Re: Script vs Writing System

[Mark E. Shoulson]

Peter Constable wrote:

In addition, traditional Chinese zither notation (qin pu) is also laid
   

out in
 

ideographic-like square blocks. However, as this is a notational
   

system rather
 

than a script, the constituent elements of each block represent
   

string, finger
 

and plucking technique rather than phonetic values.
   

I was already after the first paragraph going to mention another writing
system, and I'm even more strongly reminded of it by this second
paragraph: Sign Writing, a writing system used for writing signed
languages, first developed for transcription, though a number of
language communities have started using it orthographically. In sign
writing, the representation for a typical sign (I think I've heard that
syllable might be applicable here) consists of an iconic representation
of the head with various satellite symbols mostly representing the hands
and hand movement, the whole being organized into a square space. It's
even written vertically (at least by some user communities).
And there's also Visible Speech, by Alexander Melville Bell (and 
improved by Henry Sweet), which is definitely an alphabet (a phonetic 
one), but also very decidedly featural: different shapes represent 
different articulators or features.

And tengwar is featural, at least in some modes (doubled bow=voicing, 
raised stem=fricative, etc).  And Herman Miller has a phonetic alphabet 
called Lhoerr (I think) which is also based on having each piece of a 
symbol represent some feature of the phone(me).

~mark