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C is also used for sounds that sound like “ts”; you can’t make that sound with an s or k alone. Sidenote: I see that some transliteration systems make Q repres

by xattt 3y ago

C is also used for sounds that sound like “ts”; you can’t make that sound with an s or k alone. Sidenote: I see that some transliteration systems make Q represent “ch”.

mcv 3y ago
In Slavic languages and in German, the 'c' is (almost?) always the 'ts' sound. That makes it as useful as the 'x', although that's also one we could do without. The 'c' could also be considered useful exactly because it has the unique property of changing its sound depending on the surroundings. In Dutch, for example, the word for politician is "politicus" where the 'c' had a k sound, but the plural is "politici", where the 'c' has an 's' sound. It would be a lot less clean if we had to swap 'k' and 's'. Maybe we should only use the 'c' for words where that property matters. I hope you all remember the various "language reform" essays that get progressively less readable as various redundant letters are dropped or replaced. Although you could also argue we should add some. The 'e' can be pronounced in several different ways, and not being able to tell the difference can occasionally lead to confusion. In Dutch, for example, the words for "a" and "one" are the same: "een", but pronounced differently.
- saalweachter 3y ago
  > That makes it as useful as the 'x', although that's also one we could do without. I would like to further improve the 'x' by making its pronunciation 'sk' at the beginning of a phoneme, rather than 'z', 'ex', or maybe 'k'. It sounds fine in words like 'xylophone' or 'xray', and there are plenty of words like 'xy', 'xate', 'xunk', or 'xeleton' so we could re-balance our alphabet.
- Dylan16807 3y ago
  > I hope you all remember the various "language reform" essays that get progressively less readable as various redundant letters are dropped or replaced. Can you cite any that are putting in legitimate effort and expertise into the letter choices, and not picking a whole bunch of things that are half bad on purpose? Also it's a bad idea to rate an orthography based on how it looks with 0 hours of practice.

by xattt 3y ago

C is also used for sounds that sound like “ts”; you can’t make that sound with an s or k alone. Sidenote: I see that some transliteration systems make Q represent “ch”.

mcv 3y ago

In Slavic languages and in German, the 'c' is (almost?) always the 'ts' sound. That makes it as useful as the 'x', although that's also one we could do without. The 'c' could also be considered useful exactly because it has the unique property of changing its sound depending on the surroundings. In Dutch, for example, the word for politician is "politicus" where the 'c' had a k sound, but the plural is "politici", where the 'c' has an 's' sound. It would be a lot less clean if we had to swap 'k' and 's'. Maybe we should only use the 'c' for words where that property matters. I hope you all remember the various "language reform" essays that get progressively less readable as various redundant letters are dropped or replaced. Although you could also argue we should add some. The 'e' can be pronounced in several different ways, and not being able to tell the difference can occasionally lead to confusion. In Dutch, for example, the words for "a" and "one" are the same: "een", but pronounced differently.

saalweachter 3y ago
> That makes it as useful as the 'x', although that's also one we could do without. I would like to further improve the 'x' by making its pronunciation 'sk' at the beginning of a phoneme, rather than 'z', 'ex', or maybe 'k'. It sounds fine in words like 'xylophone' or 'xray', and there are plenty of words like 'xy', 'xate', 'xunk', or 'xeleton' so we could re-balance our alphabet.
Dylan16807 3y ago
> I hope you all remember the various "language reform" essays that get progressively less readable as various redundant letters are dropped or replaced. Can you cite any that are putting in legitimate effort and expertise into the letter choices, and not picking a whole bunch of things that are half bad on purpose? Also it's a bad idea to rate an orthography based on how it looks with 0 hours of practice.