linguist/graphemicist/fop
unicode|PanLex(Long Now)|¿?¿?¿?
opinions not my own
Jun 8, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
ps if anybody wants to try to get a grasp on how Book Pahlavi actually works, I'd recommend reading the recent Unicode proposals by the indomitable @anshumanpandey_ and @roozbehp
Unicode proposals can be a great resource for learning how a script actually works because of the nature of the necessity of dissecting it enough to work on computers
Jun 7, 2023 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
I often describe Pahlavi as the worst writing system ever invented.
Let's take a perfectly-serviceable writing system for a completely different language (Aramaic) and adapt it for our language (Middle Persian). We'll call this new script "Pahlavi".
Aramaic doesn't really write all the vowels, only consonants, but that's OK for Aramaic, because through a quirk of Semitic grammar, consonants carry most of the semantics. But our language, Middle Persian, is Indo-European and *does* carry a lot of semantic weight in vowels.
May 26, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
TIL about one of the strangest people in recent African history.
Georges Ruggiu, a Belgian of Italian and Belgian extraction, was born to a working-class family, lived with his parents, and worked in civil service until he was 35. At that point, he had befriended a Rwandan...
and became fascinated with the country. Within a year, he was rubbing shoulders with the leaders of the MRND (the then-ruling party of Rwanda) in Belgium, and shortly thereafter moved to Rwanda