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From: iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Ivan A Derzhanski)
Subject: Re: Why and where from - Upper case
Message-ID: <D5x252.4JD@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Centre for Cognitive Science, Edinburgh, UK
References: <795043747snz@pfox.demon.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 1995 23:19:48 GMT
Lines: 37

In article <795043747snz@pfox.demon.co.uk> peter@pfox.demon.co.uk writes:
>The two things we are taught at school is that we put a capital at
>the start of a sentence and for a proper noun.  Since we also have
>full stops strictly speaking the first use is redundant.

Strictly speaking, yes, although by virtue of their size capital letters
are sooner noticed, so that the text breaks more readily into sentences.
They would be significantly less helpful if the full stop looked like
a double em-dash or a vertical bar with an ascender and a descender.

>Is capitalisation just a greek-roman tradition?

Assuming that you mean whether it only exists in the Greek and the
Roman alphabet, no, there's also the Cyrillic and the Armenian one,
plus a few others which are not in current use.

>If there are textual languages without this feature then does this
>prove the capital is redundant, or do they have other mechanisms
>for flagging the start of a new phrase?

Not really.  It's usually the end of the sentence (not the phrase)
that is marked.  But just because something is not essential doesn't
mean it's useless.

>What about proper nouns?

If there's no capitalisation, proper nouns are usually not marked as such,
and you're supposed to recognise them.  Though there's the option of using
determinatives, as in the Akkadian cuneiform script, where proper names
(and some other nouns) are preceded by a character which also shows
what kind of thing the word is a name of.  Very useful.

-- 
`"Na, na ... ah mean, *no wey*, wi aw due respect, ma lady," stammers Joe.'
Ivan A Derzhanski (iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk)    (J Stuart, _Auld Testament Tales_)
* Centre for Cognitive Science,  2 Buccleuch Place,   Edinburgh EH8 9LW,  UK
* Cowan House E113, Pollock Halls, 18 Holyrood Pk Rd, Edinburgh EH16 5BD, UK
