Active Users:526 Time:06/03/2026 12:31:16 AM
Feels we are talking past each other. Roland00 Send a noteboard - 22/01/2018 07:52:53 PM

View original post
It was a variant of i that made its way into codices in the Middle Ages to make the "i" clearer and more distinct. The fact that it is pronounced in so many different ways shows that it wasn't created to represent a particular sound, ja?

Feels we are talking past each other. Literally this is what happened.
View original post
Introducing systems of recording ideas is a completely different and far more organic process than attempting to artificially dump a new character into an existing system that doesn't need it. I can't think of a single instance where the latter has succeeded.

The J sound is not new, but the J letter is what only 500 years old?

You are correct it started as a variant I symbol, but it became a popular enough symbol that we started using the J letter for multiple sounds that existed prior and were used to be done in different ways, we all swapped to this new way. This does not happen often but this does happen.



And while it happens in languages (rarely), it also happens in other systems as well where we use symbols to communicate ideas. For example mathematical notation, scientific notation, computer programming has their rules of syntax of both words and sentences change quite frequently. So while in writting / language the notation rarely changes, it happens far more often in other ways ways to use symbols to communicate ideas. For example the standard way to do algebra equations X+Y+Z=A+B+C and while there were predecessors it was Rene Descartes who popularized this notation with algebra / math in the last 370 years or so.

For the other sciences the "syntax" changes are even more recent and they are ever changing, for example with modern programming languages the syntax rules are such that you may "evolve" a language or create a new language altogether.

Reply to message
The Fascinating History of 10 Extra Letters the English Alphabet Used to Have - 18/01/2018 06:35:45 PM 1269 Views
I have to take issue with the & and the "long s" - 18/01/2018 07:28:09 PM 593 Views
Ok, let's define what a letter is. - 18/01/2018 11:25:22 PM 649 Views
Yes, the long "s" is just a variant. It didn't have a name in Old English. - 19/01/2018 03:39:51 PM 790 Views
I don't think not having a name in Old English matters here. - 19/01/2018 05:05:47 PM 902 Views
I think it does, quite definitively. - 20/01/2018 08:46:24 PM 646 Views
All th Germans I have known have considered ß to be a letter. - 20/01/2018 11:01:40 PM 714 Views
ß is a ligature - 21/01/2018 04:04:48 PM 598 Views
That article is even sloppier than the first - 20/01/2018 09:01:33 PM 597 Views
All letters were once "fake". - 20/01/2018 10:59:11 PM 692 Views
Isn't that kind of idealist - 21/01/2018 08:02:14 AM 630 Views
Realist perhaps - 22/01/2018 01:54:14 AM 600 Views
Pivots - 22/01/2018 03:43:56 AM 712 Views
Meanwhile - 22/01/2018 12:23:13 PM 561 Views
Olympics are grand aren't they? *NM* - 22/01/2018 05:23:56 PM 328 Views
Deutschland, Deutschland! - 22/01/2018 05:26:50 PM 493 Views
No, actually that's quite incorrect. - 21/01/2018 04:14:18 PM 631 Views
You've missed the point. - 22/01/2018 01:53:59 AM 651 Views
No, I'm trying to show the qualitative difference between the two events. - 22/01/2018 04:34:20 PM 531 Views
The letter J? *NM* - 22/01/2018 05:19:14 PM 384 Views
No, J is a lot like the long s. - 22/01/2018 07:23:01 PM 584 Views
Feels we are talking past each other. - 22/01/2018 07:52:53 PM 670 Views
You're wrong. - 23/01/2018 01:21:26 AM 700 Views
Agreed. Ligatures aren't letters. *NM* - 19/01/2018 06:13:43 AM 357 Views
Eh . . . the Ampersand is probably now considered a logogram rather than a ligature. - 19/01/2018 01:27:21 PM 583 Views
ſ is just a variant. *NM* - 19/01/2018 03:40:53 PM 406 Views
I enjoy this thread muchly...yet I will not participate besides saying - 19/01/2018 10:46:40 PM 588 Views
You're using sublime too often; it's losing its luster - 20/01/2018 12:15:10 AM 624 Views
Do I? (in regards to sublime) - 20/01/2018 12:46:35 AM 591 Views
(in regards to sublime) - 20/01/2018 03:18:04 PM 614 Views
Brilliant! *NM* - 20/01/2018 03:38:39 PM 347 Views
- 20/01/2018 11:20:11 PM 601 Views
*NM* - 23/01/2018 09:18:01 PM 338 Views
Is this payback for the irritating word, Umami? - 24/01/2018 07:25:56 AM 506 Views
Upapi? *NM* - 25/01/2018 08:41:14 PM 374 Views
Thank all gods everywhere they are gone. - 22/01/2018 12:23:34 PM 590 Views
Some other letters should go too. - 22/01/2018 01:12:31 PM 653 Views
How would you replace the ch sound? - 22/01/2018 04:15:04 PM 601 Views
I thought of removing C, as well. - 22/01/2018 06:16:20 PM 582 Views
The CH is a problem. - 22/01/2018 06:34:47 PM 504 Views
And calling people you don't like "fu king unts"? *NM* - 22/01/2018 07:25:29 PM 443 Views
Meanwhile if it were written as fuking kunts, no one would have any issues - 22/01/2018 07:54:41 PM 665 Views
I have an issue, kunts looks too much like nuts or knuts - 22/01/2018 08:09:52 PM 589 Views
Would you prefer a Knut? - 22/01/2018 10:55:09 PM 551 Views
Yes I like my internet memes and thus I do not want to be confused by that word sometimes directed - 23/01/2018 10:28:58 PM 541 Views
Yes, ask him - 24/01/2018 01:32:08 AM 558 Views
Totes I will ask him about Tot *NM* - 24/01/2018 09:49:45 PM 372 Views
Yes, about the meanings. Pronounced quite differently. - 25/01/2018 06:17:22 PM 660 Views
Scheisse. I did forget it. - 26/01/2018 05:24:21 PM 560 Views
You mean Scheiße? *NM* - 26/01/2018 06:49:26 PM 365 Views
No. I mean Scheisse. *NM* - 26/01/2018 07:15:21 PM 377 Views
*NM* - 26/01/2018 11:07:18 PM 428 Views
*NM* - 28/01/2018 02:15:03 AM 355 Views
all those k's.... - 22/01/2018 08:23:09 PM 535 Views
So . . . no Klondike bars or Kit Kats for you. - 22/01/2018 10:55:53 PM 640 Views
But it would look "fuking" stupid - 23/01/2018 01:30:15 AM 568 Views
All languages change - 23/01/2018 01:40:18 AM 540 Views
They change, but resistance is not futile. - 23/01/2018 02:10:17 AM 612 Views
Also, you're not talking about the language changing. You're talking about changing the language. - 23/01/2018 02:16:39 AM 627 Views
I am being a realist who understands that spellings change. Letters get dropped. Language evolves. - 23/01/2018 06:53:25 PM 686 Views
It is posts like this that remind me why you are my RAFO tree - 23/01/2018 10:29:53 PM 533 Views
Nope sadly he did not *NM* - 23/01/2018 10:30:09 PM 294 Views
What are you talking about here? - 24/01/2018 12:21:55 PM 579 Views
I am talking about Logograms - 24/01/2018 09:48:48 PM 576 Views
Evolution, not revolution - 23/01/2018 10:54:37 PM 684 Views

Reply to Message