|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Thanks for the link, Bingley. I know very little about Semitic languages, but wonder... Hebrew and Arabic are written only with the consonants, far as I know, with the idea that you can fill in the vowels according to the structure.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
> with the idea that you can fill in the vowels according to the structure.
Plus you can then claim that almost any word in virtually any language is *obviously descended from the ancient Semitic script meaning 'to worship the left nipple of a one-legged camel', or if not that then almost certainly from the curiously similar form meaning 'a small grain pit once used for fermenting a sort of proto-beer made from rancid goat milk', or if not that then quite *definitely from the word meaning 'he who is the greatest of the tribe with shiny hair' (which in the Demotic Greek was tranlated as 'angel')...
ah, where would modern etymologists be without that ancient vowel disorder? ;0
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
> Hebrew and Arabic are written only with the consonants, far as I know, with the idea that you can fill in the vowels according to the structure.
Not sure if this is really relevant or of interest to you, but I know that some see traditional Hebrew as a phonetic alphabet that mimics sonic verbal pronunciations. A Dutch thinker of the 17th century, Van Helmont, wrote a book called "The Natural Alphabet" in which he speaks of the divine and pure nature of the language. This seems to have something to do with Kabbalah - mystical Torah teachings. But what interested me is the notion that the characters of the alphabet can be seen as a type of two-dimensional map of the phonetic sound that was/is created. As such, the language apparently looks like its verbal, audio source might look when disstilled in computer visualisations. I can't seem to find any scientific work regarding this topic online, and as such, am not sure if this is really based on any fact or perhaps just religious fervour, but I think it a quite fascinating idea nonetheless.
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,412
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
907
guests, and
3
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
|