>In other words, when a language no longer serves the interests of a powerful group it is likely to decline. I had just never thought so clearly of that process applying to a whole script system.


This is an interesting thought. Urdu, the language, apparently, of the socially and politically powerful minority in Pakistan, is in decline. Ismail Merchant, a native Urdu speaker, has written books and produced films on this subject. Here a language that does serve the purpose of a powerful group is declining. Of course, its script, Arabic, is definitely not.


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