
- Linear A
- Linear B