20-01-2020, 05:39 AM
OK Linda, that example helps me understand what you're talking about. I don't think I had a clear idea of the practical use of phonetic transcription. Much appreciated.
You have a good point I hadn't considered: why the need for a unique writing system, if the scribe didn't speak the dictator's language? It doesn't make sense.
On the other hand, a novel unique script does fit comfortably with a scenario where the scribe did understand what he was writing. Perhaps the scribe was literate in what was a second language for him (Latin or German or some language that used the Roman alphabet), but took on the task of writing a book in his native language, which at that time was unwritten. If he had no literary register or corpus of written works in his native tongue to compare himself to, it would likely never dawn on him to do anything but write the way his people talk. I could be wrong of course — if a dude is motivated enough to invent a new writing system for his language, might he also be equally as motivated to invent a literary register for it too?
Ockham's Razor can now also shave away the illiterate wisdom figure giving dictation to the scribe. In this scenario I just described, it would make no difference whether the scribe was coming up with a way to record his own speech or someone else's.
You have a good point I hadn't considered: why the need for a unique writing system, if the scribe didn't speak the dictator's language? It doesn't make sense.
On the other hand, a novel unique script does fit comfortably with a scenario where the scribe did understand what he was writing. Perhaps the scribe was literate in what was a second language for him (Latin or German or some language that used the Roman alphabet), but took on the task of writing a book in his native language, which at that time was unwritten. If he had no literary register or corpus of written works in his native tongue to compare himself to, it would likely never dawn on him to do anything but write the way his people talk. I could be wrong of course — if a dude is motivated enough to invent a new writing system for his language, might he also be equally as motivated to invent a literary register for it too?
Ockham's Razor can now also shave away the illiterate wisdom figure giving dictation to the scribe. In this scenario I just described, it would make no difference whether the scribe was coming up with a way to record his own speech or someone else's.