Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!godot.cc.duq.edu!newsgate.duke.edu!news.mathworks.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.cais.net!van-bc!unixg.ubc.ca!news.bc.net!arclight.uoregon.edu!news.uoregon.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uchinews!deb5
From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: Are all alphabets...? (cxu Hangul < Brahmi?)
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ellis-nfs.uchicago.edu
Message-ID: <Dt8By6.HtK@midway.uchicago.edu>
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator)
Organization: The University of Chicago
References: <DspFKA.CK7@midway.uchicago.edu> <DsMu6G.676@midway.uchicago.edu> <4pa58f$b89@news-e2c.gnn.com> <DstFpF.9yM@scn.org>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 1996 04:18:06 GMT
Lines: 37

In article <DstFpF.9yM@scn.org>, Leland Bryant Ross <lilandbr@scn.org> wrote:
>
>Kvankam la specifaj _formoj_ de la ko-  Although the specific _forms_ of the
>reaj fonemiloj estas (versxajne) loke   Korean phoneme-signs were (probably)
>kreitaj/asignitaj, sxajnas al mi evi-   locally created/assigned, it seems
>dente, ke la _formoj de la *silaboj*_   obvious to me that the _forms of the
>havas sudazian (nagarian aux pranaga-   *syllables*_ have a South Asian (De-
>rian) fonton.  La preciza speco kaj     vanagari or Protonagari) source.  The
>grado de la parenceco inter sudaziaj    precise kind and degree of related-
>kaj sudokcidentaziaj (>euxropaj, ...    ness between South Asian and South-
>> Esperanta) alfabetoj estas polemi-    west Asian (> European, ...) alpha-
>kebla esplortemo...                     bets is available for polemic re-
>                                        search...
>Liland B Ros' <lilandbr@scn.org>        Leland Bryant Ross <lilandbr@scn.org>

I don't understand what leads you to this conclusion.  None of the 
South Asian alphabets have an arrangement remotely like the syllabic
blocks of Korean.  In fact, no alphabet in the world does.  If anything
served as an inspiration for this arrangement, it's likely to have been
Chinese characters, which are made up of discernable graphs (the so-called
"radicals" and "phonetics" and their components) in roughly square blocks,
each of which comprises a syllable.  Nevertheless, along with the
"logical" design of the characters, it remains one of Hankul's most dis-
tinctive features.

Furthermore, as pointed out to me in private e-mail, although there are
Mongolian scripts derived from Tibetan Phags-pa script, it was not with
one of these that the Koreans were in all likelihood acquainted, but ra-
ther with a derivative of the old Uighur script, itself a descendant of
Sogdian.  Therefore, there's no reason to propose any influence of South
Asian scripts on the development of Hankul whatsoever.


-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
