a stripped down functional script

Excellent point, yes; this is certainly borne out too by the quoted example of Middle English development - the merchants wanted language appropriate to use in a contract for cod futures rather than god's future ;)

I am sure the same must apply to the basic orthographic system too: simple is more functional. This can surely be one of the few things to hold back the spread of Chinese in the years ahead. It will be fascinating to see if any abrasion or simplification of their current system starts to happen, driven by economic ties with the West (I seem to remember reading sumtin' about this already starting but can't remember where!) Anyone got anything on this or related examples?