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From: mcv@inter.NL.net (Miguel Carrasquer)
Subject: Re: H and digraphs thereof
Message-ID: <CxtB2r.6C6@inter.NL.net>
Keywords: the problem with H and related digraphs
Organization: NLnet
References: <37t514$fq7@grivel.une.edu.au>
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 10:13:38 GMT
Lines: 21

In article <37t514$fq7@grivel.une.edu.au>,
Julie Vaux <jvaux@metz.une.edu.au> wrote:
>
>	Nh - the elegant viet solution to writing the voiced palatal nasal.
>
>	Pity the French Itlaians and Spanish dont consider adopting it?
>

The Vietnamese probably adopted it from Portuguese.  The Portuguese
in turn from the Mediaeval Occitan (Provenc,al) orthography.  The
spelling was widely used in Spain and Italy, where the troubadour poetry 
was very influential for a time, although alongside other solutions that
eventually stuck: nn (=n~) in Spain, ny in Catalonia, gn in France and 
Italy.
Using "h" to mark palatalization (nh, lh, ch, sh) is of course extremely 
illogical.  Albanian uses "xh" to mark the "dzh" sound (j/g in English).

-- 
Miguel Carrasquer         ____________________  ~~~
Amsterdam                [                  ||]~  
mcv@inter.NL.net         ce .sig n'est pas une .cig 
