Syllabary
Syllabary scripts are phonographic "phonetic transcriptions" in which the characters ( graphemes ) predominantly represent larger units than the letters in alphabetical scripts (which have phonological segments , i.e. consonants Cand vowels V, correlate). The actual syllabary is to be distinguished from an Abugida , which consists of characters for sound segments that are grouped together to form a syllable representation.
The inventory of a syllabary's syllabary , and usually includes a few dozen to a few hundred characters , the Syllabogramme be mentioned. Syllabary fonts are thus in the visual complexity between alphabetic segmental fonts and morphographic "picture fonts".
For each “syllable symbol ”, a maximum of one whole spoken syllable (σ) is shown, but often only parts of it that have to be combined with one another. Most often these are CV-Syllabograms, i.e. combinations of initial and peak (ων), rarely the other way round VC.from peak and final (νκ), both usually combined with the “vowel mark” Vfor the peak (ν) and occasionally also individual "consonant signs" C.
distribution
Most of those in antiquity, but also those that were autonomous up to the middle modern period, i.e. H. without much influence existing Verschriftungen developed so-called. indigenous writing systems use solely or principally with syllabic signs, which suggests that it may here involve the intuitive approach of Verschriftung. The variety of syllabary fonts is correspondingly high. Due to the predominance of segmental scripts in Europe and the Middle East, as well as the colonization and missionary work of large parts of the world, which brought script to previously scriptless cultures and in some places displaced existing scriptural traditions, the Latin alphabet is predominant today.
Phonographic properties
| Syllabograms | equal | Consonant same | Vowel same | different |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C 1 V 1 + C 1 V 1 | C 1 V 1 + C 1 V 2 | C 1 V 1 + C 2 V 1 | C 1 V 1 + C 2 V 2 | |
| Concatenation | / C 1 V 1 C 1 V 1 / | / C 1 V 1 C 1 V 2 / | / C 1 V 1 C 2 V 1 / | / C 1 V 1 C 2 V 2 / |
| syncope | / C 1 V 1 V 1 / = / C 1 V 1 : / | / C 1 V 1 V 2 / | ||
| Procope | / V 1 C 1 V 1 / | / V 1 C 1 V 2 / | ||
| elision | / C 1 C 1 V 1 / = / C 1 : V 1 / | / C 1 C 2 V 1 / | ||
| Apocopes | / C 1 V 1 C 1 / | / C 1 V 1 C 2 / | ||
| Epenthesis | / C 1 V 2 V 1 / ∨ / C 1 C 2 V 1 / | / C 1 V 2 V 1 / | / C 1 C 2 V 1 / | |
| prosthesis | / V 2 C 1 V 1 / ∨ / C 2 C 1 V 1 / | / V 2 C 1 V 1 / | / C 2 C 1 V 1 / | |
| elimination | / C 1 / ∨ / V 1 / | / V 1 V 2 / ∨ / V 3 / | / C 1 C 2 / ∨ / C 3 / | / C 1 V 3 C 2 / ∨ / V 1 C 3 V 2 / |
| fusion | / C 1 V 1 / | / C 1 V 3 / ∨ / C 1 V 3 / | / C 3 V 1 / ∨ / C 3 V 1 : / | / C 3 V 3 / |
| Recombination | / C 1 V 1 : C 1 / ∨ / V 1 C 1 : V 1 / |
/ V 1 C 1 : V 2 / | / C 1 V 1 : C 2 / | / C 1 C 2 V 1 V 2 / ∨ / C 3 V 1 V 2 / ∨ / C 1 C 2 V 3 / |
The type of (partial) syllables that the syllabograms of a syllable script can represent without detours depends mainly on the phonological peculiarities of the language for which the script was (originally) created. Some spoken languages have a relatively regular and limited inventory of syllables, which for example (almost) only consists of open (/ π ∨ ν /) or optimal syllables (/ ων /) or (almost) only allows single consonants in the margins (/ Cν /, / ν C/, / Cν C/, / ν /). Since the necessary number of syllabograms can be kept low by these restrictions on phonetic diversity, these languages, unlike German with its consonant clusters as in Strumpf , are particularly suitable for syllabary scripts. In order to be able to write irregular syllables or to use the script in another language, orthographic rules are being developed that assign a new sound to the combination of two syllable characters.
These rules can be simple to complex. Often they only say which vowel or consonant is not spoken when two syllable signs are in a row, so that a single syllable has to be pronounced. Thus, a simple capped syllable / mi / type / C 1 V 1 / often with a sign ⟨ C 1 V 1 ⟩ be written, but it is to like / to be closed /, / C 1 V 1 C 2 / this may, depending on the writing system or word with implicit Koda ⟨ C 1 V 1 ∅ ⟩, a particular (end) consonants ⟨ C 1 V 1 C 2 ⟩, with mute vowel ⟨ C 1 V 1 C 2 V 2 ⟩, vanishing echo vowel ⟨ C 1 V 1 C 2 V 1 ⟩, merging with a coupling vowel ⟨ C 1 V 1 V 1 C 2 ⟩ or a private Syllabogramm ⟨ C 1 V 1 C 2 realized⟩.
In a literalized society, the writing system used always has an influence on phonological perception. For example, there is only one explicit coda character in Japanese syllabary that stands for a nasal closure (/ n, m, ŋ / etc.) and is usually transliterated as ‹ n ›. As a result, many Japanese believe that they hear and speak a / u / or / i / even if a word ends with a corresponding syllabogram, although these vowels are mute (/ CVC./), which is also used in the transcription of other languages.
Character types
The characters in “synthetic syllabary scripts” are partly motivated by the fact that certain characteristics are repeated within a row or column if they are sorted in a table according to the vowel core and the beginning or end margin. The syllabary is also systematic if all phonetic segments correspond with graphic properties. Both occur mainly in specifically developed modern syllabary scripts.
For example, on the one hand the syllable characters for / ka / and / ku / could be similar to those for / ta / and / tu / and on the other hand those for / ka / and / ta / as well as those for / ku / and / tu / have a graphical commonality - or both. These systematic changes can be generated by adding partial glyphs (e.g. Gəʿəz ) or through geometric translations such as rotating and mirroring (e.g. Cree ).
Other syllabary scripts use arbitrary syllabograms without recognizable similarities to one another and are called analytical (e.g. Kana ). These characters have often emerged from logographic forerunners over time, in that word characters were only used for their pronunciation and no longer for their meaning and were possibly graphically simplified.
In a real syllabary , each character stands for a syllable of the corresponding language (e.g. Cherokee ), i.e. H. a real syllabogram covers all parts of a syllable, i.e. (according to western phonology) initial, peak and final. Since both the beginning and the end margin, i.e. the entire syllable shell , are optional at least in some languages, there are start ων / β , core ν , end νκ / ρ and full syllabograms ωνκ / σ , although in most syllabary there are only simple ones Start- CVand core syllabograms V be used.
In the spurious syllabary scripts , the syllabograms have to be combined in part to form a spoken syllable, e.g. B. in the Japanese writing system〈CV〉 + ん ⟨n⟩ = / CVn / or ⟨ C i j V ⟩ = / Cj V/. Kana, in particular, is therefore also called Morales , because its syllable characters cannot contain a long vowel or diphthong or a nasal coda or a cluster of consonant and semi-vowel in the onset without a combination.
A syllabar is complete if it covers all possible syllables of a corresponding spoken language without having to resort to further graphematic rules in the writing system. In practice, this goal, which is similar to flat alphabetic orthographies, is never quite achieved.
Borderline cases
A few writings, e.g. B. the Korean Hangeul , are based on segmental alphabets , but the segment characters are grouped syllable or morphemic in frames so that the reading unit is syllabic or morphemic. They are counted among the syllabary scripts if the term is based on a functional and not an operational view, i.e. H. if the practical application in reading and writing is considered instead of the theoretical analysis basis.
In many Indian scripts ( Abugida ) there are (often diacritical) vowel marks, but the most common vowel (mostly / a / ) is not written with its own character, on the contrary, there is often a special character ( e.g. Virama ) with which this "inherent vowel" can be suppressed. These fonts can be classified either subtractively as syllabary or additively as segmental script:
| Syllabic | Phonemes | Segmental |
|---|---|---|
| ⟨ C 1 a C 2 a ⟩ | / C 1 C 2 a / | ⟨ C 1 C 2 ⟩ |
| ⟨ C a V ⟩ | / CV/ | ⟨ C V ⟩ |
| ⟨ C a X ⟩ | / C/ | ⟨ C X ⟩ |
| ⟨ C a ⟩ | / Ca / | 〈C〉 |
- Syllabary
- The inherent vowel in the syllable C a is omitted when combined with other syllabograms or a vowel diacritic.
- Segmental writing
- The consonant character C receives an implicit vowel when not combined with other consonants or a vowel diacritic.
Many writing systems with letter fonts also have a small syllabic part, in that when separating words with the stroke that is only visible at the end of the line, a separation can only be made after complete syllables or morphemes ( syllable separation ).
Examples
The following fonts are syllabary fonts:
See also:
- Devanagari (for a distinction to the syllabary)
See also
literature
- Christa Dürscheid : Introduction to handwriting linguistics . 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-525-26516-6 (This textbook also deals with several syllabic scripts.).
- Harald Haarmann : Universal history of writing . Campus, Frankfurt am Main, New York 1990, ISBN 3-593-34346-0 (This manual also covers several syllabary scripts.).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Viktoria Eschbach-Szabo: Speech perception across languages and writing systems. Lessons for Japanese as Foreign Language from a commercial research project . In: Patrick Heinrich, Yuko Sugita (Ed.): Japanese as Foreign Language in the Age of Globalization . Iudicum, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-89129-854-1 , p. 87-94 .