From: Behnam (behnam.rassi@gmail.com)
Date: Wed May 13 2009 - 16:12:14 CDT
>
>
> On 13-May-09, at 2:57 PM, Asmus Freytag wrote:
>
>> On 5/12/2009 1:32 PM, Adam Twardoch wrote:
>>> Behnam wrote:
>>>
>>>> This is interesting!
>>>> Arabic script knew something when it opted for reading the
>>>> entire word
>>>> instead of individual characters!
>>>>
>>>
>>> Indeed, it must have been after the Arabic script decided to add the
>>> dots which differentiate between different letters (before this was
>>> done, the same one letter represented e.g. baa, taa and thaa).
>>> But how
>>> do you explain that the Arabic script never opted to write most
>>> vowels?
>>>
>> Surely, that's because of the way vowels are used in the language.
>>
>> A./
>
> Vowel mowel... who needs it!
>
> But in a slightly more serious tone, this is admittedly a handicap
> of the script, whether we use it or not.
> I can't speak for Arabic language because it is more structured and
> also because I don't know much. Although I'm told there too, there
> is a vast variety of accents. But for different accents in Persian
> for example, a word can practically take vowels at will! Anybody,
> no matter where he's coming from can understand the meaning of a
> written word without the vowels. But if you ask 10 people from 10
> different region to agree on how to put vowels on it, you are in
> trouble!
> Of-course there is some 'official' interpretation as everywhere
> else. But it never stops people using their accent does it?
> So since Arabic script is mostly read word by word, and we only
> focus on its components when the word is not instantly recognized,
> vowels become more or less irrelevant. Incidentally, the vowel
> takes the same attention as the components and it is marked -at
> least in my practice- when the word is not instantly recognizable.
> -b
>
>
>
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