From: John Hudson (tiro@tiro.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 2005 - 23:54:52 CDT
Eric Muller wrote:
> Has there been attempts to measure the "economy"/"accuracy" of writing
> systems? If so, what measures have been used? And what are the results?
Apart from what measures might be used, the other question is surely 'What is being
measured?' From your message, particularly the reference to IPA, I suspect that you are
talking about phonetic economy and accuracy. This is one kind of economy/accuracy, but one
could also measure at the semantic level, in which case 'ideographic' writing systems
would presumably be more economical.
Robert Bringhurst's essay on writing system classification/description, originally
published in _Language Culture Type_ and now available in expanded form as _The solid form
of language_, discusses a number of different measurable aspects of writing systems.
Robert proposes a diagrammatic approach to writing system classification, and includes
examples for a number of systems.
John Hudson
Links:
Language Culture Type: International Type Design in the Age of Unicode
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1932026010
The Solid Form Of Language: An Essay On Writing And Meaning
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1894031881
-- Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com Vancouver, BC tiro@tiro.com Currently reading: Truth and tolerance, by Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ratzinger as was An autobiography from the Jesuit underground, by William Weston SJ War (revised edition), by Gwynne Dyer
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