Is [a] always [a]?

[ReneZ]

@Aga Tentakulus,

if I understand your question correctly, you are talking about how to interpret the symbols / glyphs.

I don't know (at least not yet) how to do that.
Regardless whether a transliteration uses "iin" or "M" or "m" to represent iin , this becomes the next step.

One should indeed try to ignore what the transcriber has used, because he/she may not have given it that much thought anyway.

The real problem with transliterations is, when two symbols that were intended to be different are transliterated the same, because this is when information is lost.

GC was of the opinion that the different shapes of plumes on Sh are significant, so he introduced many different symbols for them. Who knows if he was right. However, if he was, transliterations that do not capture these differences become defective.