Peter Constable wrote:
I'm sorry to resurrect an old thread.
Featural Syllabaries: Ethiopic, Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics,
Hangul
I think your concern might be addressed (at least in part) if we described Hangul as a (featural) alphasyllabary. I think that label is appropriate because the structural elements are alphabetic, and (when
Yes, it seems to be appropriate. A lot better than just classifying it as a (featural) syllabary.
not written linearly) they are arranged structurally into units corresponding to syllables. (Which is consistent, I think, with Bright's usage of the term.) And I'm willing to add the qualification "featural" for those who think the metaphorical aspect of the shapes of a few of the jamos is really important.
I was under the (wrong?) impression that 'featural' can be used to describe (among other things) a characteristic of Hangul (and other scripts as well) by which letters representing similarly sounding phonems have similar shapes. For instance, k (ã) and k' (ã) have similar shapes because k' (ã) is an aspirated k(ã). The same holds true for other pairs (t (ã)/t'(ã), p(ã)/p'(ã) ). Perhaps, with a little stretch, virtually all scripts can be said to have this characteristic.....
Jungshik
