Shawalphabet YahooGroup Archive Browser

A quote by Eleanor Roosevelt found on the internet:

𐑜𐑮𐑱𐑑 𐑥𐑲𐑯𐑛𐑟 𐑛𐑦𐑕𐑒𐑳𐑕 𐑲𐑛𐑾𐑟;
𐑨𐑝𐑩𐑮𐑦𐑡 𐑥𐑲𐑯𐑛𐑟 𐑛𐑦𐑕𐑒𐑳𐑕 𐑧𐑝𐑧𐑯𐑑𐑕;
𐑕𐑥𐑭𐑤 𐑥𐑲𐑯𐑛𐑟 𐑛𐑦𐑕𐑒𐑳𐑕 𐑐𐑰𐑐𐑩𐑤.

Perhaps a little too high-minded for many people, but
then she was a very high-minded person. However, the
discovery for me, of a purely technical nature, was that
in writing this in the Shavian alphabet I could for the
first time in my experience use the 'Ian' letter /𐑾/ in the
word 'ideas'. There must be other uses as well.

Through negligence probably I hadn't understood what this
letter was for and in fact had considered all of the digraphic
or joined letters superfluous or at least unnecessary, except
for the affricates /𐑗,𐑡/ (which are distinct, individual sounds
in English, though the IPA demurs).

highmindedly,
dshep

𐑕𐑳𐑥𐑼 𐑚𐑤𐑵, 𐑕𐑢𐑦𐑓𐑑 𐑒𐑤𐑬𐑛𐑟;
𐑛𐑸𐑒 𐑜𐑮𐑰𐑯, 𐑑𐑷𐑤 𐑑𐑮𐑰𐑟; 𐑒𐑴𐑤𐑛 𐑢𐑪𐑑𐑼.
𐑕𐑤𐑴 𐑑𐑢𐑲𐑤𐑲𐑑 𐑕𐑲𐑤𐑩𐑯𐑕.

David,

I was unable to read your message because it was all in small squares--I
don't know what that is called.

A couple of new acquaintances and I are exchanging messages, transliterated
literary extracts, and so forth in the Esperanto version of the Shavian
alphabet. We seem to enjoy learning together! If you know Esperanto, you
are welcome to join us.

Erik


On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 2:18 PM, dsh <david@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> *𐑕𐑳𐑥𐑼 𐑚𐑤𐑵, 𐑕𐑢𐑦𐑓𐑑 𐑒𐑤𐑬𐑛𐑟;*
> *𐑛𐑸𐑒 𐑜𐑮𐑰𐑯, 𐑑𐑷𐑤 𐑑𐑮𐑰𐑟; 𐑒𐑴𐑤𐑛 𐑢𐑪𐑑𐑼.*
> *𐑕𐑤𐑴 𐑑𐑢𐑲𐑤𐑲𐑑 𐑕𐑲𐑤𐑩𐑯𐑕.*
>
>
>

On 22 Aug 2013, at 15:48, Erik Felker <ejfelker@...> wrote:

> I was unable to read your message because it was all in small squares--I don't know what that is called.

It's called "You don't have a Unicode font for Shavian installed." :-)

Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/

Michael,

The three of us who are learning the Shavian alphabet have heard so many
things about problems that
people have with Unicode that we have decided to write by hand and either
send our messages by paper post or scan them and e-mail them.

You are welcome to join us if you know or are learning Esperanto. We
usually choose a brief text in Esperanto to transliterate or write
something ourselves--the idea is just to practice and to stay in touch as
supporters/users of the Shavian alphabet. My contact info is: Erik Felker
/ 414 E. Cedar Ave., Apt. 11 / Burbank, CA 91501 /
USA----ejfelker@dslextreme.com.

Erik


On Sat, Aug 24, 2013 at 4:33 AM, Michael Everson <everson@...>wrote:

> **
>
>
> On 22 Aug 2013, at 15:48, Erik Felker <ejfelker@...> wrote:
>
> > I was unable to read your message because it was all in small squares--I
> don't know what that is called.
>
> It's called "You don't have a Unicode font for Shavian installed." :-)
>
> Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/
>
>
>

>>>>> "Michael" == Michael Everson skribis:

> On 22 Aug 2013, at 15:48, Erik Felker wrote:

>> I was unable to read your message because it was all in small
> squares--I don't know what that is called.

> It's called "You don't have a Unicode font for Shavian
> installed." :-)

The message is multi-part:

,----
| X-Yahoo-Newman-Property: groups-email-ff-m
| Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
| boundary="Apple-Mail-4--992819385"
`----

and I see the Shavian letters in the plain-text part in console
mailer:

,----
| --Apple-Mail-4--992819385
| Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
| Content-Type: text/plain;
| charset=utf-8
`----

but the html part shown by Firefox shows the squares. The html
part is horrible (<div>s inside <p>aragraphs etc), with a long
style-sheet, specifying dubious font-families (Arial etc).

Yet the squares become Shavian letters if I copy-paste them into
an editor where I can choose an appropriate font.

--
Sergio

>>>>> I == Sergio Pokrovskij wrote:

[...]
> and I see the Shavian letters in the plain-text part in
> console mailer:

Here is its copy in my plain-text message, which hopefully shall
be readable in a web mailer as well:

,----
| 𐑜𐑮𐑱𐑑 𐑥𐑲𐑯𐑛𐑟 𐑛𐑦𐑕𐑒𐑳𐑕 𐑲𐑛𐑾𐑟;
| 𐑨𐑝𐑩𐑮𐑦𐑡 𐑥𐑲𐑯𐑛𐑟 𐑛𐑦𐑕𐑒𐑳𐑕 𐑧𐑝𐑧𐑯𐑑𐑕;
| 𐑕𐑥𐑭𐑤 𐑥𐑲𐑯𐑛𐑟 𐑛𐑦𐑕𐑒𐑳𐑕 𐑐𐑰𐑐𐑩𐑤.
`----

--
Sergio

David--Whatever Sergio was talking about, I didn't understand a word of
it. I'm able to exchange messages in the Shavian alphabet with
acquaintances, and that is all I'm looking for at the moment. I also don't
feel like spending hundreds of dollars to learn how to do what it would be
necessary to do on the computer when I have options that are free or only
cost a US or international airmail stamp. Besides, I like to see other
people's handrwriting!--Erik


On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 2:18 PM, dsh <david@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> *𐑕𐑳𐑥𐑼 𐑚𐑤𐑵, 𐑕𐑢𐑦𐑓𐑑 𐑒𐑤𐑬𐑛𐑟;*
> *𐑛𐑸𐑒 𐑜𐑮𐑰𐑯, 𐑑𐑷𐑤 𐑑𐑮𐑰𐑟; 𐑒𐑴𐑤𐑛 𐑢𐑪𐑑𐑼.*
> *𐑕𐑤𐑴 𐑑𐑢𐑲𐑤𐑲𐑑 𐑕𐑲𐑤𐑩𐑯𐑕.*
>
>
>

Erik,

As has been pointed out, you need to have a Unicode font
installed in order to read anything composed in a Shavian
unicode font. There are several freely available on the
internet, so there needn't be any expense involved. They
are however not without their occasional problem, so a
bit of irritation and annoyance can be expected; this could
be said about all fonts probably.

For example:

Ethan Lamoreaux's ESL Gothic (from one of our members)
http://www.fontspace.com/ethan-lamoreaux/esl-gothic-unicode

Mark Williamson's Andagii and MPH 2B Damase
http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/unicode-font.html
http://www.dafont.com/mph-2b-damase.font

You can see a comparison at:
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Shavian.html

The font I used was Everson Mono Unicode Bold Italic, which
I think has a nice, free-flowing appearance and also relieves,
by virtue of being a mono-spaced font, the tendency of other
Shavian fonts to crowd some letters together, a problem that
I believe comes under the heading of something known as
kerning.



That said, a good reason for using the Shavian alphabet is for
its calligraphic pleasure, which I think is considerable. In
addition, hand-writing a new alphabet will I believe also ease
its mastery. You will probably notice amongst your study group
slight differences in letter formation as everyone develops their
own style—just as we do in our normal handwriting. As an
example I think the Shavian letter 'eat' (the long e), the one that
resembles a Runic 's' (or a lightning bolt) is too cramped so I
simply extend the middle arm and even go so far as to turn it
into a Russian backward-N (which is supposedly the Russian
letter for that sound). Works for me; easier to write and
underlines the importance of one of the more vital long vowels.

don't despair,
dshep


--Apple-Mail-4--56731225
Content-Type: multipart/related;
type="text/html";
boundary=Apple-Mail-5--56731225

--- In shawalphabet@yahoogroups.com, Sergio Pokrovskij wrote:
>
> >>>>> I == Sergio Pokrovskij wrote:
>
> [...]
> > and I see the Shavian letters in the plain-text part in
> > console mailer:
>
> Here is its copy in my plain-text message, which hopefully shall
> be readable in a web mailer as well:
>
> ,----
> | ð`œð`®ð`±ð`` ð`¥ð`²ð`¯ð`›ð`Ÿ
ð`›ð`¦ð`•ð`'ð`³ð`•
ð`²ð`›ð`¾ð`Ÿ;
> | ð`¨ð`ð`©ð`®ð`¦ð`¡
ð`¥ð`²ð`¯ð`›ð`Ÿ
ð`›ð`¦ð`•ð`'ð`³ð`•
ð`§ð`ð`§ð`¯ð``ð`•;
> | ð`•ð`¥ð`­ð`¤ ð`¥ð`²ð`¯ð`›ð`Ÿ
ð`›ð`¦ð`•ð`'ð`³ð`•
ð`ð`°ð`ð`©ð`¤.
> `----
>
> --
> Sergio
>

It was, readable that is--at least for me.