Re: Optimum number of symbols

From: "Nik Taylor" <fortytwo@...>
> "Mike S." wrote:
> > But I'll tell you what you can't do.  Upon seeing a new syllabic,
> > you can *not* guess what it sounds like.  However, in a alphabetic
> > system, upon seeing a new word, you have a fighting chance of
> > getting the sound on the basis of the letters you know.
>
> Hunh?  Upon seeing a new letter, I'd have no more idea of how to say it
> than I would seeing a new syllabic character.  What on Earth are you
> talking about?  Once you learn the letters or syllabic characters, you
> can read a new word just as easily.
Surely your apparent inability to grasp my intention is an affect.

I was not stating that a child would know how to pronounce
a letter he or she had not yet seen.

That this thread might die, I have chosen to ignore several
patches of nonsense from your post.  My only response will
be to urge you, out of respect for others upon whom you might
opt to inflict your style of debate, to teach yourself the precise
meaning of the following terms:

phone, phoneme, phonetic, phonemic, productive.

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